What is Social Media Plan? Definition of Social Media Plan, Social Media Plan Meaning and Concept

The Social Media Plan defines the strategies and actions necessary to achieve the company's objectives in social networks. In addition, it serves to help the team control the management of social networks taking into account the objectives, budgets, advertising campaigns, comments, among others.

Social networks have transformed the way in which brands communicate with users, breaking down the barrier that separated them and providing them with an ideal platform to establish a face-to-face conversation. Brands no longer see social networks only as a communication channel, but also as a sales tool.

A social media plan is made up of several parts, all of which are important as they depend on each other. It is a roadmap that will mark the path along which the company will carry out its strategies.

How do you create a social media plan?

Each company must customize its social media plan according to the objectives it has in mind. Here are the steps to create it.

1. Situation analysis

The first thing a social media plan should consider is an analysis of the current situation . To do this, we will investigate the environment, both internal and external, of the company to know where it is located.

In the internal aspect, it is necessary to answer the following questions through the investigation that is developed:

• About us? Define what the company is.
• What is offered? Products or services offered..
• How are the resources? We have sufficient resources or they are limited.
• How is the online reputation? What is said about the company in social networks.
• What has been done so far and where? What campaigns have been carried out and in which online and/or offline channels.

Regarding the external level, it is good to know the following: the situation of the competition (what is it doing, how and where), demographic, economic, technological, political and socio-cultural factors.

With all this information, aSWOT analysisof the company is prepared, which allows us to capture, in a very visual way, the internal characteristics of the brand, strengths and weaknesses, and the external situation, threats and opportunities.

2. Goal creation

In 2007, the research and consulting company Forrester created the POST (People, Objective, Strategy & Technology) methodology. It is a very effective method when creating the social media plan strategy.

This method consists of the following:

• P. People: This element is essential before starting the strategy in social networks. You have to know who a company is targeting and what are the characteristics of these people. The target must be defined correctly.
• O. Objectives: These should be realistic and measurable objectives . It is advisable to create a single clear objective. Some objectivescan be, for example:
  • Improve the image of the brand.
  • Strengthen the relationship with customers.
  • Get qualified visitors.
  • Position ourselves as experts in a specific sector
• S. Strategy (Strategy): After defining the objectives, the strategy must be designed, that is, the set of actions that are intended to develop the objectives set. In this step, it is necessary to define in which social networks the company will have a presence, frequency, what language will be used, etc. Once the social networks have been chosen, it is time to create the content. In this step, it must be clear that it must be adapted to each format and language.
• T. Technology (Technology): In this case, the appropriate tools are selected that allow managing social networks more effectively.

3. Selection of KPI's, and measurement of results

To know the scope that actions are having on social networks, you have to mark some KPI's to make the measurements. These must be established based on the objectives and strategies that have been previously defined in the Social Media Plan.

The KPI's can be established based on the interactions according to the number of followers, the number of likes or clicks on the publications or the number of conversions from social networks, for example.

In the event that the expected results are not being obtained, errors can be detected based on the metrics performed and thus redefine the actions that may be more optimal to achieve the proposed objectives.

4. Crisis manual

Sometimes things can turn out different from what the company foresees. A business reputation crisis may appear that will have to be managed. Therefore, it is important that the brand includes a contingency plan that will be known by the entire team that carries out these procedures.