Tag: social media marketing strategy

Social Media Marketing Plan Template

January 3, 2019 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Need a social media marketing plan template to organize your social media strategy for 2022? My 37-page printable Social Media Marketing Planner for 2022 covers Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram with an easy 4-step process for organizing and planning each platform.

Step 1: Set Your Social Media Goals

The template starts with setting goals for your social media strategy plan overall and the particular social media sites you wish to focus on. This is important so that you can actually quantify what you want to do. For example a goal would be:

“I want to increase my social media target overall by 300% by the end of 2020”
“I want my social media posts to increase in engagement by 200% by the end of 2020”
“I want my to automate my social media content so I am posting every day of the year”

37-page Social Media Marketing Plan Template

Then the template moves to setting goals for each particular platform. For example, a goal would be:

“I want to grow my Facebook followers by 200% by the end of 2020”
“I want Instagram traffic to my blog to increase by 400% by the end of 2020”

If you don’t set initial goals, then it is difficult to measure your success.

Step 2: Outline Your Social Media Strategy

Then the template moves to planning your strategy for each platform, and each one is different.

For example, on Facebook and Pinterest you might want to try joining more groups. On Instagram you might want to try creating posts using more of the latest filters or hashtags.

Step 3: Brainstorm Your Content

Then the social media marketing plan template gives you pages for the content plan for each platform, with inspiration as to what content does best on each platform.

For example, DIY posts do really well on Pinterest. Quotes do well on Twitter.

Step 4: Outline Monthly Social Media Content Plan

Then you get monthly social media calendar templates for each platform that you can tailor for each month, as you do need to plan ahead to have content ready to go.

Includes reminders such as captions and hash tags to add.

Step 5: Track Your Social Media Success

Finally there are the social media success tracking pages, which are very important to see if you are meeting your goals, if not you need to change your strategy. No point wasting time marketing on social media if it is not driving traffic to your business.

Includes things such as most popular posts and traffic generated.

Social Media Marketing Plan Template Bonuses!

As a bonus, I include:

240 social media posting ideas to inspire you.
200 social media hashtags so your posts can get discovered.
Pages for social media events, such as giveaways, so you can also strategize, plan and track their success.

My social media marketing plan template will help you plan, organize and strategize for success, so download today!

Be sure also read my post, 400 Awesome Instagram Captions.

Maximize Your Social Media Strategy for Fall

September 8, 2014 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

So what’s your social media strategy for fall?

Besides fall-related content, it can be something as simple as updating your social media banners (and online store banners) to reflect the current fall season.

It can be a valuable sales tool for your small business.

Your cover images/banners are like ads for you. You can use them to announce a seasonal sale, a new fall offering, as well as to make your shop look current and still active, particularly to first time visitors.

If you sell clothing for example, do you want customers to come to your Facebook page and see that your cover image is still showing your summer fashion offerings? It might make them think you are no longer in business, or only specialize in summer clothing.

See how these top brands below have maximized their social media cover images for fall.

Update Your Social Media Banner Images for Fall

I like how Banana Republic has used their Facebook cover image to show various clothing pieces from their new fall collection.

Update Your Social Media Banner Images for a Seasonal Event

September is big for back to school, and for some stores, that is a top selling time. Below, The Children’s Place, used their Facebook cover image to promote buying back to school clothes to their followers.

Update Your Social Media Banner Images to Announce a Fall Sale

Crate and Barrel only holds their upholstery sale once a year in the fall, so they use their Facebook cover image to promote it.

Update Your Social Media Banner Images to Show New Fall Offerings

I love how the nail polish company Zoya, used their Facebook image to show their autumn inspired line of polishes.

Update Your Social Media Profile Descriptions

Don’t ignore your social media profile descriptions either. A lot of companies will update their Twitter and Instagram profiles, for example, to include #hash tags of seasonal trending terms, such as #NYFW2022 (New York Fashion Week), #NFL or #Halloween. Again, you can also use your profile descriptions to announce a fall sale i.e. Fall #Sale On Until 9/31/22 or fall event, i.e. See Our New Fall Look Book.

It is so important that your business always looks current on social media. It can be easy to neglect, but since more and more sales are being driven through social media, it is a mistake to not update it for every season.

Be Sure to Also Check Out

About Me

A 20+ year marketing professional, small business consultant, ebook author & blogger, my advice has been featured in the NY Times, Success Magazine, American Express, Big Commerce, Business2Community to name a few – so this is professional advice you can trust!

I have consulted for thousands of small businesses since 2012. It really does help to talk to someone who is objective to get a new, but professional, perspective. I have also written publicity pitches for clients that resulted in them being featured in Real Simple Magazine, Apartment Therapy, House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Houzz, Martha Stewart, Glamour Magazine, LONNY, DesignMilk, Emmaline Bride,– just to name a few.

