Want some directions on how to get started with your social media plan? Check out this roadmap template to get some high level guidance on what your plan could include. This is a mix of several successful tactics and activities that have been tested and which delivered great successes.

1. TACTICAL
APPROACH 0-3 MONTHS 3-6 MONTHS 6-9 MONTHS 9-12 MONTHS+
1) Listen
Gain insights from
listening to audience,
Discover where the y
“hang out” and what
they are looking for.
Monitor top blogs and search, identify and participate to
forums to gather insights on discussions, tone etc.
Monitor competitive landscape. Monitor engagement in
major SM platform (Facebook, twitter, YouTube, flickr,
LinkedIn) to identify best platform for "company" to invest
in.
Produce detailed GAP / SWOT analysis.
Understand behavior and language pattern. Develop a conversation plan with the objective of
gaining insights throughout the year on what the overall state of mind, challenges, desires to
help optimize marketing plan to answer their needs and overcome the lack of information we
have on what
Develop profile learning strategy [who they are, what they do, what they say, when do they interact and how] for optimization.
2) Learn
Identify best practices,
assess competition
tactics & understand
targeted profile needs
and behavior.
Assess brand sentiment. Understand
tone and language spoken. Identify
advocates / influencers.
Capture insights on top topics,
concerns, challenges.
Monitor competition.
Develop action plan to tackle issues and recalibrate perception.
Strategize and execute marketing campaigns / surveys and
polls to identify and convert influencers and talented bloggers.
Create and maintain trends database per curriculum
and demo. Develop list of criteria and process to
gather and record insights.
Leverage from competition
Develop and analyze voluntary surveys and polls to
understand expectations and “state of mind” of a prospect
(leading emotions).
3) Interact / Share
Use conversations and topics
to identify evangelists and to
produce relevant content.
Develop presence and trust.
communication plan / frequency
schedule (Mktg, PR, legal, campus)
and scripts. Submit content and
produce podcasts assets for sharing.
Develop scripts database. Join and
participate to relevant groups,
conversations, forums. Create and
maintain blogs. Guidelines &
procedures communication.
Create strategic marketing plan to develop viral/WOM and increase
engagement. Develop tactical plan to convert “
Execute, measure and optimize.
Integrate direct response into SM and online activities to optimize impact and
results.
4) Support
Ensure proper resources
are in place to provide
necessary support.
Produce training manual for PR and SM team to manage communication.
Write procedure to escalate issues and strategize content to be developed to
increase engagement.
Develop automated system to minimize the amount of time spent by team in
handling support request (work with technology)
Identify SM team roles and responsibilities.
Recruit (identify "company" leaders) train, mentor,
motivate.
Measure progresses, areas for improvement and
build knowledge base.
5) Measure
Develop KPI/Metrics to
measure ROI. Identify
best solution
Use free tools (compile
list for tech) & use Q3 to
assess needs for paid
solution/internal. Assess
vendors based on KPI.
Work with technology to develop
comprehensive result matrix and automated
report generator system (pending on vendors
assessment and tech progresses). Work with
existing SEO/SEM partners to implement SM
tracking links.
Work with tech to
consolidate with LMS
SM (if applicable).
Scope business requirements to develop a solution
to consolidate web, SM, DR and comparative
dashboard across 10+ social platforms.
Produce roll out plan and implement.
6) Maintain /
Optimize / Innovate
Create success metric doc / compare with
results and develop optimization plan per
source. Optimization includes content, tactics,
campaigns, placement etc.
Assess SM impacts on
online and vice versa and
write long term
optimization strategy.
Run weekly report,
assess results and
optimize at corporate
and local level..
Continue research on trends and technology and
test best channels to better address to our audience.
Synopsis Identify and recruit 5
influencers. Be active
in 5 relevant blogs,
participate in 10
forums and groups.
Build brand social
profiles/presence.
Finalize KPI/metrics
and best practices to
build and promote
product & services.
Generate 15% increase in engagement across SM platform. Including UGC through existing and
SM moderators, Campuses moderators, employees guidelines completed.
Nurture audience, influencers and evangelists
Increase lead generation by 7% (from social media).
Build brand awareness and recognition through positive references..
position "company" as the benchmark for higher education. We listen, we take the time for you and we care.