So You Want To Learn How To Create a Social Media Strategy…

In this blog post, I’m picking the best social media marketing strategy resources from the hours of research I did, and breaking them down for you. So all you need to do is read and implement these four articles and you’ll be on your way to building a successful social media marketing strategy in no time.

For the whole month of March 2021, I’m venturing into the world of social media marketing strategy and learning the ins and outs of what makes a good strategy to help my Instagram and Youtube Channel grow at a faster pace. Despite having been on social media for years, it never occurred to me that I needed a social media strategy to succeed. Until now. 

Building a social following is hard but trying to grow without a purpose is even harder. I’ve worked on growing my beauty Instagram and Youtube channel for over five years now, but during that time I haven’t had a clear purpose for my content.

Based on that, I decided I’m gonna embark on a month-long project to learn everything I need to know about social media marketing strategies and how to build mine.

Building a project on a topic you know nothing about can be intimidating, but all the information you need is out there. You just need to know where to look. 

So I went on Google, typed social media marketing strategy, and read everything I could find on the topic. I spent hours consuming articles, infographics, and videos to learn as much as I possibly could. And the research helped a lot. Now I know where to start and the steps I need to take to build my strategy and help it succeed. 

If you’re on the same boat as me and need to understand social media marketing strategies fast, don’t fret. I’m here to make your life a lot easier with these four simple articles. 

Sproutsocial – Building your social media marketing strategy for 2021 

“Making assumptions is bad news for marketers.

And thanks to the sheer wealth of demographic data and social media analytics tools out there, you really don’t have to anymore.

Much of what you need to know about your audience to influence your social media marketing strategy is already available, granted you know where to look.”

If you’re unsure of how to build upon your preexisting social media marketing strategy, use this article as your guide. 

It gives you a great overview of what to consider when building or updating your strategy looks like and it’s simple to understand. The author expands quite a bit on each step and they share insightful information about different social platforms; including TikTok, Pinterest, and all the big platforms. If you’re a visual learner, there are some good graphics and examples included in the article that you can follow along with as well. 

This article is more about the what than the how, so the action items are pretty broad. If you already have a strategy in place and you are just looking to update it, this article will guide you through the steps and give you new insights.

After reading this, I personally learned a lot about the kind of content that is engaging for my audience and how to identify it in my Instagram and Youtube analytics. Now instead of assuming what my followers want, I can make informed decisions when planning out content that they actually want.

Hootsuite – How to Create a Social Media Strategy in 8 Easy Steps (Free Template)

“A social media strategy is a summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve on social media. It guides your actions and lets you know whether you’re succeeding or failing.”

If you don’t have time for research and you need the social media strategy cheat sheet to put your strategy in motion, this is it. 

This is a great article for social media novices and established social media users because apart from clearly explaining what a strategy is, they give you actionable items to follow. 

The article is structured in eight easy steps that break down every area of a social media strategy. Each step has its plan of action that clearly outlines the steps you need to take to build your strategy. Alongside every step, you get charts and graphics that are easy to follow and give you an idea of how to present your strategy. 

But the best thing about this article is all the extra resources within it. It links to other helpful articles and Hootsuite even offers a free social media strategy template (that I’m totally using for mine!) that you can copy and follow to create your strategy easily. If you’re feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed, this article is exactly what you need. 

Buffer – How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan From Scratch

“If you’re starting from square one, it might feel equal parts thrilling and overwhelming. You know what you want to do and why. You can see that others have climbed the social media mountain; you’ve got a few ideas how to get there yourself.

It’d help to have a plan.”

If you’re completely new to social media and have absolutely no idea where to start, do yourself a favor and read this article. 

Content-wise, this is similar to the other two articles I already dissected. But the biggest differentiator is that this article simplifies the concept of a strategy down to the wire, and it’s not as detailed. The article gives you six steps that are easy to understand and follow along with. It also includes great infographics to make the information less overwhelming. It’s perfect for a newbie! 

Buffer also offers a free template you can use to create your strategy and they also link to some other great resources you can turn to if need be. So overall it’s a pretty complete guide that won’t overload you with information.

Hootsuite – 19 Social Media Metrics That Really Matter – And How To Track Them

The right data will assure executives that their investment in social is paying off. It’ll also help you continue to make smarter, more data-driven decisions moving forward.

This is not specifically about social media strategy but every strategy needs a quantifiable goal and this article might help you define yours. Alternatively, if you already have a goal in mind but don’t know how to measure it, this article could be your cheat sheet. 

This article gives you 19 social media metrics and the specific formulas for how to measure each one of them. It includes awareness, engagement, conversion, and customer metrics so there’s something for every goal. The article also includes different ways to measure each of the four metrics depending on what you’re looking to accomplish with your strategy. 

I’m not a math person so formulas and metrics sound foreign to me, but I understood all of these without a problem. The article breaks each formula down with graphics so they’re easy to follow and save for future reference. 

This article is a must if you want to build a social media strategy and meet your goals. 

I spent hours reading dozens of articles and these four definitely stand out! Reading them gave me insight into the steps I need to take in order to create my social media strategy. So they’re a great place to start if you’re also on a journey to learn about what makes a good social media strategy and how to create one successfully.   

If you’re feeling stuck with your social media marketing strategy, give these a read and thank me later! 

Curious about my social media marketing project? Click here to read about my entire journey!