Module 2

Creating a Social Media Strategy

By: Charlotte Diamond

 University of Social Media

Creating a Social Media Strategy

Here are the points to be taken in this module:

● Setting Your Social Media Goals

● Choosing the Right Social Media Channels for Your Business

● Creating a Content Strategy

● Developing a Posting Schedule

● Crafting Engaging Captions and Hashtags

2.1 Setting Your Social Media Goals

1
 University of Social Media

Trying to navigate social without an end-game is both daunting and frustrating.

Instead, marketers should be empowered to get down to business.
That means knowing exactly what you should be doing day-by-day to meet the needs
of the companies, clients, and customers you’re working with.

2.1.1. Why do social media goals matter so much?

Marketers can’t afford to ignore the process of setting goals on social media. Below
are just a few of the reasons why specific goal-setting is an absolute must-do for
marketers.

Goals hold you accountable

Whether you’re working on behalf of a company or client, there’s a growing
expectation for marketers to discuss social media ROI with their bosses.
Social media has the unfortunate reputation of being a time-sink among some critics.
By defining goals, you’re able to point to the specific steps and actions you’re taking to
meet your business’ needs and justify your role.

Goals guide your budget

Maybe you’re laser-focused on content creation. Perhaps you want to go all-in on
Facebook ads. Either way, outlining your goals and an action plan is key to both
figuring out what you need to spend to see results.

Goals encourage marketers to pay attention to data

Social media objectives are contingent on KPIs and metrics. Putting together a
high-performing campaign means understanding what’s moving the needle in terms of
engagement, clicks, and revenue.

2
 University of Social Media

2.1.2. How to start setting social media goals

Now that you have a good idea of why you shouldn’t just “wing it”, we’ll dive into the
specifics of how to set social media goals.

The following framework is fair game for any business regardless of which social
network you’re focusing on.

Begin with a broad objective

Pop quiz: why is your business active on social media in the first place?

Beginning with a big-picture objective makes the goal-setting process less intimidating.

Here are some examples for reference:

● Small business: engage local followers and grow a greater community presence
● Startup: build awareness for a new product and generate leads for it
● Enterprise company: provide a timely customer service channel to boost
customer loyalty

With a broad objective in mind, you can then start thinking about specific, granular
goals that’ll directly inspire your day-to-day social activities.
And hey, that leads us directly to our next point.

Setting SMART goals

Here’s where we get into the nitty-gritty.
Once you’ve gotten your big-picture goals figured out, it’s time to outline your
SMART social media objectives.

3
 University of Social Media

The SMART goal-setting framework is insanely popular and we can’t recommend it

enough for social marketers.

In case you aren’t familiar SMART is an acronym for:

● Specific: Your goals should be clear, simple, and defined.
● Measurable: This is where analytics come in. You want a goal that has one or
more metrics.
● Achievable: Is it achievable or is it not possible within your resources?
● Realistic: With your current resources of time and money, is it possible to
achieve your goals?
● Time-sensitive: Every goal needs a time frame, whether it’s one year or several
months.

Identifying your goal metrics

Next, it’s time to identify the metrics you’d like to assign to your goals.
As noted, there are KPIs and metrics tied to every goal.
Let’s use “increase brand awareness on Facebook” as an example goal. For marketers
focused on this goal, you’d want to pay close attention to the following:
● Fan count
● Page and Post Impressions
● Post Reach
● Link clicks (if you are linking to your company blog)
● Website analytics for Facebook referrals

4
 University of Social Media

In a SMART breakdown, “increase brand awareness in the next 3 months” for a cafe
might look something like this:

● Specific: Increase brand awareness on your Facebook account within a five-mile

radius of the cafe.
● Measurable: Increase fan count by 15%. Increase link clicks on posts about the
new cafe by 15%. Have an average Post Reach of 1000 people per post.
● Achievable: Yes
● Realistic: Boost new cafe posts with advertising by $15 per post, targeting an
audience within a five-mile radius. Consider also posting neighborhood specials
to get the word out about the cafe.
● Time-sensitive: 3-month time limit on achieving the goal.

Tracking your results over time

Whether or not you’re reaching your goals depends on your ability to monitor your
data over time.
Are numbers ticking upward in terms of clicks and conversions? Is your audience
growing?
Whether the answer is “yes” or “no,” you’ll know for sure if your action plan is
working.

Data is especially important for setting realistic social media goals. After all, goals
require context.
For example, let’s say your Instagram is averaging 100 followers per week. Scaling up
to 125 or even 150 per week within the span of three months isn’t unreasonable.
However, expecting that average to boom to 500 or 1,000 isn’t rooted in reality.

5
 University of Social Media

2.1.3. Sample social media goals by platform

Remember: goals, priorities, and expectations vary from platform to platform.
To wrap things up, here are some goals for social media broken down by individual
networks and their specific strengths.

Facebook
If your business wants to run advertising that targets hyper-specific users, look no
further. With social media’s largest user base and most robust ad-targeting platform,
Facebook is the gold standard for paid ads for local businesses and e-commerce giants
alike.

6
 University of Social Media

Twitter
If your business wants to build relationships with its target audience, Twitter is a solid
starting point. The platform is ideal for use as a customer service or business
development tool as you can go back and forth directly with customers and other
companies.

LinkedIn
If you’re a B2B brand, LinkedIn is the place to be. The go-to network for
professionals, LinkedIn is all about flexing your company’s influence and networking
for new opportunities.

7
 University of Social Media

Instagram
If your business is selling a “visual” product (think: retail, hospitality, travel),
Instagram is your bread and butter. Countless brands have managed to engage their
communities through eye-popping photos, Stories, and compelling visual ads.

