Chapter 3: 2 Acronyms that Could Make or Break Your Social Media Marketing Plan

 Social media has become the bread and butter of the marketing world. With so many users and demographics that are reachable on social media it seems almost impossible to ignore the potential that these platforms hold. But just posting on social media isn't enough. Companies spend billions of dollars every year on social media marketing and advertising to push their products to consumers. 

To do this effectively companies develop social media marketing plans that are contrived from several different methods and strategies. Often, the marketing tactics will change for each platform, but a consistent tone is often established for the brand across all platforms. If you're not sure where to start when it comes to developing a social media marketing plan there are two acronyms that can help you get started. The first is S.W.O.T. and the second is S.M.A.R.T.

S.W.O.T. stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Many businesses use this acronym in determining both traditional and social media marketing plans. By determining these aspects of your current social media presence, you can then tailor your marketing plan to best fit your needs and strengths. 

As an example, let's look at Company A. Company A sells children's shoes and apparel, they have both online and brick and mortar stores and they have a strong reputation for being family friendly. They're ready to start using social media marketing as a part of their marketing mix and they've hired professionals to run their platforms. These professionals conduct a S.W.O.T. analysis of the company and here are their results.

Strengths 

• Good reputation
• Shopping convenience with both online and physical stores
• Well-known brand

Weaknesses

• Minimal prior social media presence
• Limited age range in products
• Weak online presence compared to competitors

Opportunities

• Social Media development
• Expand product lines

Threats

• Competition 
• Social media presence could be negatively received

Now that Company A's marketing team has determined these aspects of their brand, they are now able to create a social media marketing plan that will best benefit their business. To do this, Company A has to set a series of goals, objectives and metrics that will guide their marketing plan. The S.M.A.R.T acronym can assist with this. 

S.M.A.R.T stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based. For example, let's say that Company A's goal for the first six months is to gain 500,000 followers across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. 

Specific: Company A wants to gain a certain number of followers across three specific platforms.

Measurable: Company A has determined that they want to obtain 500,000 followers.

Attainable: Company A believe that it is well within their abilities to reach this goal with the proper marketing tactics.

Relevant: This goal is relevant to Company A's mission to create a prominent social media presence for the brand. 

Time-based: Company A has set a specific time frame on when they want to complete the goal.

While these acronyms are not the only important aspects of a social media plan, they help create a cohesive and focused direction for the overall marketing plan. Keeping these acronyms in mind while creating your marketing plan will help the overall outcome of your efforts.