Explain the steps for choice of media and also identify the factors affecting the media.
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They know the importance of social media to their business and it’s on you to make it happen with a social media plan. Results don’t just happen. So how do you craft a winning social media plan that drives growth for your client? It’s not easy to find the balance, especially when you’re working solo. The battle for attention is fiercely competitive and the social media market is increasingly crowded. The platforms themselves don’t make it any easier, with algorithm changes and new features being added constantly. This is nowhere more evident than on Facebook. Even though there are 2 billion monthly Facebook users, organic reach for business Pages continues to decline rapidly.
What does this mean for you when you’re planning out your client’s social media activities?
You need a social media marketing plan to keep your efforts on course to delivering value and return on investment (ROI) for your clients. Here’s how to structure your plan in seven steps:
Step 1 – Set goals for your social media plan
“Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.”
– Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
If you don’t have a goal, you’re not going to get anywhere. At least, not anywhere meaningful. Setting goals is the first port of call when crafting your plan.
But, how do you determine what goals should be included in your social media plan?
Align your goals to your client’s business objectives
Where does your client want to get to? It’s so important to have this clear before you start developing a plan. You can also ask them what they’ve done in the past, what worked and what didn’t. Once you understand your client’s business goals, you’ll be able to prioritize the actions that will help achieve those goals.
If you haven’t been doing this up until now, answering this simple question will have a profound impact on your ability to prove your effectiveness as a social media manager.
Agree on the goals of your social media plan
Now that you know what your client’s business goals are for the quarter, you can set goals for your social media plan. The SMART system is a helpful tool to help you define your goals. Here’s a quick overview of the system:
Specific – what exactly are we trying to achieve?
Measurable – what are the numbers, so we’ll know when we’ve achieved it?
Achievable – how is this going to get done?
Relevant – is this the right goal for this time and place? Are we the right people for this goal?
Time-sensitive – when will this goal be achieved?
For more help with SMART goals, Smart Insights shares common mistakes on setting marketing objectives and the 10 measure design tests to make sure you’re focussing on metrics that matter. Following the SMART goal process will help you come up with a goal that’s in clear alignment with your client’s business objectives. Achieving your goals will naturally yield results your client needs and deliver ROI.
Step 2 – Decide which networks to focus on
When you don’t have a huge team behind you, you need to know which networks will deliver the best results for your clients. And, you need to be ruthless when prioritizing where to focus your efforts. The good news is not all networks are equally valuable to your client’s business. This can be due to demographics, how the different platforms are used or because of the type of product or service your client offers.
Factors affecting the media:
The problem of selection of the best medium or media for a particular advertiser will vary greatly, depending on the particular situation, circumstances and different other factors in which a person is conducting individual business. Media selection involves a basic understanding of the capabilities and costs of the major media. The problems which the advertising has to face in the selection of media are:
- Profile of the target market
- Coverage or exposure
- Frequency
- Continuity
- Impact
- Copy formulation
- Media cost and media availability.
In addition to these problems there are a number of other major factors which influence the decision of the advertiser and therefore, the same must be considered while selecting the media. The most significant of these factors are:
Objectives of the campaign
- Budget available
- Research concerning client
- The product
Type of message or selling appeal
- Relative cost
- Clutter
- The potential market
- Miscellaneous factors.
The media selecting decisions should be made by having a comprehensive understanding of these factors. But it should be kept in mind that in many cases it is the combination of these factors that determines the selection of media, and not any one individual factor.
The Objectives of the Campaign
This factor is in some respects quite closely related to the preceding factor. In those cases when the advertiser uses a medium to advertise in an area where retail distribution is not adequate, his/her decision on media selection is influenced both by his/her distribution pattern and the objectives he/she has in mind.
The objectives of the campaign also influence media selection from a somewhat different standpoint. An institutional advertising campaign may be run in a different media than would a product advertising campaign for the same company. In the case of product for which the dealer is very important in the ultimate sale to the consumer, and far more significant than the influence of consumer advertising, the advertiser may select media primarily for the effect the will have on dealers. So, the objective of influencing dealers will be the prime factor in the selection of the medium to use.
