You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again, step one of defining a strategy for your social media activity is to have an objective – a business reason for going for social. Simple right? Well not exactly but these 10 tips should help you address the main factors involved in starting, improving and sustaining a successful social media campaign…whether it’s already active or you’re just about to start it.

1. Listen to yourself

I said you’d hear it again…Know what you want you want to get out of social media and have an objective you constantly keep in mind. Social media is a space to interact and communicate, if you’re not doing this you’re doing it wrong. So remember what your mother told you and think before you speak!

2. Listen to others

The conversation about your brand, industry or service has already started, but before joining in, make sure you understand the atmosphere and protocol of it by doing your research first.

Start listening to:

• Key public figures
• Mentions of your company
• Popular industry/ advocacy sites
• Newsgroups
• Blog comments
• Companies like you

3. Create personas

Your audience want to interact with you as a person, not as a corporation. This doesn’t mean you don’t have to act professionally but relating to the mindset of your customers will help you to identify potential character traits, personalities, habits and attitudes of the consumer base you want to target.

This will enable you to create a social media plan of ideal scope and size, as well as helping you better understand how to interact.

4. Select resource

Got big plans for getting your brand heard across as many social media platforms as possible? Well before plan your social domination, make sure you consider how many hours and people you can devote to running it, and who needs to be involved in strategising.

Think about:

• Technical experience of staff
• Having a volunteer base (long-term v short term)
• The amount of time that staff members can devote to social media
• Time saving devises: repurpose existing content for social media sites

5. Define conversions

What are the things you want to achieve and measure the success of your social media activity against? Knowing this will prevent you from losing sight of your goals, which can easily be done in the ever changing and trend shifting environment of social.

• Build better relationships
• Raise brand awareness
• Increase sales
• Increase website traffic
• Build up your database
• Inspire people to action
• Increase donations

6. Create a proposition

Promoting yourself in a social space does not require long sales pitches and lengthy corporate spiels about your history and ideals. So think about how you define your company in a single, simple phrase.

Ensure your proposition is:

Focused and on point 

Has a cohesive, unifying theme

Easily grasped by short attention spans

7. Select channels

By researching the social landscape you’ll be able to select which channel(s) best suit:

• Your goals
• Your brand story
• Your resources
• Your target
• Your content

If you’re not sure how you’d fit into a platform then don’t use it! Start by selecting the social platforms you’re comfortable and build your strategy to incorporate more, if necessary, as your social status grows.

8. Join the conversation

So, you’ve listened to what’s being said and now you’re ready to join in and connect with your audience but remember to adhere to the basic principles of social media etiquette:

• Stay Transparent
• Keep It Conversational
• Write What You Know
• Admit Mistakes
• Don’t Ignore Negativity
• Trust Your Instincts

9. Listen and learn

Don’t ever stop listening, its how you found your audience in the first place and its how you’ll keep them.

• Find new conversations to join
• Track responses to your social media activity
• Discover what messaging works
• Re-evaluate your strategy and focus on growth through your successes
• Drop what isn’t engaging and learn from it

10. Don’t be afraid

Start now and fine tune later! The sooner you get started the better, and relax…remember every mistake you make in the beginning is an opportunity to improve.