Raise your hand if you would quit social media if your business didn’t depend on it for marketing. Good, now that we got that out of the way, we can talk about how to create a marketing strategy for social media (because yup, you’re right, you should be on social media as a business owner).

And as a tech company that’s constantly talking to our customers (who are small business owners like you), we know you have questions like: What social media platforms should I use? What do I post about? How often should I post? These questions (and so many more that come up in our monthly office hours for Enji subscribers) can be top of mind when you start thinking about using social media for your business. 

It can be overwhelming, to say the absolute least.

Well, take a deep breath–we’re here to help! All you need is a social media marketing strategy that can give you direction and tell you what you should focus on (hint: it’s probably not every single platform). That’s what we’re going to deliver.

We’re diving into:

• What is a social media marketing strategy?
• Why social media strategies fail
• Enji’s approach to social media marketing strategy
• Step-by-step guide to creating a social media marketing strategy with Enji
• Best practices for your social media marketing strategy 

What Is a Social Media Marketing Strategy?

First, a social media marketing strategy outlines the goals you want to achieve and the actions you need to take to achieve them. It includes the metrics and KPIs you need to track, the platforms you should use, the target audience you’re marketing to on social media, and the types of content you should post. 

This strategy is the roadmap you can continuously refer to so your brain isn’t constantly swirling with content ideas (sure, that audio might be trending, but does it align with your strategy?). A strategy is what gives you focus and makes your social media efforts much less overwhelming. 

But don’t worry, your strategy can still be flexible so you can track your efforts and make changes as needed. 

Why Many Social Media Strategies Fail

We know it’s hard to talk about the F word, but we need to address it from the top: There can be a lot of failure (or feelings of failure) in social media marketing. Social media involves algorithms that are constantly changing and out of our control, and everything moves much faster than other types of marketing. 

Raise your hand if you’ve also felt stuck inside the “200 views” jail.

It’s okay to accept that some things are just outside of your control, but there are some common pitfalls that you can avoid to make your strategy stronger than the rest. 

Here’s what makes social media strategies more likely to fail: 

1. Lack of time: Similar to SEO, your social media strategy can take several months to show results. Yup, it’s not as fast as the gurus tell you. You need enough time to test how certain types of content resonate with your audience and generate results. If a few posts aren’t engaging, don’t scrap it all! You have to give your strategy enough “experiment” time.
2. Lack of commitment: Investing in your social media presence doesn’t mean you have to be on your phone every day (thank goodness for Social Media Schedulers!), but you do need to create consistent content. If you only post every now and then, you won’t reach enough people or see the results you need. 
3. Being overly ambitious: On the other hand, overcommitting will leave you with a social media strategy you can’t actually commit to. As you’re building your strategy, take a step back and start with simple and doable expectations. 
4. Aiming for perfection: Having professional videography and graphic design is great for social media, but most small businesses don’t have the time or budget to make that work. The good news? It doesn’t always have to be so perfect. In fact, lo-fi, off-the-cuff marketing tends to perform really well for many types of audiences. 
5. Not understanding social media’s role: Standing on our soap box for this one. First and foremost, social media is great for building your brand. And while you can definitely convert leads from social media, you’re more likely to convert your followers into leads than direct sales. Understanding social media’s role at the top of your marketing funnel will make your strategy more realistic and achievable. 

Enji’s Approach to Social Media Marketing Strategy

It’s easy to overcomplicate anything in your business, but when we talk about social media strategy specifically, we are seeing people make it a lot more complicated than it needs to be.

In fact, one of our fave marketing books is the 1-page marketing plan, because it helps you create a marketing plan simple enough you’ll actually use.

With our Marketing Strategy Generator, we’ll take your goals and how much time you actually have to implement your marketing tasks. Since you have so much more on your plate, we keep it simple and personalized to your capacity (AKA: the actual time you have).

From there, you’ll get an actionable strategy that includes your priority platforms, your posting cadence, and the content pillars that you should focus on to create a content calendar. It’s that simple!

Step-by-Step Guide: Creating a Social Media Marketing Strategy with Enji

Ready to build a marketing strategy for social media? Here’s how you can create one with Enji in just four easy steps.

1. Generate your overall marketing strategy

Your social media strategy falls under your overall marketing strategy, which Enji can help you build in minutes. Use the Marketing Strategy Generator to answer some questions about your business and goals, then get an actionable strategy that includes what you should be doing on social media.

2. Decide where social media plays a role in your business

Next, think about how social media fits into your business and priorities. For most small business owners, you’ll probably only have time to manage one to three social platforms. If you know it’s where your audience is the most, it should be a priority. Otherwise, think about how you can use it to support your other marketing efforts. 

3. Use Our New Social Media Idea Generator

We are so excited to have this live and out in the world! Not only does Enji help you build a social media strategy you can stick to, we’re also helping you with the ideas too. Basically rolling up our sleeves and doing whatever it takes to get your marketing checked off your to do list.

4. Use the Social Media Scheduler to batch content

Once you have your content ideas, set aside time to create your content, then load it all into Enji’s Social Media Scheduler to post on the date and time you want.

Best Practices for Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

With Enji, you’ll have everything you need to create and actually implement your social media marketing strategy. But we’ll leave you with these final best practices so your strategy is airtight!

• Know your audience: Spend some time reviewing (or creating) your customer personas first. Knowing your audience will help you determine which platforms they’re on and what content they want to see. 
• Set SMART goals: Sounds cliche, but make sure your strategy is focused with goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. 
• Engage with your audience: Posting is just one part of the game, but strong brands also engage with their followers. Carve some time out of each week to browse through your comments, reply, and comment on your customers’ or other business’ content. 
• Maintain consistent branding: Remember, your posts don’t have to be perfectly polished, but they should be consistent. Make sure you’re using your brand colors and fonts to solidify your brand identity online. Our Brand Guide can help!
• Leave space for timely content: Though it’s nice to build out your social media calendar ahead of time, we still recommend saving space for timely or trending posts. It can be fun (and engaging) to hop on the latest topics, as long as it’s relevant to your business and audience. 

We can’t wait to see your marketing in the wild. Start your free trial with Enji here so we can help get you started!