Pinterest
Pinterest is not unlike Instagram with its emphasis on visuals and product-based
content, although its audience skews slightly older. Given that the majority of
Pinterest users rely on the platform to research products, marketers should think twice
before treating it as a “secondary” social network.

8
 University of Social Media

2.2. Choosing the Right Social Media Channels for Your

Business
With more social media platforms than ever before to choose from, brands are faced
with a tough question: which ones are right for me? Rather than employ the “spray
and pray” method, identifying which social media platforms your customers use is an
effective way to connect with your target audience where they’re at. According to the
latest Sprout Social Index™, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are the top social
media platforms consumers will use in the next 12 months.

9
 University of Social Media

In the eyes of the consumer, all social platforms are not created equal. Their social
platform preferences vary based on factors like age and interest—and even then
there’s no guarantee the platform of their choice is where they like to engage with
brands.

2.2.1. Facebook
Key Stats:
● Monthly global active users: Nearly three billion
● US users: Over 179 million
● Average time spent per day (US): 30 minutes
● Largest age group: 25-34 year olds
● Who should use it: Brick and mortar small businesses (think: local events and
reviews) and nonprofits (think: fundraisers) are two industries that stand out on
Facebook. It’s also useful for creating different interest groups, customer
service, and social advertising.

Why you should be on Facebook

Reigning as the most popular social platform by monthly active users worldwide,
Facebook is one network businesses can’t afford to ignore in their digital strategy.
According to the Computed Social Index, 71% of consumers and 65% of marketers
plan on using this platform the most in the next year.

For brands looking to increase their reach and grow their business, there’s a good
chance their next customer is on Facebook. Paid social ads reach those customers—in
fact, more than a quarter of all digital ad spending goes toward Facebook.

10
 University of Social Media

Facebook messaging and reviews are also crucial customer service and social media
tools. Considering 60% of consumers say they use Facebook the most for customer
service, it’s a key platform to meet your customers where they’re at. Adding a

2.2.2. WhatsApp
Key Stats:
● Monthly global unique active users: Over two billion
● US users: Over 68.1 million
● Average time spent per day: 28 minutes
● Largest age group: 26-35 year olds
● Who should use it: Direct-to-consumer brands like retailers or even financial
services can benefit from offering customer service to an international
audience.

Why you should be on WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the most popular global messaging app. For brands, WhatsApp presents
an opportunity to personally connect with customers all over the world, providing
timely support and real-time business updates.

And making personalized interactions easier matters—70% of people say they expect
conversational experiences with brands on social, and 60% of brands say DM-ing
plays a role in their customer care strategy.

If you’re wondering how to use Whatsapp for business, there are many options; from
standard customer care to creative marketing.

11
 University of Social Media

2.2.3. TikTok
Key Stats:
● Monthly global active users: One billion
● US users: Over 179 million
● Average time spent per day: 89 minutes
● Largest age group: 10-29 years old
● Who should use it: TikTok’s What’s Next report highlighted these key
industries: Apparel & accessories, beauty & personal care, travel, food &
beverage, and financial services.

Why you should be on TikTok

Known for less-polished, meme-y short videos, TikTok dominates as one of the
platforms US consumers spend the most time on, and it’s no longer the new kid on
the block. With 38% of consumers expecting it to be one of the platforms they use
the most this year, it’s time to give TikTok marketing a try.

Showing up with authentic content on TikTok can build trust with consumers on the
platform—73% of users feel a deeper connection to brands they interact with on
TikTok vs other platforms. Considering nearly half of users say TikTok helped them
make purchase decisions, that trust can go a long way.

TikTok trends can inspire other social content—on the app or on other
platforms—and help marketers understand what topics are relevant to younger
consumers. And while TikTok remains a core platform to reach Gen Z, the app has
aged up, making it possible to reach a more cross-generational audience, too.

12
 University of Social Media

2.2.4. Instagram
Key Stats:
Monthly global active users: Over two billion
US users: Over 159 million
Average time spent per day (in the US): 30 minutes
Largest age group: 25-34 year olds

Who should use it: Travel, beauty, fashion, and health/fitness tend to do well on
Instagram. If your brand is all-in on influencer marketing, posting user-generated
content, and using short-form videos, Instagram is crucial.

Why you should be on Instagram

Instagram is one of the most widely used platforms among US adults, and 49% of
consumers expect it to be the platform they use most this year. As the preference for
short-form video increases, brands need to invest in platforms like Instagram where
this content is king.

Instagram is also a key place to tap for influencer or creator collaborations—which is

especially impactful for Gen Z and Millennial audiences.
The ease of Instagram shopping has also made the platform a shopping hub.

With 70% of shoppers looking to the platform for their next purchase, leveraging this
feature can help you connect with customers while making sales. Consumers are also
sliding into DMs with questions and feedback, making Instagram a valuable
component of your customer service.

13
 University of Social Media

2.2.5. Twitter
Key Stats:
● Monetizable daily active users: 237 million
● US users: 76.9 million
● Average time spent per day: 34.8 minutes
● Largest age group: 18-29 year olds
● Who should use it: The jewelry industry gets the most engagement on Twitter,
as does fast-moving consumer goods, food, beverages and home. But higher
education is an industry that can uniquely benefit from Twitter by creating
different channels for the variety of sports teams, areas of study and
communities they cater to.

Why you should be on Twitter

Twitter is one of the top social media platforms for brands to keep up with the latest
trends and conversations that their target audience cares about. One of Twitter’s
newer features, Twitter Spaces, makes it possible to have live conversations with your
audience that you can promote beforehand, and Tweet out later.

