Social media is a powerful marketing tool when used strategically. Effective social media strategies involve careful planning, understanding the audience, setting goals, measuring results, and continually improving content. Strategies should include choosing appropriate platforms, creating and sharing engaging content, building relationships, and networking with influencers. While strategies can vary, common elements are preparing a plan, using social media for marketing, and analyzing results to enhance the strategy. Professional help may be needed to avoid risks when companies lack experience with social media best practices.

1. Social media strategies<br />IntroductionSocial media is huge phenomenon these days. It’s part of many peoples everyday life and also more and more used in business environment as well. When it’s used as free time activity or just for having fun it has no matter how you use it. But when it is used in making business it’s very important to create Social media strategy. Creating strategy is not always easy but when it’s done well it makes use of the social media much easier and helps you to avoid mistakes. Strategy is like a map that shows a company which way to go next. That’s why is very important to set targets and borders to it very carefully. Otherwise it may lead you on the wrong way.<br />Nowadays many companies have their own experts who can design and manage social media campaigns. That shows that companies has understand how important channel social media is in todays world. <br />Building stepsLike anything else, social media strategy building has it’s own steps to take. There is many ways to build it. Companies must choose the best way for them to make it. Baer (2009) uses theory that includes 7 steps to create successful social media strategy. 1. What’s your pitch? First step is to show up in what field of business your company is at. 2. What’s the point? This means setting up the goals for use of social media, does company want more sales or awareness or what. 3. What’s your relationship with your audience? This means finding out how well your target audience knows you already and what they don’t know. 4. How does your audience use social media? It’s important to know how your target audience uses social media. Find out at least things like: How often they use it? What application they use? How they use it and what is their purpose of using it? 5. What’s your one thing? What thing separates you from your competitors? Think what the unique thing in your company is. 6. How will you be human? One of the things that are most important in social media is the style how you approach the people. Successful social media marketing makes people feel themselves important and that company listens to them and respects them. 7. How will you measure success? This part must be chose already before company starts to use social media activities. There’s no point to use some social media channel if you can’t see what kind of benefit it gives to you. These measurements can be for example: How much more clicks your homepage gets when you start to direct people on your facebook-page to use your websites more.<br />I think that Baer’s steps are good. Still every company has their own needs and goals so these steps are just advise to buildings their own steps. Opportunities to build successful Social media marketing strategy are limitless but the main steps are usually the same for every company. I would like to split building social media strategy into three pieces:<br />First is preparing and planning and it includes following things. Company must plan carefully their strategy. Then Choose channel that is good for them. Then recognise their audience and their customers. Decide what they want to show to audience and what don’t. For example do they want to tell about some general information about upcoming events and products or do they want to get detailed information like product support for example. Planning must also include choosing of the right tools and platforms.<br /> <br />Second piece is using social media in marketing. It includes: creating relationships with people. Making people to feel themselves important and well treated. Company must also develop their social media use all the time. When the planning is done carefully and right company is able to try different things safely. Company must also find a balance to how much they use social media. Too much information is bad for the company and so is too less. The key thing is to get people engaged to your social media channel. So they are interested in what you want to share and so on.<br />The third part is to measure and analyse success and make changes and upgrades if necessary. It depends on company’s goals how and what things they want to measure. This is important part because it tells the facts how well strategy has worked and is there point to continue anymore if results are bad.<br />Second expert theory that I find interesting has also 7 steps. According to Spark (2011) seven steps in building Social media strategy are: 1. Set your own media outlet. Meaning that if you want to be visible and well known you must create content. To do that you need right places to do it. 2. Create social identities. When company is using major sites like for example YouTube or Facebook is important to manage user accounts and user names right. Best way is to use same user name for all identities so as not to confuse your audience. 3. Create a proactive editorial plan. You must create content which show that your opinions and knowledge have thought leadership in your space. There are many different ways to create editorial plan. 4. Create a reactive editorial plan. Follow your industry’s top-people. Make micro blogs and normal blogs. When you see interesting writings answer them quickly with a micro blog for example. Try to get attention into your own writings. This can be done for instance by using links to your own blog when you write into others blogs. 5. Build relationships with your industry’s key influencers. If you want that the leading industry operators starting to pay attention to you pay attention to them first. You must also look up to what they are doing or saying and respect them and their opinions. 6. Build relationships with really big brands. Especially small companies should try to associate with big and well-known brands. That helps them to get their own name and brand into people’s minds. One way to do this is to write stories about those companies and how they are similar with you or how they are different and if you have business with them that is also a good subject to write. 7. Offer Content to well-trafficked media outlets. In the beginning you are not know at all. To get yourself to spotlights you can for example produce content and ask if you can publish it on other well-known industry’s site.<br />SummaryNow is time for a little summary. Social media is powerful and useful tool for marketing and advertising when it is used right. Using social media in the right way is sensitive operation and it’s needed to be planned well. A good Social media strategy helps company to share right information, know their audience, improve their awareness within the field, networking with other companies and measure the results they get of using social media. When it’s used wrong the results can be very bad and even negative for company’s reputation and popularity. So if company itself does not know how to use social media channels right it should ask professional help instead of taking risks and doing all wrong.<br />BibliographyBaer, J. (2009).Social media strategy in 7 steps. Retrieved from<br />http://www.convinceandconvert.com/socia-media-marketing/develop-a-social-media-strategy-in7-steps/<br />Spark, D. (2011) Starter kit for a social media strategy. Retrieved from http://www.socialmedia.biz/2011/03/10/starter-kit-for-a-social-media-strategy/<br />