In this digital economy, virtually every organization wants to be a social media superstar. And why not? According to the “Norton Online Living Report” back in 2009, 49% of worldwide web users (i.e. customers) had at least one social network profile.

But being a social media superstar requires more than a few random tweets here and there. It requires time, commitment and a great content strategy.

Read my five steps below to develop a social media strategy that will help you engage your audience and rise above the competition.

1. Know thy goals!

What are your goals? Do you want to build your personal brand, raise public awareness about a sensitive issue, or sell more products? Do you have multiple goals?

Determine your goals and write them down!

2. Who’s your audience?

Knowing your audience is crucial to your social media success. After all, if you don’t understand your audience then how can you effectively communicate with them?

Take some time to learn who your audience is, what their problems are, and what they like/dislike. For example, what is your audience’s demographic composition? What food and music do they listen to? What social networks are they currently using? And so on.

When you understand your audience, it’ll be much easier to develop relevant content that addresses their needs and wants.

3. Develop your content

Repeat after me: content drives social media!

Great content is essential to any social media communications and marketing strategy. And content comes in many forms, including written content (blogs and articles), images and videos.

Learn how to generate online content.

4. Pick your social media platform

By now you have completed market research and generated some content ideas. Now it’s time to connect with your audience!

Your audience, content and goals will determine the social media platform(s) you choose. For example, try Facebook and YouTube if you offer primarily video content. If you’re a B2B organization, try LinkedIn. Try Twitter if you want to gauge your organization’s reputation.

5. Measurement and analysis

To learn and grow, you need to measure your social media progress.

I recommend that you connect your social media evaluation to your organizational goals (see Step 1). To do this, try creating goal conversions using Google Analytics. This will help you track the percentage of your social media traffic that is responding to your calls to action.

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