Twitter also enables brands to receive direct audience feedback and questions. And
being responsive can build your brand’s image—Twitter customer care interactions
lead to a 58% better attitude toward brands. This makes the platform a powerful place
to collect consumer insights on how to improve products, services or social content.

14
 University of Social Media

2.2.6. LinkedIn
Key Stats:
● Members worldwide: 830 million
● US users: 190 million
● Average time spent per day: 34.8 minutes
● Largest age group: 25-34
● Who should use it: Almost every business can benefit, but some of the top
industries they highlight in a recent report are tech & information, finance,
healthcare, media & entertainment, marketing & advertising, travel and
hospitality, retail, consumer goods, and real estate.

Why you should be on LinkedIn

While LinkedIn is often associated with B2B marketing, there are plenty of reasons
why brands should consider developing their LinkedIn strategy. As the world’s largest
professional network, it’s one of the best social media platforms for business and for
lead generation; brands are able to hyper-target their professional audience using rich
demographic data and interest-based filtering.

It’s also home to job seekers and investors, making LinkedIn a valuable resource for
recruiting and establishing your employer branding strategy to differentiate from your
competitors.

15
 University of Social Media

2.3. Creating a Content Strategy

Your goal is to deliver high-quality, relevant content that will engage your audience,
establish brand trust, and drive business—but how can you tailor your social content
to break through all of the noise, provide value to your audience and ultimately impact
your bottom line? A social media plan is a comprehensive blueprint for your social
marketing strategy that will help you do just that.

It includes:
● Setting realistic social marketing goals to align with your overall business goals
● Determining how you will measure the success of your social marketing efforts
● Integrating emerging trends and best practices into your strategy and content
development

This 30-day social media plan template is designed to help you re-invent your social
media management strategy so that what you share aligns with the interests of your
community and contributes to overall business value.

You will learn how to:

● Create an effective social strategy that aligns with audience interest
● Diversify your content and build a robust content calendar
● Determine business value driven by social

Use the social media plan template below to track your progress as you work through
the plan. By completing just one task each day for the next 30 days, you can fully
transform your social marketing strategy.

16
 University of Social Media

Week 1: Establish your goals and define your metrics

Day 1: Establish goals for social

Establishing clear social media goals is the first step toward transforming your
strategy. Determine exactly what you want social to achieve. Here are several examples
of goals you might consider:
● Drive website traffic
● Raise brand awareness

17
 University of Social Media

● Boost brand engagement

● Generate new leads
● Nurture leads
● Build a community around your business
● Establish authority and industry expertise
● Improve customer support
● Shift brand sentiment

The objective here is to give purpose to your social efforts. Once you’ve established
your social goals, the content you produce and share should continually support those
goals.

There are several methods to help you write out specific social media goals, including
the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) method.

The OKR method asks you to set a broad objective statement and list out key results
that describe what successfully achieving that objective looks like. Here’s an example
of a broad objective statement supported by clear, result metrics that define meeting
the objective.

According to this example, if your objective is to boost brand engagement, you must
increase the number of likes, shares, mentions and comments by 20% by the end of
the fourth quarter.

18
 University of Social Media

Day 2: Define your success metrics

How are you going to define the success of your social efforts? Decide which metrics
will provide the right data to determine whether or not social is supporting your
business goals.

As you identify your success metrics (e.g. organic mentions, share of voice, or
conversions), set clear standards for your social campaigns so that you know when
you achieve success. If you are tracking audience engagement, what exactly do you
consider successful engagement rates for your social content?

Depending on the type of content you produce, where you share and the goals you set
for your social marketing efforts, the metrics you track will change.
If you’re at a loss for the goals your team should set, use a Social Media Metrics Map
to assess options for owned, earned, and paid social.

Day 3: List out your challenges

The task is simple: Make a list of the challenges you face when it comes to social
media marketing. Think of any barriers that are keeping your social content from
making its biggest impact.

As you list out your challenges, write out simple explanations of how these barriers are
impacting your marketing efforts or overall business success. Here are a couple of
examples to help you get started.

Challenge 1:
Although we consistently post on social, we are not achieving ideal engagement levels.

19
 University of Social Media

Challenge 2:
We have seen a dramatic drop in our social content’s organic reach.

Not sure what your specific challenges may be? Use this

20
 University of Social Media

Day 4: Brainstorm solutions

Round up your marketing team and brainstorm possible solutions to the challenges
you previously listed.
Be sure to provide evidence to justify effective solutions so that you’re prepared when
the time comes to gather resources and advocate for your budget.

Solution to Challenge 1:
We can use creators to engage with our social content and drive conversations.
Justification: In 2022, most marketers (74%) planned to spend at least a quarter of
their social media budget on partnering with a content creator. With loyal followings,
creators can boost engagement and keep relevant conversations going on social.

Solution to Challenge 2:
We can invest in paid social media advertising to run highly targeted campaigns and
reach the right people.
Justification: Almost half of consumers report they “find the perfect products” by
seeing targeted ads. By 2025, social shopping is set to become a $1.2 trillion channel.

Day 5: Analyze the competition

If you’re running out of ideas, try running a competitive analysis. Be careful not to
mimic your competitors’ content, but use your analysis to determine your brand’s
unique positioning instead.

Your brand and its competitors have similar ideal customer personas, so focus on the
type of content that is resonating, both within your own social efforts and those of
the competition.

21
 University of Social Media

Here are a few questions to consider as you analyze your competitor’s social marketing
efforts:
● Which marketing channels are my competitors using and are they successful in
those channels?
● What are my competitors talking about and are those topics generating high
audience engagement?
● Are there areas within our social strategy where we are outperforming our
competitors?

