Welcome to The Social Smarty Show, your weekly podcast for social media marketing tips, tactics, and practical digital marketing advice. Let's get you taking real action to grow your online audience, build connections, and your business. I'm your host, Jodine McIntyre. Think of me as your digital marketing coach, cheerleader, and wing woman all rolled into one. Grab some of my social media marketing know-how for free at socialsmarty.co/freebies. Now, before we dive in, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss any future episodes.
Welcome to the latest episode of The Social Smarty Show. In today's episode, we are going to be taking it back to basics, as I share with you the eight steps of social media marketing. Now, if you're just starting out in business and you're wondering how to go about getting started with social media marketing, or maybe you are taking your social media marketing back in-house after you've had an agency or a social media manager run things for you, then this is the episode for you. But even if you've been running your own social media marketing for some time now, I still recommend having a bit of a listen to today's episode. It might just remind you of a few things that you should be doing when it comes to showing up online.
Let's dive on in. Step number one when it comes to mastering your social media marketing is understanding your audience. Now, I can't stress enough how important this is to know your audience inside and out when it comes to your social media marketing. Who are they? Where do they hang out online? What inspires them? What drives them crazy? What are their frustrations and their pain points?
And what makes them really happy? What do you have that they need or they want? And what words do they use? These are all such important questions to answer before you can really nail your social media marketing. And that's because the answers to those questions filter through everything we do on social media. So you're going to use that information when you create or optimize your profiles, like in your account name, in your bio, in your intro. You're going to use that information in your content, and your messaging, even your visuals. So you really need to get clear on who you're creating content for and what's going to resonate with them. Then you're going to have a much better chance at succeeding on social media. Now, I know it sounds really obvious, but I do work with clients day in and day out who still don't really know who their customers or clients are. Or actually, maybe they do know them well, but they haven't applied that knowledge to their social media marketing. So as we continue through the episode, I'll be referring back to step one a lot, but it is so important to get clear on who your customers or your clients are.
Okay, let's move on to step number two, which is getting really clear on your goals. Now, I know goal setting can be a bit of a snore fest, and it can actually be really hard. When you're trying to figure out smart goals for your business, you're trying to think of what is clear, measurable, realistic, all those things, it can be difficult. So instead of stressing too much about your goals, I want you to focus instead on what is achievable, what is realistic, what can you realistically achieve through social media marketing. So if you're thinking that running Facebook ads, for example, is going to be the silver bullet that drives thousands of sales through your website that is currently pretty dormant, then you probably need to think again. But if you think that social media might be a great tool to build brand awareness, that real top of funnel, the top of your marketing funnel, or growing your email community, which you then nurture those people into buying from you or booking your services. Or maybe we're going to use social media to drive traffic to your website, and then your website is going to take it from there with a really great website that converts them into a sale.
These are far more realistic goals for our social media marketing. So I want you to take some time and just think through how are we going to approach our social media marketing to achieve these realistic outcomes and what are those outcomes we can expect. And this is important whether you are brand new to social media or you've been there for quite some time. I really encourage you to take some time to think this through. Okay, step number three is choosing the right platforms. Now, not all platforms are created equal. It's imperative that you choose the ones that align with your target audience, and this takes us back to step number one, where we really need to know who our target audience is, where are they hanging out so that we can go and hang out there too? Whether it's Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok, your preference or your platforms really need to match your audience's preferences. And believe it or not, you don't have to have a presence on every single social media platform. You need to choose your platforms wisely and then show up consistently. Right, next we have step number four, and this is all about crafting compelling content.
This is the fun part. This is where we get to show up online. We can create content that resonates with our target audience. Again, step number one, we need to know what resonates with our target audience so we can create content that aligns with that. So our very first job of any social media post is to grab attention. So we need to know what is going to grab the attention of our target audience. It doesn't matter how thoughtful or witty or informative our captions are or how compelling our offer is. If our target audience doesn't stop scrolling, they're not even going to see any of that stuff. And what is scroll stopping for my target audience is likely to be really different to what is scroll stopping for your target audience. So again, we need to understand our audience inside and out. Right, step number five is consistency. Consistency is key. Regular posting, if we're showing up on a regular basis on social media accounts, this is going to keep our audience engaged, and we're going to stay top of mind. Our brand or our business is going to be fresh in our audience's minds.
