8 steps to optimising your social networking strategy

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

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

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

Here are a few tips on how to manage your social networks in the best possible way:

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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 is the most popular.
  
• 👍 YouTube (Google): Video hosting and social media website where users can upload, watch, comment on, 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: this is the social network of choice for journalists.
  19,561,000 unique users per month.
  
• 👍 LinkedIn: An online professional social network, it is mainly used for sharing expertise, advertising job vacancies, attracting new recruits, etc.
  17,867,000 unique users per month. Alternative: Viadeo, which came out first, but has been largely overtaken by Linkedin in terms of users.
  
• 👍 Pinterest: Website combining 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 or intermediate?
• What equipment do you have (computers, smartphones, tablets, live equipment)?
  Depending on your activity and your mobility, an adjustment may be necessary.
• Who handles digital communication within your organisation?
  → A dedicated community manager or social media manager.
  → A multi-faceted communications officer.
  → A member of management.
  → Multiple contributors/administrators?
• Is it managed in-house, or outsourced?
  You may well decide to organise training (such as a MOOC) for the designated person within your company, or to outsource your SMO (social media optimisation) to a web agency or specialist freelancer.

A social media manager is an expert responsible for 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 the social networks are free, some of their functions are not free (Linkedin's premium account, for example) and the management/planning platforms also offer free or paid services.

You can also run advertising campaigns and organise competitions.

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

Here's a quick guide: on average, a company invests between 2 and 10% of its turnover in overall communications, depending on :

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

Within this overall budget, a greater or lesser proportion is set aside for digital, depending on the business sector and its 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 objectives 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 using 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, don't waste time
• Accepted/Achievable: the person dedicated to this task is operational and willing to do the job
• Realistic: otherwise it will be a source of frustration. Be patient, don't aim to quadruple your subscribers in a week
• Temporallydefined: the objective must have a deadline, otherwise it will fall by the wayside!

Step 3 - What is your target audience? Your audience?

Your target audience can be broad, depending on the products or services you offer. But if it is 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 if you are to stand out from your competitors. And the more qualified your target group, the more engaged they will be on your social networks.

Example of a successful social networking campaign:

When Cetelem, via its emblematic 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 - Look after your content and define your editorial line

🤜 Of fer rich, concise and varied content so that it gets 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 and infographics are very popular, especially with 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 is playing an ever-increasing role, readers want the human touch, not 100% product.

🤜 Link back to your site, don't forget that the objective is to make yourself known, 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 more suitable 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 might decide to use Facebook as a showcase for your activities, Instagram for the best photos of your events, Twitter for your "hot" news and Linkedin for your recruitment or professional advice.

Be careful, though: there's no point in sharing 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 achieving the status of expert or influencer.

Step 6 - Plan ahead!

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

Be present! You need to publish regularly, but not excessively, 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 boring your subscribers) --> maximum 4 publications per week and per social network. Here are a few tips to help you stand out subtly.

When should you publish?

Yes, there are certain times when it is advisable to publish. For example, the peak times for connecting to social networks often correspond to commuting times (for public transport users) and before bedtime.

⚠️ Beware, of course, that these times 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 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 over the short or medium term can be very practical and save you time, especially for recurring posts.

Step 7 - Analyse your results and make adjustments

There are KPIs or performance indicators for analysing 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 has actually appeared in subscribers' news feeds.
• Acquisition (fans, subscribers, followers)
  Your audience in figures and its percentage growth.
• Engagement (likes, shares, comments)
  The number of times users interact with your publications.
• Conversion (landings 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 is hard to take, be constructive and suggest solutions, but beware of trolls (people or robots whose aim is to start and fuel controversy on your page), who will waste your time.

The web adage goes: "Don't feed the trolls" .

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

• Prior moderation : content is read and validated before it is put online. This may reassure the company, but it limits the spontaneity of exchanges.
• Moderation after the event: users' contributions are checked after they have been put online. This ensures transparency and lively debate, but can lead to problems if things go wrong, especially if you are not responsive.

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