How to Build a Future-Proof Social Media Marketing Strategy

A social media strategy was once seen as a nice-to-have, but nowadays most agency owners would agree that social media is an integral part of their overall marketing strategy. So the question is, how can your agency build a successful social media strategy?

Branding

There's a few things to make sure of when building a social media strategy and one of them has to be that your social media platforms mirror the same professionalism, knowledge and visual identity that your brand displays on its website. How can you do that? To make sure your social media is branded correctly, here's a quick list of things that need to be accurate...Logo dimensions - Make sure your logo is not stretched or pixelated.Tone of voice - The copy used to describe your page or as captions for your posts should follow the same tone of voice as the content across your brand's website.Banner design - The banners used on your platforms should follow the same branding as your website, that means checking the font, colours, shape elements and CTA colours.Design - Any graphics or imagery should be in keeping with your brand and those that are used throughout your marketing collateral, keeping it consistent will mean that people can recognise your brand more easily.

Formats

Next up its formats. There are quite a few formats you can use to present information on social media channels, and choosing the right one is important so that you can make your content as understandable as possible to your audience.  For example, a carousel post format is perfect for when you have quite a lot of content to get through or for telling a visual story. Almost like a short presentation, they are great for sharing everything from longer testimonials, case studies, educational content or to display portfolio work. Whereas for more interactivity, you might consider posting content to your Instagram Story along with polls and question & answer features that encourage engagement.As a rule of thumb, make sure to switch up the content formats you are covering on your social media so that you give a variety of ways for your audience to interact. By doing that you'll be making sure that your agency is catering for a variety of people, showcasing its skills and you'll be able to see which content format works best for your audience.

Organic vs Paid Social

In an ideal world, we'd get all the results we ever needed organically. Organic social media basically refers to the social media activity that is free, so followers of your page who visit your website would be classed as organic if they'd just happened to stumble across your platform. Whilst that's the ideal scenario, using paid ads can help you to distribute your content better to a wider audience so there are instances when this will be a really helpful part of your strategy. Paid ads give you the ability to target on things like job title, company size, engagement with your website and lots more. Using paid ads to promote your agencies content and direct your potential clients to your site is one way you can build up a community around your brand much faster.

Platforms

One of the most important decisions to make as part of your social media strategy is to decide which platforms you'll focus on. Generally, agencies will focus their efforts on having a presence across multiple platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. However, it's good to review the pros and cons of each of these platforms before blindly posting content. In some cases, it can be best to focus on unique content creation for just one of the platforms so that you can better focus on quality. You'll be able to make the best choice in this case as you'll know how much unique content your team can realistically create consistently. It can also help you identify where you might need some help by outsourcing graphic design, copywriting or social media management for particular platforms.

The services you offer can also have an effect on the decision you make. For example since we offer graphic design, Instagram works great for us to share graphic design related images and content. As an agency, if you're looking to offer services to business owners, it's most likely you'll want to focus your efforts on LinkedIn as it gives you more options to achieve that goal.

Imagery and Graphics

As a graphic design agency ourselves, this one is close to our hearts. The imagery and graphics you choose to use on your social media platforms can really impact how your audience view your brand, so always make sure that they are doing all they can to make the best first impression.How can you make your graphics more powerful?From our experience it's the simple, small details that matter most. Check to make sure that when you are using copy in your social media graphics, the text is aligned properly. The colours you use should be your exact brand colours, meaning that you need to check on your hex codes and make sure they are accurate. Stick to font combinations that are used throughout your brand, not just on the odd occasion. This will ensure that your brand feels consistent and professional to your viewers. Your social media is an asset that will work well to build your brand identity if used right. Any imagery you use, like stock photography, is best to follow a theme if you want to create a stronger visual identity. For example you might decide to stick to monochromatic images or, like us, images that feature bold colours and shapes.And whatever you do, work hard to create a truly unique brand identity with the graphics and imagery you share. To get your agency to stand out as the first choice, it can't visually look like all the others or you'll end up being lost in a very busy landscape.

Content Ideas

Coming up with new content ideas consistently is no easy job, so how can you manage this important part of your social media strategy? One way is to review the media that your target audience is already engaging with. When you understand the content that your audience already finds engaging, you'll be inspired to create content that you know will resonate with them. Keep an eye out for content with lots of engagement from people you'd like to work with, and also make sure to ask your existing followers what content they'd like to see more of from you.Another tip for successfully coming up with valuable content ideas is to plan in advance. When you use a content calendar to create content well into the future, you can keep an eye out for events that are coming up that might spark conversations you can get involved with.If you're still stuck for ideas, use research tools like Semrush or Answer the Public to research the questions that your audience are searching for. Although those platforms are primarily used for SEO, it's a handy tip to help get the creative juices flowing for your social media content strategy.

Personal Brand

This tip is focused around agencies who advertise on LinkedIn. Do you have a meet the team page on your website? If you do, you'll probably already appreciate that your potential clients are usually interested in who it is they'll end up working with. Since LinkedIn gives you the ability to associate your employees to your company page, it's really easy for those interested in your agency to take a closer look at your team and learn more about them by reviewing their page. It's also a great opportunity for you to showcase just how talented your team really are. By encouraging your team to use LinkedIn to build their own personal brand, talking about their specialities and knowledge in their field, you'll be making better use of the platform than most.To add to this, giving your team professionally made banner graphics and headshots for their profile can once again help to build a great reputation of professionalism and attention to detail for your agency.

In this article, we've discussed the basics you need to start perfecting your social media strategy and seeing better results for your agency. Now it's time to get creating that content! If you'd like help with your graphic design, remember to book a demo so you can get started with an unlimited graphic design subscription today.