Consistency builds trust, it builds credibility. Now, consistency doesn't just mean remembering to post every day, waking up in the morning and thinking, I hope I post today. Consistency means having systems in place, processes that will help you show up consistently. That is things like planning your content in advance, having that content calendar, defining your content themes or your content pillars, having some key messaging moments, having spent some time really understanding your audience and what messaging resonates with them. Then it's also using a scheduling tool like Meta Business Suite or Publer. Honestly, if your plan is just to wake up in the hope that you remember to post, you are not going to post consistently. You will fail. I am speaking from experience, so consistency is key and having those processes and systems in place is really going to help you with that. On to step number six, that is engagement and interaction. Social media, as we know, it isn't a one-way street. It is a communication channel where we can talk to our customers or clients or potential customers or clients, and they can talk to us, too. So it is so important, more important than you might realize to spend time responding to comments and messages and engaging with your target audience.
This humanizes your brand, and it really builds those deeper connections. Remember, people buy from people. It is much, much harder to get someone to buy from a faceless business than it is to show up as a person and build connections that turn into sales. And again, have a process. If you're using Facebook and Instagram, the Meta Business Suite has a really great inbox and it helps you keep track of every single comment and private message or DM across Facebook and Instagram so that you don't miss anything. And then, of course, you need to have that time set aside for when you're going to spend the time engaging and connecting. This is often forgotten about by business owners. They focus on the content creation, but they forget about the engagement piece, which is just as important. Step number seven is another boring one, but it's analyzing and adapting. So this is where you're tracking your performance using the analytics provided by the platforms. You don't need a Flash third-party analytics reporting tool. All of the analytics are built into the platform, and this is where you're going to monitor what's working and what's not. And this data, these analytics, can really guide your future marketing efforts.
Of course, we're going to do more of what is working and less of what is not. It really is just that simple. And again, I sound like a broken record, but have a process in place. This could be as simple as a spreadsheet you fill in once a month, or maybe it's just blocking some time out in your calendar every month where you know you'll spend that time reviewing your analytics and making some notes. You could note down what you've achieved, how many people you've reached, what's worked really well, what has generated a lot of reach and engagement for you, and which pieces of content didn't perform so well. I know analytics can be really dry and uninteresting, but if you get into a habit of analyzing the data, you might be surprised at just how much clarity you can gain. Now we are onto the last step, step eight, which is staying informed about trends and changes in the social media marketing space. Now, I know more than most just how fast the social media landscape moves and changes and evolves, and it's so important to stay up to date on the latest trends, the latest changes.
This is going to give you the knowledge to adapt your strategies and make sure you're staying relevant. And this is where I come in. Every week, I send an update to my email community, letting them know the key changes and updates in the social media marketing world, just the ones that I think they should be across. So if that sounds like something you'd be interested in, come and join my email community. Head to socialsmarty.co/signup I will pop the link in the show notes, but I would love to have you inside the email community so I can keep you up to date.
So that's it. That's my eight steps for nailing social media marketing. Let's do a quick recap. Step number one, really understanding your target audience. I cannot stress that enough. That is the most important step. Step number two, getting clear on your goals, choosing those realistic objectives or goals or what you're going to achieve with your social media marketing. Step number three is all about choosing the right platforms. Step number four, crafting compelling content. Step five, all about showing up consistently, having those processes in place. Step six is your engagement and your interaction. Step seven, analyzing and adapting, using all of that juicy data. And lastly, step eight, which is keeping yourself informed about trends and changes in the social media marketing world.
And before I go, I want to remind you that every business has its own unique journey. So what works for you might not work for me, vice versa. Try not to compare yourself with others. Just get stuck in. There is so much clarity in just having a go. And if you follow these fundamental steps, you will have a really solid foundation for your DIY, social media marketing efforts.
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Social Smarty Show. If you found this episode helpful, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with all of your fellow self-made business owners who are ready to take their social media game to the next level. Until next time, stay social.
