With the rise of internet users and the number of people online, it's little surprise that social media dominates our online activities. Australia was home to 20.80 million social media users in January 2024, equating to 78.3 per cent of the total population.

Intel tells us that roughly 27.23 million people will be social media users in 2029. If you’re a brand, this is a big opportunity to persuade and infiltrate your target audience.

To succeed in social media, you need a foolproof strategy that coordinates with your overall business and digital goals. Social media marketing is a continuous operation, and businesses that approach it with discipline and understanding will emerge as winners.

What is a social media marketing strategy?  

A social media marketing strategy is the development of a social media plan that outlines a clear objective, your method of achieving those objectives, and how the objectives will be measured. 

Think of social media marketing strategy as a subtle yet effective way of infiltrating your target’s minds. Once your business has established your presence in front of them long enough on a social media platform, they are likely to recall and buy from your brand. 

How to Create a Social Media Strategy

To get started, here is a step-by-step guide on how to create an effective social media marketing strategy. 

Step 1: Understanding Your Audience

The worst mistake businesses make in marketing is trying to market to everyone, and this is true in social media. Before starting your social media journey, you should have a concrete understanding of your customer persona and how they consume social media. 

To create a solid social media marketing strategy, you should be able to answer these questions about your customers and your brand. 

Once you have the answer to these questions, you can move to the next step - defining your objectives. 

Step 2: Setting Clear Objectives

Your social media marketing objectives are what drives your business strategy. They provide a framework for your execution and allow you to determine if you’ve succeeded. Whether generating new leads, increasing your followers, or gaining brand awareness, your objectives should be broken down into numbers.

The SMART goal-setting rule is the assassin’s way of developing objectives. They should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-oriented. Here are some examples of SMART objectives for a social media marketing strategy. 

Different brands will have different goals, so be sure to set a goal that’s relevant and achievable to you. 

Section 3: Choosing the Right Platforms

There are a vast number of social media platforms in Australia, but their usage varies. As a brand, you should consider your resources before selecting which platform you wish to engage with your target audience.

Your business shouldn’t aim to be in every platform, but select the ones that are most used by your potential customers. Your target demographic will be a good indication of your platform.

For example, LinkedIn is often used by business professionals, and TikTok is mainly used by Gen Z. A company marketing to these demographics should establish its presence on the relevant social media platforms. 

Step 4: Content Creation and Brand Voice 

Once you have understood your consumers and how they like to consume content, it’s time to start crafting it. There is no shortcut to creating good content; it should be relevant and engaging to your audience to achieve your goals. 

If your goal is to educate your audience on how your brand has recently helped a client achieve a technical project, then an image carousel on LinkedIn might be your best weapon. But if your brand aims to increase engagement and brand liking among a younger audience, then a funny video on Instagram and TikTok is your best bet. 

As with any content, your social media posts should align with your brand voice. Are you professional, friendly, funny, relaxed? Maintaining a consistent tone of voice on social media will help you solidify your presence. 

Step 5: Create Engagement 

Engagement is defined as the number of times your target audience interacts with your content on social media. This is typically measured in terms of likes, views, and comments. 

Creative and informative content garners more engagement, and that should be your goal in social media. Consider strategies like contests, brand-to-brand partnerships, influencer marketing, live videos, and question-and-answer sessions to increase engagement. 

Interacting with your community on social media is also a proven infiltration tactic. Not only will it improve your brand image by ensuring customers that you’re listening, but it also helps you gather useful intel about your target. 

Step 6: Leverage Paid Advertising

For that extra artillery on your social media strategy, consider launching paid social media ads. Unlike an unpaid, organic post, social media posts are sponsored ads that appear on customers' social media feeds. 

Just like how search engine marketing gets more eyeballs on your brand, paid ads on social media achieve the same goal for your business. All social media platforms have the option of brand advertisements - and you can choose where you want your ad to appear (i.e. stories, LinkedIn mail) 

To optimise your budget and make the most of your social media ads, follow these best practices. 

Step 7: Analyse your social media performance 

Social media analytics is monitoring your brand’s social media performance and metrics based on your goals. It is the key to optimising your marketing budget and ensuring you make better-informed decisions. 

Businesses can analyse their social media performance through their platform's built-in analytics feature (i.e. Facebook Insights) or third-party software. There are six main types of social media analysis typically measured among marketers. 

Step 8: Staying Up-to-Date with Social Media Trends

The last and most important part of your social media marketing strategy is staying updated with the latest trends in social media. The realm of social media is constantly changing, and it's important to know the latest sentiments to avoid creating the wrong content online. 

Understanding the latest trends can also help brands leverage these trends on their platform. For example, Vegemite capitalised on pop icon Taylor Swift’s recent tour in Australia through a funny Facebook post. The singer’s tour was a much-talked-about subject among the Aussie population. 

Brands should constantly monitor their social media pages to understand what customers are talking about, as well as use platforms like Google Trends. 

Key takeaway 

Creating an effective social media marketing strategy involves skills, audience knowledge, and crafting the right content that gets engagement. Having a fast-loading website to lead your target audience from a social media platform is also crucial. 

At Digital Assassin, we help brands refine their social media strategy with informational content and a killer website. Our digital marketing package involves assessing the relevance of a social media strategy for your business, engaging visitors with content creation, and building efficient websites that increase the chance of sales.

Our content creation calendar includes blog posts, SEO-optimised YouTube videos, and case studies that help businesses infiltrate their customers on socials. We work together with our partners' internal staff to ensure all content is made to produce targeted results. 

To get started with improving your social media marketing strategy with Digital Assassin, speak to an assassin today.