The do's and don'ts of an effective social media strategy

You can have the best content on your social media account, but unless you have an effective marketing plan, there’s nothing much you can do with it. You need to build a social media strategy - a very powerful tool that helps your brand gain visibility, builds brand awareness, drives engagement, and helps establish yourself as a brand.

For your social media strategy to work, it should be combined with thoughtful planning and clearly defined objectives, and constant sharing of relevant content. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to social media, there are certain things you can do and you can avoid when working on a social media strategy. Building a compelling social media presence requires a lot of planning, and this is what Kool Kanya’s social media program will teach you.

Table of Contents

1. Do’s of an effective social media strategy
2. Don’ts of an effective social media strategy

Do’s of an effective social media strategy

1. Maintain an active social media presence
   You might have a social media account, but are you really active? You need an active online presence since those accounts that do not have a regular flow of fresh content or are inactive, do not rake in the kind of activity you wish to see. Plus, social media is the easiest and most cost-effective way of promoting yourself, which is all the more reason for you to stay active on it. So, narrow down which social platforms are most appropriate for your business and maintain an active social media presence by sharing engaging and relevant content

2. Write for your audience
If you have accounts on different social media networks, ensure that the content you create for these platforms caters to a particular audience. For instance, the content you create for Twitter might not work on Instagram. So, when you sit down to build your content calendar, think about the people you wish to engage.

3. Create a content calendar
Since you will be posting on different social media platforms, the next logical step would be to build a content calendar. A content calendar is the perfect organisational tool that can help you keep track of upcoming content by specifying the platform, content type, topic, and deadlines. It will help you keep your social media presence active and consistent across all social media channels. By leveraging a content calendar, you will be better equipped to produce a consistent mix of high-quality content without overwhelming your feeds.

4. Use captivating visuals in your content
People are quite visual. So, even if you have written something really engaging, there are chances that your followers might overlook it. What do you then? Add a compelling visual to your post as this will make your audience take a second to pause and view it, and also lets you communicate your message more effectively.

Don’ts of social media strategy

There are certain things you should avoid doing when you are building your social media content strategy. And these are as follows:

1. Don’t copy the same content across all platforms
   The best way to ensure that you succeed is to capture and engage the interest of your followers by posting new and creative content on a regular basis. And do you know what this would include? It consists of catering to social media content for audiences and the best practices of each platform. For instance, the content you find on LinkedIn differs a lot from what goes out on Twitter, which is again different from the compelling visual content shared on Instagram. By understanding your different audiences, you can repurpose your social media content across different channels to your followers’ specific needs, interests, and best practices.
2. Don’t ignore your followers
   While all feedback from your followers won’t be positive all the time, it’s not a good idea to ignore questions or other comments, irrespective of how negative they might be. This can hurt your social media traffic, annoy your followers, and even compromise your engagement rates. Remember that each comment left on your feed is an opportunity for you to engage with your audience and build trust and loyalty.
3. Don’t go overboard with hashtags
   Punctuating your social media posts with hashtags used to help you attain more popularity is no longer an effective strategy to gather more engagement. It can even negatively affect the performance of your social media accounts by making posts feel more spam-like and less genuine. And this often results in engaging more bots than actual followers who are actually interested in your content. However, don’t shun hashtags completely as they can help you monitor the content’s performance and research. As hashtags are search-engine friendly, they help your target audience discover and engage with your content on social media.
   P.S. Limit your use to 2-5 relevant hashtags per social media post.
4. Don’t post on social media without proof-reading your content
   A simple typo or grammatical error can be quite minor, but these have the ability to ruin your credibility as your social media followers might think of you as appearing inept. This can create confusion or even promote misinformation. So, before you publish your social media posts, ask someone you trust to review them for any mistakes. Incorporating this practice into your routine will save you a lot of time in future—as opposed to fixing these posts once they are made live.

Keep these things in mind when you are planning your social media strategy and execute your post seamlessly.