Social analytics solutions are an effective way to compare your efforts against your
competitors.

You can pinpoint days when competitors experienced peak engagement and dive
deeper into what content was shared on those days to understand what resonates
most with target audiences.

Week 2: Optimize your profiles and brand voice on social

media

Day 6: Determine your strengths and weaknesses

Take a deep dive into your social strategy and determine where you are successful and
where there is room for growth.

Conduct a survey among your marketing, sales, customer service, and product teams
to gauge where they see areas of success or room for improvement.

22
 University of Social Media

For each criterion regarding your social marketing strategy, determine whether it’s one
of your strengths or weaknesses. This will help identify what you should focus on over
the next five weeks.

Day 7: Audit your content

Run a social media audit to identify your best-performing content and most popular
channels. Take time to understand what’s working and why. Your metrics can help you
identify which posts effectively cater to the interests of your audience.

If your posts aren’t engaging and resonate with your followers, your social media
content strategy needs to shift. Use your audit to review the content you’ve shared
and identify which posts had the biggest impact.

23
 University of Social Media

Day 8: Create a list of relevant keywords

Use social media listening tools to identify the keywords most often associated with
your brand. These keywords can help your team throughout the content
brainstorming and creation process.

Social listening can help you uncover unique opportunities to tie trending
conversations to your business and products.

For example, our team of analysts found that a new TikTok sound titled “Corn but it
becomes a song and unites world” spawned over 607,000 videos. Nando's UK went
all-in on this trend by showcasing their grilled corn to the sound, garnering 11.6
million views and over a 330,000 likes.

Day 9: Determine your brand voice and social persona

When it comes to building a social audience, consistency is key. Creating a brand voice
and identifying a persona will enable you to remain consistent across all of your social
channels.

After you narrow in on your persona, choose three words that describe your brand
then explain what they mean for your brand and create dos and dont’s to guide
content creation.

24
 University of Social Media

Day 10: Optimize your social profiles

While much of your time is spent planning and creating content, the information
included on your profiles is vital to the success of your social marketing efforts.
After you’ve determined your brand’s persona, build out your profiles to align with
your voice.

At a quick glance, your profile should speak to your brand with relevant visuals and
engaging copy. Here are a few tactics to optimize your social profiles.

25
 University of Social Media

1. Use a consistent profile picture

If you own multiple social channels for your business, it’s important that your profile
picture is consistent across every channel. Most businesses will use their company
logo or variations of their logo that have been designed specifically for their social
accounts. Staying consistent across your profiles will increase opportunities for brand
recognition.

2. Complete every section of your profile

If there is a field for information, take advantage of the opportunity to tell your
brand’s story. In creative and succinct ways, you should be able to describe what your
business does, the offerings you can provide, and how you add value to the lives of
your customers.

3. Add keywords to boost SEO

On Day 8, you compiled a list of keywords relevant to your industry, brand and its
offerings. Use these strategic keywords in every section of your profile to boost SEO.
They should appear in your bio copy, in photo names, interests and experiences.

Week 3: Find and listen to your community to better

understand your industry

Day 11: Develop your buyer persona

Transforming your social marketing strategy may require you to either revisit your
current buyer personas or create new ones from scratch.

Buyer personas help you better understand current and future customers, so you
know exactly who you are marketing to and can create relevant content and offerings.
Start by writing down everything you know about your target customer and perform

26
 University of Social Media

research to fill in any gaps. For a robust buyer persona, try to capture the following
information.

● Demographics
● Backstory
● Lifestyle
● Career
● Purchase behaviors
● Finances
● Goals, challenges, pain points

Day 12: Listen to your audience

Listening to your community can help you gain insight into the minds of your
followers, so you can be more strategic in your social marketing efforts.

Here’s what you should listen for on social media:

● What your audience is talking about and what they share most often
● What your audience is saying about your brand, industry, products, services and
competitors
● What your audience is sharing on forum-style platforms like Reddit or Quora
● How your audience engages with creators, trending topics and industry events

Day 13: Research industry trends and topics

To create relevant content and establish your brand as an authority on social, you must
stay up to date with what’s happening in your industry.

27
 University of Social Media

Join conversations surrounding high-interest topics. Perform ongoing research to

make sure the content you produce and share aligns with the current interests of your
community. Here are a few resources that will help guide your research.

Newsletters
As social marketers, research is one of our most valuable skills. Instead of browsing
aimlessly through content, rummaging through thousands of social profiles, or
running endless Google searches, an easy way to streamline research is to sign up for a
solid mix of newsletters.

Newsletters provide insights into the state of the industry, changes in technology,
updates to social networks, and emerging trends and best practices.

Here are a few newsletters that social media marketers should add to their resource
list:
● Link in Bio features expert interviews from industry-leading social media
managers. The newsletter shares actionable advice and relatable experiences to
inspire their community.
● Social Media Today focuses on sharing original analyses of what’s happening in
social media. Their content is platform-focused, providing social marketers
with insights on how to adopt new features and where other brands are finding
success.
● SocialMedia.org is a membership organization for leaders in the social media
marketing space. Their weekly newsletter, The Shortlist, highlights member
stories as they share what they’re working on and what they’re keeping an eye
on in the space.

28
 University of Social Media

Webinars
Webinars can have a significant impact on social marketing strategies by generating
new leads and prospects, nurturing existing relationships, and demonstrating expertise
in our industries. During webinars, many businesses will live-Tweet along with their
users to answer questions and keep the online conversation going.

Webinars can also provide a way for us to learn, which can spark content ideas during
our brainstorming sessions. Social Media Today provides a wide variety of webinars
specific to social marketers. You can register for upcoming webinars or watch from
their library of on-demand sessions.

