You have a relatively small church, non-profit, or business. You have just enough staff to operate, your volunteers are maxed out, and, frankly, you don’t have the budget for more resources. You know that large organizations use social media strategies to attract new people and reinforce their brand, but you don’t see how it’s possible for you.
It is absolutely possible, and this article will show you how. We will break down the steps to creating and implementing the first social media strategy for your organization.
After reading this article, view our services to see how we can create a modern online experience for your customers.
Table of Contents
Identify Your Target Audience
This will look different depending on your type of organization.
For a small business, you are selling a product, vibe, price, and customer experience. What you offer will appeal to different demographics. Figure out what ages, genders, and groups are most likely to be first time and repeat customers.
For non-profits, you are selling a story: your organization has a mission that folks can support by volunteering with or donating to your organization. Identify if your ideal volunteers are students, recent graduates, working adults, or retirees. Determine if your organization needs a few large donations or numerous small ones.
For churches, you are selling a faith experience, community, and missional outreach. Discern what your congregation needs in order to be healthy. Your church has a certain overall demographic with particular values, and it is likely you will attract folks with overlap in demographics and/or values. Be realistic about who will be drawn to your congregation.
Example: Custom Fishing Lures
Let’s say you have a small business making custom fishing lures. Your customers are most likely male, have the financial ability to pay for the exact product they want, are most likely in their 40’s-60’s, and probably live in suburban or rural communities.
Set A Priority Goal
Are you trying to build a new audience or engage an existing one? Are you trying to gain active customers/guests/donors or passive readers/listeners who may become active later? Do you have an immediate need for a special event, or do you need ongoing engagement?
Identify the top 1-2 priority goals for your organization. Focus on what you want to accomplish and why. Don’t immediately jump to the how, because your first attempt may not be successful. Even if your strategy needs to change, your top priority goal probably will not.
Once you have a clear picture of your top priority, brainstorm a few strategies that support this goal. Choose one that is simple and achievable using your current resources.
Example: Repeat Customers
In your custom fishing lure business, you have made several one-time sales. You have had one or two return customers, but not many. Your top priority goal is to convert all previous customers to repeat customers (the what) who make regular lure purchases so you have a reliable revenue stream (the why).
After discarding a few grandiose ideas, you decide to offer a ‘lure of the month’ at a slightly discounted price to entice customers to make repeat purchases (the how).
Create a Social Media Strategy
Using knowledge of your target audience and the top priority for your organization, you are now ready to create a strategy for how you will use social media.
Research social media statistics to find out which platforms your target audience demographic uses. Identify the top 2-3 platforms that are used by your target audience. Sites such as Pew Research Center and Sprout Social publish data on social media platform demographics.
Consider the content type that is best suited for each platform. According to Buffer and Sprout Social, short videos (1-5 min) are the most engaged-with type of content. Images are the second-best on most platforms.
Determine how you could execute your strategy on different social media platforms. Choose the option that provides the most value to your customers and the least effort on your part.
Finally, review your website to ensure that it compliments the strategy you have created for social media. Does your website appeal to the right audience? Does it have all the information someone would need if they came to the website from a social media post? Does it effectively tell the story you are trying to tell?
At Fishers of Folk Digital Design, we can create the website with the modern look and audience appeal that you need. View our website services to learn more.
Example: ‘Lure of the Month’ Facebook Posts
For your custom fishing lure business, you identify Facebook and YouTube as the top platforms used by your target audience. You debate between promoting the lure of the month as a video or an image post. You decide that creating videos would be much more work for no significant benefit over posting an image.
You decide to post a brightly colored, eye-catching picture of the lure of the month on Facebook on the first day of each month. Additionally, every time someone makes a purchase, you will prompt them to follow you on Facebook so they don’t miss out on this special offer. You have created a path from your Facebook posts to your website, and also from your website to your Facebook promotions.
Use Data to Review Your Strategy
You now have a basic social media strategy, but your work is not complete. You still need to make a plan to review the success of your efforts. This way you’ll know to change tactics if your current strategy is not working.
Most website platforms and social media accounts collect basic analytics data such as visitors, views, and clicks that you can use out of the box. Set a period of time to try your current strategy and collect data. Define KPIs to measure that will indicate whether or not you are achieving your priority goal.
Example: Clicks & Repeat Purchases
You decide to try your lure of the month campaigns for three months. Your KPIs are 1) the percentage of clicks compared to total views on each post and 2) the percentage of customers who make a repeat purchase during the three-month timeframe compared to the percentage of customers who made a repeat purchase before you started your campaign.
The percentage of clicks tells you if folks are interested in your lure of the month promotion. The percentage of repeat purchases tells you if there was an increase in repeat purchases following the start of your campaign.
Social Media Strategy Recap
Here’s a recap of the steps to create a social media strategy for your small organization:
- Identify your target audience
- Set a priority goal
- Brainstorm ideas on how you will reach your goal
- Identify the top social media platforms used by your target audience
- Decide what type of content works best for your selected platform
- Create a social media strategy based on all decisions above
- Review your website to ensure it compliments your social media strategy
- Set a timeframe to collect data and review your strategy’s effectiveness
- Maintain your social media activity to keep your online presence healthy
The most important thing to remember is that even small organizations can maintain a strong presence on a couple of social media platforms, especially when they understand what they are trying to accomplish and why.
If you need help reviewing the health of your social media presence and identifying which accounts to keep and which to retire, Fishers of Folk Digital Design can help with a digital marketing review.