Imagine being out with your coworkers on a team building project. The chosen task is archery and you’re new to the sport. There are basic things you’ll need, right? At the very least, you’ll need a bow, a quiver of arrows, and some instruction. Well, what if one of those basic things was missing? Can you imagine shooting an arrow without a target? What would you aim at?! If there’s no target, you’d be shooting at random so… would there even be a purpose?
Well, shooting archery is a lot like social marketing and building a social media mission statement. It takes a target to move forward.
When you started your online business, you must have had your own targets and goals. Even if they were just mental, they were there. All new online business owners have a list of tasks they must complete to get their online store up and running.
One of those important tasks is social media. And, like other tasks, your social media efforts will be much more successful if you start with a goal in mind and build a mission statement around it.
Leveraging the power of social media is vital in today’s digital world. Being active on social media platforms is a must if you are trying to market your business to online shoppers. There is no easier way to reach your target market. Social media is (mostly) free and convenient… and expected in today’s world of eCommerce.
Now, if you are wondering how to earn your business page the buzz it deserves, you need crystal clear direction on where you are heading.
Linked to your social media plan, you need a mission statement. By setting goals for your business, you give it a target to shoot for. It’s a matter of sense of direction. If you have no goals and measurements, it would be impossible to know what is working and what’s a specific solution you can have to the problem.
Don’t waste time, money, and effort. Don’t use social media just because it is there. Use it because you know it is a helpful tool and have social media goals for your business.
A simple key to this is to create a social media mission statement. It’s a roadmap to your social media marketing success. It’s as simple as what you really want after you launch your social media campaigns and your method of measuring it.
Be sure that your social media statement can be answerable by these 6 questions:
1. Is there a point person that will drive the success of your social media campaigns?
You expect results, though a team is responsible to know the campaigns, one should be the point person. Select a certain leader who will head the social efforts in increasing commitment and allow team members to have someone to answer their questions.
2. What specific results do you want?
Goal setting is a powerful process and an important one for your social media mission statement. Be specific to your goal like you want to have an increase traffic to your website or target a 1,000 page likes every 3 months. Setting goals gives you a long-term vision. Whatever your goals are, make sure they are documented. Be sure too that these are measurable and attainable.
3. Where will you focus your efforts?
Is Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, or Youtube the best place to put your marketing efforts? There are tons of platforms you can use and it depends on what you are trying to accomplish for your business. You have to take note too that every social media has its own strategy. It may be good to be everywhere but focus on a few and apply the good action.
In this era of waning brand loyalty, if your business wants better engagement, you go for Twitter and Instagram. Engagement with brands on Instagram is 10 times higher than Facebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest, and 84 times higher than Twitter. Be sure to get the most bang for your buck.
4. Will you regularly evaluate your campaign?
It should come as no surprise that there’s a balance in everything. Social media too, it’s always a balance between art and science. Nothing is a surefire win with social media since it is constantly evolving. The basic rule is to keep a record of the trends and relate it to your social media campaigns. It’s a matter of running a social media campaigns and identify what works well and what is not.
This is why you need to reevaluate if your social media campaigns are working. The strategy and content you use and so that you can tweak things along the way. It’s a simple way to identify what content is doing better than the others and the time and day you posted it. Some business prefers to have a monthly evaluation so they adjust their next month’s strategic plan.
5. Why are you using social media?
After evaluating your social media efforts, you can now determine how to position your business that is different with others. It’s good to have a signature too where people can easily recognize your brand. You may be best at something and you need to be specific. Your brand might be delivering good humor content that is related to your business that reaching a good audience.
It would really depend on what you are trying to aim, a brand can run contest and giveaways so you can acknowledge your loyal followers.
Be unique, don’t just create a business page just because that’s social media, always have a good intention to grow as a business.
6. Does it fit your overall mission?
If you are a retail shop that aims to shoot a target to be recognized as being a one shop stop of all trendy apparels then be sure to communicate it well. Marketing is not just the team who can benefit it but it can also be a tool for creating your own community. Listen to what your consumers’ suggestions and this information can be used to improve your operations team.
If your business can answer these questions, you are on the right track. The answers will form the base of a strong social media mission statement with specific, measurable, and attainable goals in mind.
