5 Steps to Executing a Social Media Branding Plan

Social Media Branding Should Have its Own Strategy

Small businesses need many plans of attack, sales plans, marketing plans and so on. Under your carefully crafted marketing plan should live a social media branding plan. It’s estimated that as much as 80% of consumers turn to social media before making a purchasing decision. So while it’s true that social media is a form of marketing, it’s so important it needs its own strategy. We’ve outlined 5 steps that must be included in every social media branding plan.

1. Create a Guide for Consistency

Your brand should be recognizable across all platforms, from Facebook to Instagram and beyond.

• Make sure the descriptions of your brand are nearly the same, but slightly tweaked for the platform. For example, you may have more room to describe yourself on Facebook than Twitter, or you may want to sound a bit more hip on Snapchat. Just be consistent and don’t stray too far from pre-planned keywords.
• Make sure the logos you are using are the same across the board.
• Be sure your posts are consistent with your brand. Social media is casual, but there are ways to still sound professional.

2. Content Decisions

Every social media platform has a few things in common, so you can post the same content across all channels, but you shouldn’t. Audiences are different to some degree, but there’s still a lot of cross over. You don’t want the people who follow you on twitter to get bored with your facebook content.

Think about what works best for each platform. Snapchat lends itself to a “behind the scenes” vibe. It can be raw and unedited. Instagram followers want a more polished look, beautiful pictures with filters. Facebook lets you share entire articles with video and more, while twitter has a 140 charter limit.

So, if you are a coffee shop and you have a new line of premium coffee debuting, you could use Snapchat to show the new beans arriving and set up a geo-fence to snag walk-in business. Then post a pretty shot of the new drink to Instagram, hop on facebook and go live with how you made the new drink and tweet about how you are using locally sourced cream in the coffee.

It’s the same subject across all platforms, but each tweaked a bit as part of your social media branding plan.

3. Don’t Panic, Automate

If step two sounds like a lot of work, don’t panic. For larger events you will want to get fancy, but for every day business you can automate. There are a variety of apps and websites that will help, like Buffer and Hootsuite. Find cool articles or videos and share them on all marketing platforms, post daily pictures but limit videos to pre-shot pieces. Just be sure to follow up on any engagements, remember social media is a two-way street.

4. Content Calendar

There is no magic number of posts to hit, be frequent and organic. Intermix your automated posts with live, as they happen posts. A calendar can help you stay organized. Hubspot and Buffer bother offer social media calendar templates.

5. Manage the Details

Here’s where the everyday part of your social media branding plan comes into play.

• Define your target audience on each platform
• Choose a dedicated social team
• Get the correct tools (automated posting, calendar, etc.)

Social media is the perfect place to build your brand in a budget friendly environment. This will take a fair of amount of effort and planning, but the results will be worth it. Your social media branding plan could translate to more name recognition, though leadership opportunities, brand advocates, increased sales, you name it. Just stick to the plan.

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Founded in 2001, RUSSO is a strategic branding agency with offices in New Orleans, Lafayette and Nashville. RUSSO uses consumer insight to develop branding initiatives that effectively change the conversation — forming emotional connections between the consumer and the brand. To learn more, visit brandrusso.com.