8 steps to optimize your social networking strategy

Defining a communication strategy for social networks is essential. Many companies have adopted them because they have become indispensable.

But they don't necessarily have the time or expertise to think about an appropriate social media strategy.

Yet these digital tools are extraordinary marketing levers for any company, whatever its sector or objectives.

Here are a few tips to help you manage your social networks optimally:

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An overview of the main social media

Even if there are more and more of them, the stars of the web remain the same.
Here we present the top 6 social media in France (source médiamétrie November 2017), as a reminder.

• 👍 Facebook: Social network that allows its users to publish images, photos, videos, exchange messages, join and create discussion groups.
  With 45,436,000 unique users per month, it's the most popular.
  
• 👍 YouTube (Google): Video hosting website and social media on which users can upload, watch, comment, rate and share videos.
  43,709,000 unique users per month. Video is hot! Alternative: Dailymotion.
  
• 👍 Instagram (Facebook): Application, social network and photo and video sharing service, available on smartphones, with reduced functionality on computers.
  23,971,000 unique users per month.
  
• 👍 Twitter: Microblogging social network (messages - tweets - are limited to 280 characters).
  Good to know: it's the social network of choice for journalists.
  19,561,000 unique users per month.
  
• 👍 LinkedIn: An online professional social network, it's mainly used for sharing expertise, advertising job offers, attracting new recruits and more.
  17,867,000 unique users per month. Alternative: Viadeo, released first, but far surpassed by Linkedin in terms of users.
  
• 👍 Pinterest: Website blending the concepts of social networking and photo sharing.
  15,145,000 unique users per month.

Step 1 - Take stock

Here are a few questions to ask yourself before considering a positioning and communication plan on social media.

Technical and human resources

Questions to ask yourself:

• Are you present on the social networks in this Top 6 list?
• Is your presence low, medium or high?
• Is your level of proficiency beginner, intermediate?
• What equipment do you have (computers, smartphones, tablets, live equipment)?
  Depending on your activity and mobility, an adjustment may be necessary.
• Who is in charge of digital communications at your company?
  → A dedicated community manager or social media manager.
  → A multi-faceted communications manager.
  → A member of management.
  → Multiple contributors/administrators?
• Is it managed in-house, or outsourced?
  You may well decide to organize training (such as a MOOC) for the designated person within your company, or outsource your SMO (social media optimization) to a web agency or specialized freelancer.

Social media managers are experts in managing a company's image on social and digital media. Their job is to define the best marketing and editorial strategy to enhance and develop a company's image on social networks.

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Financial resources

The previous questions also depend on this important criterion.

Even if social networks are free, some of their features are not (Linkedin's premium account, for example), and management/planning platforms also offer free or paid services.

You can also run advertising campaigns and organize competitions.

The question is: do you have a budget to devote to this aspect of your communication? And how much?

A quick guide: on average, a company invests between 2% and 10% of its sales in global communications, depending on :

• whether it's in a launch or maturity phase
• whether it's in a particular business sector (peak business, business spread evenly over the year)
• whether its market is highly competitive
• positioning (entry-level, luxury, etc.).

Within this overall budget, a greater or lesser share is reserved for digital, depending on your business sector and objectives.

Step 2 - Define your objectives

Now that you know where you stand, where do you want to go? Your priorities may no longer be the same as when you created your Facebook or Twitter accounts.

🎯 Here's a list of the main goals you might have:

• increase your visibility,
• improve your brand image,
• develop/identify prospects,
• build an engaged community,
• improve internal communication,
• monitor the market, your competitors and consumer habits,
• identify and manage crises,
• assist your community (advice, customer relations),
• attract new recruits to your teams.

🤓 Judge the relevance of your social media objectives with the SMART technique:

• Specific: no vague objectives, they need to be as concrete as possible
• Measurable: there's no point in defining objectives that can't be measured, so don't waste time.
• Accepted/Achievable: the person dedicated to this mission is operational and willing to help.
• Realistic: if not, they'll be a source of frustration. Patience: don't aim to quadruple your subscriber base in a week.
• Temporallydefined: the objective must have a deadline, otherwise it will fall by the wayside!

Step 3 - What's your target audience? Your audience?