How Your Small Business Can Get Big Attention on Social Media

February 24, 2014 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Need ideas for getting attention on social media?

There is a reason Oreo cookies has over 35 million followers on Facebook. They take advantage of what is trending on social media to get themselves seen by millions (a suggestion I have made many times on this blog).

For example, here are some of their best posts from the last two weeks, capitalizing on the Sochi Olympics trending big on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

They are not blatantly promoting their product. They are using their product to comment on what is going on in pop culture in an entertaining way.

Now, obviously as a small business you can’t afford an in-house graphic artist to conceive a new idea for you every day. But every once in a while try posting a really creative graphic that ties your product or service in with something that is trending, and it may get you widely circulated on social media.

Upcoming Events That Will Be Trending on Social Media:

Paris Fashion Week (February 25)
Academy Awards (March 2)
Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday (March 4)
International Women’s Day (March 8)
March Madness (March 18)
First day of Spring (March 21)
Passover (April 14)
Easter (April 20)
Earth Day (April 22)

About Me

Do you need your Brand Story written or an SEO-Optimized Blog Post or a Personalized Business Consultation? As a 20+ year marketing professional and small business consultant, all of my services are super affordable.

I have consulted for thousands of small businesses since 2012, and my advice has been featured in the NY Times, Success Magazine, Yahoo Business, American Express, Big Commerce, Business2Community to name a few – so this is professional advice you can trust!

My Publicity Pitch service has also gotten my clients featured in Real Simple Magazine, Apartment Therapy, House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Houzz, Martha Stewart, Glamour Magazine, LONNY, DesignMilk, Emmaline Bride,– just to name a few.

Which Social Media Site is Best for What You Sell?

June 6, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

What is the best social media site for what you sell?

There are so many social media sites available right now, that to try and be on all of them effectively is a huge endeavor for a small business. But the truth is not all social media is right for all types of products.

The Most Popular Social Media Sites

These are the most popular social media platforms in general, based on the number of searches each month on Google:

Facebook – 185 million searches each month.
YouTube – 151 million searches each month.
Instagram – 20 million searches each month.
Twitter – 11 million searches each month.
Pinterest – 9 million searches each month.
Tiktok – 2 million searches each month.

Now, I was curious to see which social media people are using to search for which types of products, so you can find the one that is right for your business.

Best Social Media for What You Sell

Fashion – Instagram is the clear winner here, although Instagram is on the rise. Six times as many people search for fashion on Tumblr as they on do Pinterest, the next most popular social media.
Wedding – Pinterest completely dominates this category, with no other social media really coming close.
Vintage – Facebook is the leader here, with really no other social media even showing promise.
Art – Again, Instagram dominates the searches for art.
Beauty – Makeup is searched highly on Tiktok and YouTube, mainly through tutorials.
Kids – Pinterest was the winner here, as moms love it.
Geek – If you sell gadgets and geekery, “geek” is searched more on YouTube than any other social media.

It might be helpful to note that products are not really being searched for on Twitter. Instead, Twitter searches tend to be primarily focused on news events or pop culture. Also, #hash tags (a great way to search by keyword) are typically only used on Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram, slightly used on YouTube and Pinterest and not at all on Facebook.

FINAL WORD: Because social media is time consuming, you would be best to only spend your efforts on the ones your target market is using.

About Me

My Latest Pinterest Marketing Tip

March 15, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Want to know my latest Pinterest marketing tip?

I am not sure if your business is using the popular social media site, Pinterest, but you may want to consider it. One of the most popular types of pins is inspirational quotes. In fact, quotes comprise almost 50% of all pins.

So how can you use this trend of inspirational quotes to help your business get noticed on Pinterest?

Pinterest Marketing Tip If You Sell Art

First of all, if you do wall art such as this, then you should have no problem getting your products pinned. Just make sure that you have a product photo that goes in tight on the saying so it is readable. Then, add a watermark of your url or shop name so people can trace it back. Sometimes when people pin your items from some of the mobile apps, the original source gets lost.

Pinterest Marketing Tip If You Sell Kids Products

But what if you sell something else, like kids’ products? Well, here is where you can get a little creative. Simply find a cool or funny or inspirational saying that relates to your product and photograph your item against it or add the text to the product photo. For example, if I was selling baby booties, I would take a shot of the booties and to the side of the booties I would photoshop in the words, “I never knew how much love my heart could hold until someone called me Mom”.

FINAL WORD: You can do this for any type of product. If you sell food have a quote about food. If you sell jewelry, have a romantic saying. If you sell fitness products, have a motivational saying. It is almost like doing an ad with a tag line. But this is what gets pinned and repinned and will give you exposure.