This was a task set by Manchester based sports customer relationship management company Winners to inform the advantages to using social media marketing and how it should be used over the first 12 months.

1. 12 Month Social Media Strategy

2. Foundations
• Establish a presence on all major social media platforms (Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+)
• Brand continuity across accounts is key to having a strong media
presence and a professional image, this allows users to understand
that the different platforms are representative of the same brand
• Cross-pollination of different platforms is key to ensure that traffic is
present across all areas
• Consistency of scheduling across all platforms at key times including
posts over the weekend rather than a higher number of posts at the
start and end of the week

3. S.M.A.R.T Objectives
(Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, Time bound)
Objectives should be one of the first port of calls with any strategy and should be
monitored throughout the 12 months to know when they have been achieved,
additional objectives should be made throughout the year.
Ensure all social media accounts are inline with current company
ethos within the first two weeks of the 12 month period, this should
mean all information is current and accurate
Run a twitter giveaway competition for participants who follow and
retweet when the Winners twitter account reaches 1500 followers
Create an Instagram account fitting to the Winners business and add
a first post by September the first

4. Brand Awareness
One of the immediate focus points of the 12 month strategy would be to increase
Winners brand awareness, this will be an ongoing task for the 12 month period and
beyond but it is important to begin this process immediately.
Keeping up to date with the ways different social media channels work allows you
to best optimise the impact of the given post. For example at current Facebook’s
algorithm aids video content over image content.
Creating interesting content for users to view and enjoy is the best way to improve
brand awareness, it is also important to know which types of content to use for
each platform.

5. Use of Different Platforms
A unique voice that targets the specific user base of each platform is key to maximising an online presence, these
platforms should all be frequently used and monitored aiding business growth over the 12 months.
Twitter – Posts are most effective and eyecatching when attaching media, interaction based
(personal), great for customer service
Facebook (B2C) – Informal and permission based (tells you that the audience is wanting to receive
the content), has largest social media user bases, promoted posts link well with Instagram
Instagram (B2C) – Also permission based, posts can be image or video based and best kept light
due to its very informal nature, hashtags are a great way to promote posts along with weekly trends
e.g. Monday Motivation
LinkedIn (B2B) – Most Formal, used mainly to grow business connections, posts and blogs are
usually very information based and less media based
YouTube (B2C) – Video based social media format, also permission based, the nature of the content
type allows you to add large amounts of information but can also be time consuming to create
Google+ - Generally considered a rarely used and overlooked platform but due to it being a product
of Google it is great for enhancing a company’s search engine ranking, and reviews on Google+ are
also very advantageous to a company

6. Scheduling
Ensuring regularity and consistency with posts
is a must for any company with a digital
presence, bringing in an audience is big for a
company but without scheduling and
ensuring that posts are frequent is a must to
hold on to your audience.
Facebook and YouTube allow for
autoscheduling, for other platforms Hootsuite
is a great website to use as a content calendar
and to schedule uploads. This should be
priority throughout the 12 months and
beyond, it should be used, followed and
updated daily to ensure regular content to
interest the audience.

7. Analytics
Analytics tells the user how people are
using the company’s website and social
media channels. This allows users to see
where the traffic has come from to then
arrive at the channel, this information
can help the user to then tailor their
activity to gain further interest from
these sources.
Most social media platforms have
analytics built into them for account
holders to view, Hootsuite also allows for
analytics.
This should be monitored throughout the
12 months to examine the growth of
accounts and be done so weekly.

8. Test, Evaluate & Amend
The strategy should be flexible and preparing for changes is key, it is
important to always be monitoring how social media platforms and
campaigns are running, and if they are not on track to achieve the goals
that you originally set out to achieve it is important to address the
errors and amend them accordingly.