Forums
Forums give marketers an effective way to identify the topics that spur the most
conversation online. Quora is a great resource to discover topics of interest, ask
questions and engage in conversations relevant to your brand. As a brainstorming
tool, forums can help social marketers build social content plans that address
questions people are already asking.

Blogs
Adweek (and publications like Digiday and Marketing Land) present the anatomy of
the latest, most creative campaigns out there, and also fill you in on the most recent

29
 University of Social Media

news. The Mission (and Medium generally) is great to turn to for thought leadership
and gauging the pulse of our industry and the visionaries in it.

Day 14: Connect with other departments

As you continue researching industry trends and topics as inspiration for your
content, connect with other departments within your organization.

Social is no longer limited to marketing, with functions across the business weighing
in on strategy. But as a more diverse set of stakeholders gets involved, core social
teams will need to adapt. Figuring out who owns what, and which proficiencies are
needed across teams, has to be addressed as social strategies become more
sophisticated.

30
 University of Social Media

For example, try speaking with members of your sales team: they are often the first
points of contact for consumers, and they can provide insight into customers’ needs,
challenges and successes. This insight can help generate content that addresses these
needs or highlights successes.

Your human resources team can also provide insight into ongoing employer brand
initiatives. Collaborate with HR to investigate how employees and potential hires are
engaging with your brand on social. Their understanding of your workforce can help
you identify what content is most effective for this important group of stakeholders.

31
 University of Social Media

A social media collaboration tool can help you streamline your efforts and manage
cross-functional initiatives.

Day 15: Choose your content types

Start thinking about the types of content that will benefit your brand the most, while
keeping your audience engaged.

Refer back to the buyer personas you created to determine if an image linking to a
blog post would perform better than a Twitter chat or an Instagram Live event.
Consider the resources available to you to determine if you can create a high-quality
how-to video, or if you need to scale down your efforts and create an infographic
using the same content.

For the best results, diversify your content to keep your audience interested. If you
post the same type of content day after day or week after week, your audience will
inevitably disengage.

Here’s a list of possible content types you can start incorporating into your social
marketing strategies:
● Memes
● GIFs
● Infographics
● How-tos
● Polls
● Contests
● User-generated content
● Photo and video

32
 University of Social Media

● Live streaming
● Audio

Before you start searching for content to share on social, figure out what your
audience actually likes. One way to do that is to look at past social media posts to see
which were most successful.

Make sure you sort your posts by the metric that is most important to you, whether
that’s clicks, responses, or total reach. Once you have an idea of what kind of content
works best, you can move on to the next step.

Week 4: Fill out your social content calendar to increase

reach and engagement

Day 16: Develop a posting schedule

Your publishing cadence depends on a handful of factors including your company,
your audience, the campaign in question, and the social networks being used. We
cover this more in our guide on how often to post on social media, but here are some
recommended cadences for each network:
● TikTok: 1-4 times per day
● Instagram: 1-2 times per day
● Facebook: 4-5 times per day
● LinkedIn: No more than 1 time per day
● Twitter: 3-4 times per day
● Pinterest: No more than 1 time per day

33
 University of Social Media

There’s a good chance your post frequency will depend on the size, experience and
authority of your social media team, so don’t feel like you have to send out less than
stellar content to meet these guidelines.

Your brand’s analytics can help you determine your best posting frequency.

Day 17: Brainstorm content ideas

Now’s the time to gather your inspiration and plan out content you know will resonate
with your audience. The key to effective brainstorming is to put yourself in the
mindset that inspiration can come from anywhere.

Think of what your business does well and how you can turn that into an engaging
content piece. Look through some of your older content and see if you can repurpose
or reformat it for a different channel.

Based on the conversations you’ve discovered are popular among your audience, how
can you contribute to those conversations with fresh content? Here are some of
2022’s most popular content types.

34
 University of Social Media

Video
About 66% of consumers cite short-form video as the overall most engaging social
content, while 37% prefer live video and 24% prefer long-form video. Even if you
don’t have the budget to hire a videographer, don’t rule this medium out. Tools like
Canva and Biteable have democratized the creation process. Anyone on your team can
make professional, on-brand videos, even while working remote.

35
 University of Social Media

Images and text-based posts

In the era of video, images and text-based posts still pack a punch with today’s social
users. In fact, 61% of consumers find images to be the most engaging social content.
From Instagram carousels to Twitter threads, these posts are key pieces of leading
content strategies.

User-generated content
Marketers have been able to amplify user-generated content to increase brand
awareness, promote products and services and use the digital word-of-mouth concept
to build brand trust and increase sales. In fact, 39% of consumers like to see brands
share customer testimonials or real customer demos.

Day 18: Gather resources

Once you’ve determined the types of content best suited for your business and have
decided on a publishing cadence, start gathering your resources.

Think back to the types of content you decided to incorporate into your social
strategy and what resources you need to bring them to life. Here are several questions
for you to consider as you start collecting your resources.

● Have you decided on the type of creative assets you’ll use and how you’ll store
them?
● Who within the company needs to be involved in order to create this specific
content piece?
● Do you need any sort of creative support for visual elements?
● Do you already own content (guides, e-books, blog posts) that can easily be
repurposed for social?

36
 University of Social Media

Day 19: Draft your social media plan calendar and create your content
It’s time to get to work. Start the content creation process and set reasonable timelines
for project completion.
Be sure to build social content that speaks to your customer personas, stays true to
your brand voice, and can easily fit within the posting schedule you’ve established.