The Budget Available:
The advertising budget is concerned with two major decisions about how the advertising effort will be carried out. First, how much is to be spent for advertising in the coming period? Second,, how much budget is to be allocated to different areas within the company’s total sales territory? And how much budget be allocated for media? Because the budget determines the weight of advertising effort which is an important variable in determining the effectiveness of the entire advertising effort. The product might be one for which actual demonstration on TV would be highly desirable. Yet the advertiser would be unable to sponsor (or even cosponsor) such a programme because its cost would exceed the total advertising budget. The advertiser might believe it desirable to use a multi-colour advertisement in a magazine not only to reach desired prospects, but also to influence the trade favourably. But if he still finds that his budget does not permit even that type of ad in the magazine, then the advertiser must turn to a medium in which he can get sufficient participation or a sufficient schedule of insertions to achieve an effective programme. So the availability of funds must be considered in planning-and selection of media.
What does this mean for you when you’re planning out your client’s social media activities?
You need a social media marketing plan to keep your efforts on course to delivering value and return on investment (ROI) for your clients. Here’s how to structure your plan in seven steps:
Step 1 – Set goals for your social media plan
“Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.”
– Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
If you don’t have a goal, you’re not going to get anywhere. At least, not anywhere meaningful. Setting goals is the first port of call when crafting your plan.
But, how do you determine what goals should be included in your social media plan?
Align your goals to your client’s business objectives
Where does your client want to get to? It’s so important to have this clear before you start developing a plan. You can also ask them what they’ve done in the past, what worked and what didn’t. Once you understand your client’s business goals, you’ll be able to prioritize the actions that will help achieve those goals.
If you haven’t been doing this up until now, answering this simple question will have a profound impact on your ability to prove your effectiveness as a social media manager.
Agree on the goals of your social media plan
Now that you know what your client’s business goals are for the quarter, you can set goals for your social media plan. The SMART system is a helpful tool to help you define your goals. Here’s a quick overview of the system:
Specific – what exactly are we trying to achieve?
Measurable – what are the numbers, so we’ll know when we’ve achieved it?
Achievable – how is this going to get done?
Relevant – is this the right goal for this time and place? Are we the right people for this goal?
Time-sensitive – when will this goal be achieved?
For more help with SMART goals, Smart Insights shares common mistakes on setting marketing objectives and the 10 measure design tests to make sure you’re focussing on metrics that matter. Following the SMART goal process will help you come up with a goal that’s in clear alignment with your client’s business objectives. Achieving your goals will naturally yield results your client needs and deliver ROI.
Step 2 – Decide which networks to focus on
When you don’t have a huge team behind you, you need to know which networks will deliver the best results for your clients. And, you need to be ruthless when prioritizing where to focus your efforts. The good news is not all networks are equally valuable to your client’s business. This can be due to demographics, how the different platforms are used or because of the type of product or service your client offers.
Factors affecting the media:
The problem of selection of the best medium or media for a particular advertiser will vary greatly, depending on the particular situation, circumstances and different other factors in which a person is conducting individual business. Media selection involves a basic understanding of the capabilities and costs of the major media. The problems which the advertising has to face in the selection of media are:
- Profile of the target market
- Coverage or exposure
- Frequency
- Continuity
- Impact
- Copy formulation
- Media cost and media availability.
Objectives of the campaign
- Budget available
- Research concerning client
- The product
Type of message or selling appeal
- Relative cost
- Clutter
- The potential market
- Miscellaneous factors.
This factor is in some respects quite closely related to the preceding factor. In those cases when the advertiser uses a medium to advertise in an area where retail distribution is not adequate, his/her decision on media selection is influenced both by his/her distribution pattern and the objectives he/she has in mind.
The objectives of the campaign also influence media selection from a somewhat different standpoint. An institutional advertising campaign may be run in a different media than would a product advertising campaign for the same company. In the case of product for which the dealer is very important in the ultimate sale to the consumer, and far more significant than the influence of consumer advertising, the advertiser may select media primarily for the effect the will have on dealers. So, the objective of influencing dealers will be the prime factor in the selection of the medium to use.
The Budget Available:
The advertising budget is concerned with two major decisions about how the advertising effort will be carried out. First, how much is to be spent for advertising in the coming period? Second,, how much budget is to be allocated to different areas within the company’s total sales territory? And how much budget be allocated for media? Because the budget determines the weight of advertising effort which is an important variable in determining the effectiveness of the entire advertising effort. The product might be one for which actual demonstration on TV would be highly desirable. Yet the advertiser would be unable to sponsor (or even cosponsor) such a programme because its cost would exceed the total advertising budget. The advertiser might believe it desirable to use a multi-colour advertisement in a magazine not only to reach desired prospects, but also to influence the trade favourably. But if he still finds that his budget does not permit even that type of ad in the magazine, then the advertiser must turn to a medium in which he can get sufficient participation or a sufficient schedule of insertions to achieve an effective programme. So the availability of funds must be considered in planning-and selection of media.
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