Improve your social media strategy in 5 easy steps

Since I’ve been blogging for Buildicus, our website traffic has increased. pauses for clap on the back

But it’s not nearly as high as it could be. pauses for “awwww”

So I decided to take a look at my social media strategy to see what I could be doing better. The answer? Pretty much everything.

Since the prospect of overhauling my entire social media strategy is pretty overwhelming, I have decided to break it down into manageable chunks by coming up with a 5-step action plan.

I’ll be focusing on Twitter only for the following action plan, but eventually I’ll apply the steps to each of the other social networks I use.

Here’s the plan, step by step.

Step 1: List the problems

The first thing I need to do is figure out what are the specific problems I’m having with Twitter.

Problems:

Not enough engagement from followers in the form of conversations, back-and-forth.
Not enough sharing of Tweets with links to my content.
Not enough Retweets.

Step 2: Identify how to solve the problems

Now that I’ve identified the problems I’m having with Twitter, I need to figure out how to solve them.

Problem 1: Not enough engagement from followers in the form of conversations, back-and-forth.

Solution: This is all on me. I have to take the time to initiate conversations. How?

• Asking questions of my followers.

• Answering questions posed by the people I follow.

• Commenting on links posted by others.

• Retweeting content posted by others.

Problem 2: Not enough sharing of Tweets with link to my content.

Solution: Instead of just Tweeting the title of my latest blog posts with a link, I need to get better at crafting Tweets that pique interest. But before that, I need to take a look at my blog posts themselves. So, I’ll:

• Create better-quality content.

• Create more shareable content (images, infographics, video).

• Tweet more often.

• Craft better Tweets.

Problem 3: Not enough Retweets.

Solution: In order to get Retweets, I need to give Retweets. And although it sounds kind of needy, I need to ask for Retweets. I will:

• Retweet the content of others.

• Ask for Retweets.

[caption id=”attachment_5065” align=”aligncenter” width=”600”] via The Genie Lab[/caption]

Step 3: Create an action plan

Now I need to come up with a plan for implementing all of these solutions and break it down by daily, weekly and monthly tasks.

Daily:

Spend a half hour in the morning engaging with followers, and again in the afternoon.

I really want to grow engagement, so I need to spend some serious time on Twitter making this happen.

During this time, I will create engagement as well as make sure to respond to all engagement. This includes thanking folks for Retweets, asking questions, answering questions, commenting and sharing content.

Weekly:

Take 20 minutes to find people in my field to follow.

I will also add them to lists to make it easier to find their content in the future. More on how to create Twitter lists: The simple & brilliant way to increase Twitter exposure

Take 20 minutes to schedule links to my content throughout the week.

More on the benefit of scheduling Tweets here: How to schedule Tweets (& save your sanity)

Monthly:

Take 20 minutes to unfollow people.

There’s no point in following those who are giving me no engagement back, or who I’m not getting any value from in the form of quality information. Right?

So I’ll use Tweet Adder to find out who’s not following back, or who unfollowed me, then cut them loose.

Step 4: Add action plan to calendar

Next, I will assign times, days, and dates to these tasks, and add them to my planner.

And I will stick to these dates. The plan will only work if it is followed diligently.

Step 5: Re-evaluate the plan, make changes

I will give this action plan three months, and then I’ll take a look at the numbers to see whether or not it is a success. If necessary, I’ll adjust or make any changes, then test those out as well.

And, of course, as I said at the top of this post, I will adapt this social media action plan to each of the other social networks I use.

I think this will make a huge improvement to my overall social media strategy, and I’ll be sure to follow up with this post in the future to report back on my findings.