Day 20: Optimize your content

During the creation process, it’s essential for you to optimize your content so that
your efforts don’t go unnoticed in consumers’ crowded social feeds. Every net new
content piece you create should be able to be repurposed for another use down the
line.

Consider your video strategy. A video can be broken down into short clips, quote
graphics, still images, and more. Think through your options while creating content so
you can fill out your social calendar with less effort going forward.

Here are a few additional tactics to optimize your social content to maximize reach
and increase engagement:
● Include hashtags
● Shorten links
● Include images
● Adapt content for various social channels

37
 University of Social Media

Week 5: Supplement and boost your social media content

calendar for the best results

Day 21: Create a call to action

Not all of the content you share on social needs to encourage customers to take
action. You may even find that some of your most popular posts are those that simply
showcase your brand personality or provide a good laugh for your audience.

Take The Sill, for example. Their TikTok videos provide their community with tips for
caring for plants with a twist of humor that feels authentic to their brand. They go
beyond standard product content, showcasing their brand in fun and creative ways
that align with platform trends.

If the primary goal of your social marketing is to generate new leads and guide people
into your sales funnel, you need to give your audience a clear next step. Include direct
CTAs (call to action) on the posts you are using to drive action.

For copy inspiration, check out this list of effective social CTA phrases.

Day 22: Connect to more resources

By connecting your audience to more resources (especially owned resources) you are
establishing your brand as an authority on your space while inviting them to engage
further. The more they learn about you and stay engaged with your brand, the more
likely they are to convert.

38
 University of Social Media

Day 23: Amplify your efforts

Once you’ve started promoting your content on social, think of ways you can amplify
your messages to reach a larger audience.

Here is a short list of methods to consider in order to extend the reach of your
content:
● Leverage your employees to amplify your content
● Give incentives for customers to share on their social channels
● Use creators to extend the reach of your content

Day 24: Invest in your best content

As you promote and amplify your content, you may quickly notice that some types of
content perform better than others in terms of engagement and conversion.
Extend the reach of these high-performing pieces through paid ads. You can target a
highly specific audience, attract qualified traffic and leads and grow your customer
base.
The algorithms for social networks like Facebook and Instagram are now starting to
favor paid content over organic content, making it increasingly important to invest in
paid to give your content a fighting chance for discovery.
Which social media network you choose will depend on three important factors:
● Where your target customers are most concentrated
● Where your target customers are most accessible
● Where your target customers most actively engage with ads

Day 25: Engage with your audience

About 80% of consumers expect brands and companies that have a social media
presence to interact with their customers in meaningful ways.

39
 University of Social Media

It’s important to engage with and respond to your audience. Engaging with your
audience in a two-way dialogue builds brand trust and adds authenticity. As you
monitor your audience’s reaction to your content, you can also gain valuable insight
into its effectiveness.

Read through comments on your social posts and respond to questions and insightful
comments. The comments section is a great tool for social marketers looking for
feedback and can even inspire ideas for future content.

Week 6: Report on your social media results and celebrate

your success

Day 26: Track your content

Content tracking is an effective way to gauge engagement and track the movement of
your content across social channels.
You can track all of your content with the Sprout Social Post Performance Report.
Use the Post Performance reports to analyze published content down to the
individual post and understand its performance with your audience.

Day 27: Compare results to goals

Think back to the objectives you set at the beginning of these 30 days.
For example, if your objective was to boost brand engagement, you needed to increase
the number of likes, shares, mentions, and comments by 20% by the end of the fourth
quarter.

40
 University of Social Media

Using a social media analytics tool, you can compare month-over-month engagement
for all of your social profiles to determine if you are on track to meet your social
marketing goals.

Day 28: Report out

Share the results of your social marketing efforts with your marketing team and
leadership.

This is your opportunity to showcase the goals you’ve established and your progress
toward them. You should use hard evidence, like the data you’ve gathered through
listening and analytics, to report on the success of your social marketing efforts.

Depending on your goals, you may want to build a custom report that zeroes in on
what matters to your team.

Day 29: Revisit and readjust your strategy

The most savvy marketers know that marketing strategies are in constant flux. Revisit
your strategy, revise your marketing goals and adapt your strategies based on the data
you’ve collected.

Day 30: Celebrate your transformation

Congratulations, you’ve successfully made it through the 30-day social marketing
transformation program.

Celebrate your new strategy and the effort you’ve made to enhance your social
marketing.

41
 University of Social Media

Developing a Posting Schedule

The internet never sleeps so the best time to post on social media seems like it’s at
every hour of the day. We’re going to demystify this myth so your social team can
plan, prioritize and create a successful social media marketing strategy.

Utilizing Sprout Social’s research and data, here are the best times to post.

Best Times to Post on Social Media Overall

42
 University of Social Media

● Best times to post on social media:

○ Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon
○ Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
○ Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
○ Thursdays 9 a.m. to noon
○ Fridays from 9 to 11 a.m.
● Best days to post on social media: Tuesdays and Wednesdays
● Worst days to post on social media: Sundays

Each social platform has its benefits depending on your goals, content type, and
audience. If you’re noticing your engagement isn’t where you want it to be, consider
revisiting your social media KPIs. Of course, knowing which days you get the most
engagement helps you reach those goals as well.

43
 University of Social Media

Best Times to Post on Facebook

● Best times to post on Facebook:

○ Mondays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
○ Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
○ Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
○ Thursdays from 8 a.m. to noon
● Best days to post on Facebook: Mondays through Thursdays
● Worst days to post on Facebook: Sundays

Optimal send times for Facebook are Mondays through Thursdays starting at 8 a.m.
until early afternoon, generally 1 p.m. The only “off ” hours for posting on Facebook
are very early hours on Fridays through Mondays, generally midnight until 4 a.m.

