Ready to take your social media marketing serious? Want more engagement, shares and fans? Use our proven 7 step strategy so you can start doing social media marketing like a pro.

1. 7Social Media Strategy
A N Y B U S I N E S S C A N U S E
S I M P L E
S T E P

2. Listen, Analyze and Compare
To start, you’ll want to poke around different social networks and
do a little research on where your target audience spends time.
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S T E P N U M B E R
T W E E T T H I S

3. L I S T E N , A N A LY Z E A N D C O M PA R E
1
Identify people/brands who have the
audiences you’re trying to attract.
Some places to start: Influencers in your niche,
competitors, top customers, business partners, employees.

4. L I S T E N , A N A LY Z E A N D C O M PA R E
Once you’ve identified and
followed these accounts:
Listen, analyze and
compare what they
are doing. What’s
working? What isn’t?
1

5. 1
Social media
research tools.
Topsy
Klout
Followerwonk
Google Trends
Buffer
Twitter Trends
L I S T E N , A N A LY Z E A N D C O M PA R E

6. L I S T E N , A N A LY Z E A N D C O M PA R E
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Q U E S T I O N S T O
A S K Y O U R S E L F
T I P S T O G E T
Y O U S TA R T E D
• How will I be unique while
sticking to types of highly
shared content in my niche?
• What opportunities have my
competitors overlooked?
• What kind of content do
influencers in my niche
create/ share with their
audiences?
• Your competitors and
customers will give you a
good guide for how-to be
active on social media.
• Use tools like Topsy &
BuzzSumo to find the most
popular content and profiles.
• Use social media to keep tabs
on competitors & customers.

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The bonus guide includes a PDF eBook that will walk you
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8. Choose Your Platforms
Next, you need to decide which social networks you’ll sign
up for based on where your target audience spends time.
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S T E P N U M B E R
T W E E T T H I S

9. C H O O S E Y O U R P L A T F O R M S2
Be sure you have a
purpose for being on
each social network
you choose.
Not every business needs to be on
every social network.
For example: Restaurants don’t need
to have a presence on Houzz, a
home design social network.

10. 2
Once you’ve selected your social networks, it’s time to sign
up and brand your pages. Be sure to keep them consistent.
C H O O S E Y O U R P L A T F O R M S

11. 2
Q U E S T I O N S T O
A S K Y O U R S E L F
T I P S T O G E T
Y O U S TA R T E D
C H O O S E Y O U R P L A T F O R M S
• Do the networks I selected
have the audience I’m trying
to reach?
• How will my approach vary on
different networks?
• Don’t get caught up in every
new social network. See how
each platform evolves before
diving in.
• Platforms like Facebook,
Google+ and LinkedIn are
requirements in every
business’s social strategy.

12. Research Content
You’ll Create and Curate
It’s important to research popular content and conversations to
direct the tone and topics of your social media posts.
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13. While it’s important to be unique, there
are certain types of content that simply
perform better in your niche.
Know what they are, focus on
creating/curating around those topics.
3R E S E A R C H C O N T E N T Y O U ’ L L C R E A T E A N D C U R A T E
How does what you
found in step #1 impact
the kind of content
you’ll create/curate?

14. 3
Content
Research Tools
BuzzSumo
Topsy
Google Alerts
Flipboard
Feedly
R E S E A R C H C O N T E N T Y O U ’ L L
C R E A T E A N D C U R A T E

15. R E S E A R C H C O N T E N T Y O U ’ L L C R E A T E A N D C U R A T E
3
Q U E S T I O N S T O
A S K Y O U R S E L F
T I P S T O G E T
Y O U S TA R T E D
• What are the most popular
types of content in my niche?
• How will I attract people who
read/share similar content?
• What resources do I need to
create superior content to
what is currently available?
• How can I repurpose what I
already have?
• Follow people who regularly
share great content so you can
re-share with your fans.
• Keep a list of popular content
ideas you can refer to anytime.
• People interact more with visual
content, be sure to use more
visuals in your campaigns.

16. ID Your Manager / Team
Now it’s time to decide who will manage your social media
accounts, even if it’s just you, you need to know the responsibilities.
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17. I D Y O U R M A N A G E R / T E A M4
Depending on your needs,
choose your social media
manager and/or team.
Roles that you need to consider:
Who creates/curate the content we’ll use?
Who will posts content on a consistent basis?
Who will interact and engage with your audience?
Who will watch for and act on opportunities?
Who will build relationships with influencers?