Your target audience may be broad, depending on the products or services you offer. But if it's more specific (age range, gender), the message, the tone used and the ideal social network will not be the same and must be adapted.

Your positioning must be clear to set you apart from your competitors. And the more qualified your target group, the higher its engagement on your social networks.

Example of a successful social networking campaign:

When Cetelem, via its iconic character, decided to develop an entertainment strategy on its YouTube channel and Facebook, it began to reach younger users. One of its Facebook games generated 20,000 new fans.

Step 4 - Take care of your content, define your editorial line

🤜 Propose rich, concise and varied content to get it shared.

🤜 Do some curation: share quality articles or infographics from other sources. Maybe they'll share some of your info in return!

🤜 Illustrate! Images, videos, tutorials, infographics are very much appreciated, especially by younger people. Sometimes they're better than a long speech!

🤜 Share statistics, show your expertise, it's a source of sharing and therefore virality.

🤜 Tell your story (storytelling): the emotion factor comes into play more and more, readers want the human touch, not 100% product.

🤜 Link back to your site: don't forget that the objective is to make yourself known, so share links to your site to generate traffic and sales!

Step 5 - Choose the right social media for your message, your target, your objectives

Of course, every social network has the same objective: to communicate. But some are better suited than others, depending on your positioning and the information you want to communicate.

For example, Pinterest is ideal for the arts and crafts sector.

Another example: you may decide to reserve Facebook for showcasing your activities, Instagram for the best photos of your events, Twitter for your "hot" news and Linkedin for your recruitment or professional advice.

But don't share the same information on all these channels, unless it's very important for your company (e.g., the launch of a new flagship product).

Basically, define your positioning, determine your editorial line, but also choose the location of your publications. This may seem restrictive, but you'll be showing real mastery of your subjects and thus achieving expert, influencer status.

Step 6 - Plan ahead!

Based on your overall communication plan (news, upcoming events), draw up a retro-planning, a social editorial calendar of upcoming publications.

Be present! You need to publish regularly, but without overdoing it, by writing posts and articles, as well as comments and shares on other publications.

Be careful not to publish too often or too infrequently (you need to feed the dreaded algorithm without tiring your subscribers) --> maximum 4 publications per week and per social network. Here are a few tips to help you subtly stand out from the crowd.

When to publish?

Yes, there are certain times when it's best to publish. For example, peak social networking hours often coincide with commuting times (for commuters) and before bedtime.

⚠️ Beware, of course, that these slots are also heavily used by the competition. It's up to you: if you don't want to risk being diluted in the flow, try out less-used slots, avoiding times when there's too little traffic (nights, weekends, etc.), and thinking in terms of "content lifespan". Best of all: observe your own statistics to understand your readers' habits!

Use a social network management tool

Several tools, such as AgoraPulse, exist to manage your conversations, create a calendar for your publications, export your statistical reports and set up your monitoring, all from a single platform.

Scheduling your posts for the short or medium term can be very practical and save you time, especially for recurring posts.

Step 7 - Analyze and adjust your results

There are KPIs or performance indicators for analyzing your results on social networks.

Among the most important:

• Reach
  The "effective" audience or reach of a social publication, i.e. the number of times the publication is actually displayed in subscribers' news feeds.
• Acquisition (fans, subscribers, followers)
  Your audience in figures and its percentage evolution.
• Engagement (likes, shares, comments)
  The number of times users interact with your publications.
• Conversion (landing on your site, orders generated, etc.)
  The number of clicks on links on your site by users from your social networks.

See which publications work best, and adjust!

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Step 8 - Don't neglect moderation

Respond, even to criticism that's hard to take, be constructive and propose solutions, but beware of trolls (people or robots whose aim is to start and fuel controversy on your page), who will waste your time.

As the saying goes: "Don't feed the trolls" .

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Here you have several choices: upstream moderation or downstream moderation.

• A priori moderation : content is read and validated before it goes online. This may reassure the company, but it limits the spontaneity of exchanges.
• A posteriori moderation: users' contributions are checked after they have been put online. This ensures transparency and lively debate, but can lead to problems if you don't react quickly enough.

As part of your digital media plan, don't overlook the opportunity they offer to strengthen your online presence, reach new targets or recruit future employees in a different way. Their management requires skills and time, but it can be optimized, with a little investment! 👍