44
 University of Social Media

With a solid Facebook marketing strategy, businesses can target the right audiences at
the right time with their content. Keep in mind, engagement also has to do with how
often you post on social media and what you post.

Not all social content translates well across every social media platform. Posting the
right content on the right platform makes a difference.

Best Times to Post on Instagram

● Best times to post on Instagram:

○ Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon
○ Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
○ Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

45
 University of Social Media

○ Fridays from 9 to 11 a.m.

● Best days to post on Instagram: Tuesdays and Wednesdays
● Worst days to post on Instagram: Sundays

The best times to post on Instagram are Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays
between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., generally. Similar to Facebook, the “off ” hours are the
early morning hours every day of the week, from midnight until 4 a.m.

Instagram has grown a long way since its photo-only days. The app, which has nearly
2 billion monthly active users, is now a platform to share images, videos, Reels, and
live streams, just to name a few creative content types. It is also an avenue to
collaborate and partner with other brands and provides a stream of revenue through
its e-commerce capabilities.

The Instagram algorithm is unpredictable. To be successful on the platform is a

balance of consistently posting high-quality content that will engage and entertain
your audiences. That’s a lot to ask for with each piece of content published. But using
that as a guiding post can help with your Instagram marketing efforts.

46
 University of Social Media

Best Times to Post on LinkedIn

● Best times to post on LinkedIn Company Pages:

○ Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon
● Best days to post on LinkedIn Company Pages: Tuesdays through Thursdays
● Worst days to post on LinkedIn Company Pages: Weekends

Unsurprising for this professional-focused social platform, LinkedIn engagement

times are consistent with general business hours. High engagement hours are more
concentrated midday and don’t extend too far out past the workday hours. You’re less
likely to get eyes on your LinkedIn content on the weekend when engagement drops
significantly.

47
 University of Social Media

Best Times to Post on Pinterest

● Best times to post on Pinterest:

○ Tuesdays at 1 p.m.
○ Wednesdays from 1 to 3 p.m.
○ Thursdays from noon to 2 p.m.
● Best days to post on Pinterest: Wednesdays through Fridays
● Worst days to post on Pinterest: Sundays and Mondays

Pinterest is the visual search engine where users go to research and discover products,
trends, designs and more. While not all brands may be on the platform, those who use
it know Pinterest’s benefits.

48
 University of Social Media

Best Times to Post on TikTok

● Best times to post on TikTok:

○ Tuesdays from 2 to 6 p.m.
○ Wednesdays from 2 to 5 p.m.
○ Thursdays from 3 to 5 p.m.
● Best days to post on TikTok: Tuesdays and Wednesdays
● Worst days to post on TikTok: Sundays

The best times to post on TikTok are Tuesdays from 2 to 6 p.m., Wednesdays from 2
to 5 p.m. and Thursdays from 3 to 5 p.m. Afternoons are when the highest
engagements are on the platform; users are looking to fill their afternoon
entertainment boost. However, generally, mid-morning through the afternoon (9 a.m.
to 5 p.m.) on Tuesdays through Thursdays see higher engagement on the app.

49
 University of Social Media

Best Times to Post on Twitter

● Best times to post on Twitter:

○ Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
○ Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
○ Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
○ Fridays 9 a.m. to noon
● Best days to post on Twitter: Tuesdays through Thursdays
● Worst days to post on Twitter: Sundays

Twitter peak times for engagement grew significantly compared to last year, with
hours consistently at late morning to midday during weekdays. The best times to post

50
 University of Social Media

on Twitter are Tuesdays through Fridays beginning at 9 a.m. and taper off around
noon.

2.4. Crafting Engaging Captions and Hashtags

As a brand, it’s important for you to adapt to this shift and engage your audience in a
more authentic and personal way.

In this section, you’ll learn how social media entertainment grew and ways you can
approach it for your brand to increase your loyal customer base while staying relevant.

We also share excerpts from Sprout’s Webinar Masterclass series, where Rachel
Karten, social media consultant and creator of the Link in Bio newsletter, shared her
thoughts on creating clever content that resonates with your audiences.

2.4.1. What spawned the era of social entertainment?

Social media used to be a way to communicate directly with your community and the
algorithm barely had any influence over your feeds.

So if you followed a brand on social media, you would see their posts on your feed
regardless of any optimization. Today, every post is influenced by factors like format,
creativity, hashtags, how people engage with it and the ever-changing algorithm. Plus,
everyone is competing for attention.

As a result, social media has become just as important for building brand awareness as
fostering community, and it requires authentic storytelling and curating a unique voice

51
 University of Social Media

to stand out. It’s also become a source of entertainment, which audiences are craving
more than ever.

Let’s break down how this evolution in social media entertainment came about.

The pandemic made lo-fi content a necessity

With most people locked in their homes during the pandemic, the average time US
users spent on social media in 2020 climbed to 65 minutes daily—a significant jump
from the previous year. This rapid increase forced marketers to ditch traditional
practices and get creative with their ideas.

Enter lo-fi (low fidelity) and personality-driven content. With audiences craving
authenticity and more human interaction, polished content was no longer enough.
Brands like Oreo were some of the first to adopt lo-fi content and enviable creativity.

Real people and real faces are what audiences wanted while being quarantined. And
brands responded with their employees and even CEOs posting stories and shooting
Reels right from their phones.

Audience preferences for storytelling in marketing

More time at home and on their phones also meant audiences were wanting for more
entertainment. A strong storyline, well-developed characters, conflicts and resolution
are foundational elements of a compelling story. And social media content is no
different.
Audiences seek entertainment and you can have their undivided attention on social
media, provided you beat your competitors who are vying for the same attention. You
can do this with content that is eye-catching, unique and relatable.