18. 4
Q U E S T I O N S T O
A S K Y O U R S E L F
T I P S T O G E T
Y O U S TA R T E D
I D Y O U R M A N A G E R / T E A M
• Do I have the time to do this?
Will I need help?
• How many hours per day/
week/month will it take to
meet my content demands?
• How will my team ensure
seamless branding and
messaging across all our
social accounts?
• Understand social media is
rapidly changing and your
team needs make continuous
learning and adapting a top
priority.
• Your social media manager
should be tech savvy, creative
and organized.

19. Learn how-to dramatically boost your leads and
sales from online marketing with this bonus guide.
F R E E B O N U S G U I D E
CLICK HERE TO GET ACCESS
The bonus guide includes a PDF eBook that will walk you
through 10 ways you get more leads and sales online.

20. Humanizing and Engagement Plan
It’s important to remember that social media is about
being social, here how-to not seem like a robot online.
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S T E P N U M B E R
T W E E T T H I S

21. H U M A N I Z I N G A N D E N G A G M E N T P L A N
5
How will go about actually being
“social” so you don’t sound like a robot?
Ask influencers and fans questions. (Bonus: Feature their answers in content)
Monitor all your social interactions regularly and engage with the
people who share/comment you content, they are your fans!
Join communities and groups to create new relationships.
Write like you talk, be spontaneous, transparent and reachable.

22. 5
Q U E S T I O N S T O
A S K Y O U R S E L F
T I P S T O G E T
Y O U S TA R T E D
H U M A N I Z I N G A N D E N G A G M E N T P L A N
• What people will I regularly
reach out to and share
content and ideas?
• Who will I establish beneficial
relationships online?
• How does my target audience
affect my tone online?
• Monitor all mentions of your
brand and content to see
who’s talking about you.
• Getting influencers to share
content significantly boosts
your reach.
• Use Facebook’s ad re-
targeting feature to turn
website visitors into fans.

23. Build Your Toolbox
There’s a bunch of great tools that you can use to help save
time and focus on the initiatives that are driving results.
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S T E P N U M B E R
T W E E T T H I S

24. Make sure to find
a combination of:
research, monitoring,
automated posting and
analytics tools.
6B U I L D Y O U R T O O L B O X
DOWNLOAD NOW
Get your toolbox
started with this
free guide.

25. 6
Q U E S T I O N S T O
A S K Y O U R S E L F
T I P S T O G E T
Y O U S TA R T E D
B U I L D Y O U R T O O L B O X
• Here’s a list of out favorite
social media tools:
Buffer, Topsy, BuzzSumo, Bitly, Snip.ly,
Social Mention, SumAll and Canva.
• Use the guide below to start
building your toolbox.
DOWNLOAD NOW
• What aspects of my social
media do I want to automate?
• How do the tools I choose
work together?
• Which tools am I willing to
pay a premium for?

26. Select Metrics To Track
Finally, you need to decide why you’re on social media in the
first place, how does that affect the metrics you need to track?
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27. S E L E C T M E T R I C S T O T R A C K7
How does that impact the
metrics you will track?
Depending on your business goals, are
you using social media to find new
customers? Build relationships with
current customers?

28. 7
Important
Metrics To Track
Engagement
(comments, likes, etc.)
Traffic/Leads Generated
Content Views/Shares
Sales Metrics
Online Reviews
S E L E C T M E T R I C S T O T R A C K

29. 7
Q U E S T I O N S T O
A S K Y O U R S E L F
T I P S T O G E T
Y O U S TA R T E D
• What are my main goals for
social media? Retention?
Awareness? Sales?
• How are you going to
determine whether social
media is actually making a
difference in your business?
S E L E C T M E T R I C S T O T R A C K
• Identify key performance
indicators and keep track of
them on a regular basis.
• Use these results you gather
to better understand your
customers so you optimize
your campaigns.

30. Learn how-to dramatically boost your leads and
sales from online marketing with this bonus guide.
F R E E B O N U S G U I D E
CLICK HERE TO GET ACCESS
The bonus guide includes a PDF eBook that will walk you
through 10 ways you get more leads and sales online.

31. Want more free marketing resources?
E L I V 8 G R O U P. C O M / R E S O U R C E S