52
 University of Social Media

The pandemic and earlier global changes like the rise of smartphones and even the
Hollywood writer’s strike way back in 2007 that spurred today’s reality shows, changed
the way audiences consume content. They’re still looking for the same elements any
good story has but without the feeling that it’s contrived and fake. It’s a sign of the
times.

Plus, with the Internet becoming more accessible, you can’t get away with
unsubstantiated claims. As Rachel pointed out in the Masterclass, people’s tolerance
for BS is at an all-time low.

The most successful brands leaned into this evolution in content consumption,
adapting their strategies to tell stories that resonate with their audience.
For example, this YouTube video from Google uses storytelling to subtly highlight its
features while also comparing them with a competitor in the friendliest manner.

The “TikTok effect”

Entertainment’s place in social media was solidified when TikTok arrived on the
scene. TikTok initially entered the market as a social media entertainment platform
and has quickly secured its position in every brand’s social media marketing strategy.

TikTok was truly a people’s app, empowering regular people to create and post
authentic, short-form video content on any subject. The app’s ranking algorithms
further leveled the playing field, enabling videos to appear on feeds based purely on
the level of engagement it got such as views, likes and shares, giving rise to TikTok
trends or “challenges”.

TikTok campaigns like the #ChipotleLidFlip challenge and the #GuacDance

challenge resulted in over 250K video submissions and 430M plays in just six days.

53
 University of Social Media

After the #GuacDance challenge, Chipotle reported over $800K sales of their
guacamole on National Guacamole Day.

With its short-video format and clever positioning, TikTok took the world by storm,
replacing YouTube as the most-watched app in 2021, and Netflix as the most
downloaded app in 2022.

3 ways to create more entertaining social content

Social media teams are effectively in-house content creators, which means you need to
know the latest trends and align them with your brand values. All while ensuring you
entertain your audience.

54
 University of Social Media

But as Rachel noted, “It’s really important you understand that social is now
entertainment first.”

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to social media entertainment. This freedom

gives you the chance to experiment with different content types and formats. But
there are some hallmarks that can help brands adapt their voice to be entertaining.
Here are three ways you can lean into entertainment with your social content:

1. Lead with personality

Every brand has a distinct personality that sets it apart from competitors. Figure out
your strengths and weaknesses, and carve out a niche for yourself. To do this, you
need to:

Go beyond having a strong voice and tone

Tone and voice are crucial to every brand personality, but in a constantly changing
social landscape where brands are competing for consumers’ attention, it’s necessary
to go beyond the traditional route.

Take, for example, budget airline, Ryanair. With its self-deprecating humor and witty
responses, the brand has become synonymous with disruptive social media marketing.
Their content isn’t just another marketing asset, it engages their customers and builds
a sense of community where audiences share a laugh and their adventures on the
airline on social.

Put a face to your brand, and rely on creators as needed

Instead of collaborating with creators occasionally, think of them as an extension of
your social team.

55
 University of Social Media

As Rachel shared, “I think one way to think about creators and influencers is
sponsored posts, but another way is how can we bring them onto our channels and
use their comedic timing and their personality on our channels.”

If your influencer budget is limited, motivate your co-workers to share some

behind-the-scenes content or encourage your customers to create content with your
products. It’s also a great solution if you or your social media team isn’t comfortable
being on camera.

Old Navy encourages its customers to use their hashtag #OldNavyStyle on social
media to share videos or photos with their products. This strategy has lead to an
increase of more than 500,000 posts on Instagram and TikTok videos getting over
15.5k likes.

2. Be real
No, we’re not talking about the social platform called “Be real”—we mean be
authentic.

With social media becoming so ubiquitous and audiences becoming increasingly savvy
to marketing and sales tactics, brands can no longer rely on superficial content.
Consumers are looking for honesty and authenticity with content that provides value
and is relatable.
To strike the right authenticity chord, you need to:

Embrace lo-fi, and stop showing up perfect

Not only is it cost-effective but also shows the human side of your brand while
delivering higher ROI with smaller budgets. Shoot unpolished videos or capture
product images from your phone and hit publish.

56
 University of Social Media

Fenty Beauty, with over 2.4M followers on TikTok, embraces the platform’s lo-fi
content style, letting their community and products speak to the value of the brand.

Humanize your brand

Make your content feel like a person, not a brand. For example, BTS video from your
office, factory, kitchen, etc.

“Think of creative ways to make your content feel more like a person, like a peer’s
content, and not like there’s some brand kind of talking down to your audience.”
At Sprout, we often recruit employees from various teams to star in our social videos
to show the people behind the brand.

3. Optimize for shareability

Social media algorithms are focusing more on discoverability, helping supply endless
entertainment with creators and brands you may not follow yet. Relevancy and
relatability drive people to share content.

To create such content:

Tap into specific communities

Speak directly to your audience by posting content that connects your brand to their
values.
Take this Tweet from Uber Eats, as an example. They celebrated Father’s Day by
sharing some jokes on their feed and subtly encouraging users to order something
special for their dad. They highlighted the importance of spending quality time with
loved ones while appreciating the role fathers play in our lives.

57
 University of Social Media

Tap into “universal truths” for your audience

People relate to universal truths the most, making them feel seen and it builds a sense
of belonging. It can be content that breaks stereotypes, talks about shared experiences,
or just is fun.

58
 University of Social Media

Tap into community building with social media

entertainment
Social media is an opportunity to build meaningful relationships with your customers.
Harness the power of social media entertainment to connect with your audience on a
deeper level and build a sense of community that fosters brand loyalty.

59