25 Questions to Ask Yourself When Creating A Social Media Marketing Plan

To have your 2015 be a success, create a great social media marketing plan that is original for you. Answering these 25 questions will be a valuable exercise to figure out what different platforms you should use. This can help point you down the best path with your social media efforts and ensure that the time you spend is aimed at the right places and toward your top goals. The 25 questions are separated by steps to help you go through the process.

Step One: Setting Goals

1. Why have you joined social media?

2. What is your overall purpose?

3. What do you aim to achieve with social media?

These questions often take you down a couple of different paths. The first is thinking big-picture with the goals you set, planning out a mission for why you’re on social media. The second is setting specific goals to support the mission and purpose that you've defined. Your big ideas should tie directly to your smaller ones. Think about the benefits you give as a Realtor, not just the features of the homes you sell. Make sure to use the frame work I talked about before in my previous BLOG about goal setting and being S.M.A.R.T.

Step Two: Know Your Audience

4. Who is your target market?

5. Which social channels do they use?

6. What sources of information are most important to them?

7. What events do they typically go to?

8. What problems can you help them solve?

9. What goals of theirs can you help them complete?

I helped many of you create a 4-1-1 or a marketing plan for 2015. Use this to answer these questions. To be successful in your social media marketing you really need to cater to your target market and know where they are and what they like to do.  Post surveys on your social media platforms to find out your audience. For example: ask them their age, gender, job, etc.  

Step Three: Define Your Brand

10. What is your voice?

11. What is the tone of your social media updates/posts?

12. What emotions do you hope to convey through your pictures and posts?

One very underrated factor of a good social media campaign is the voice and tone your posts give off. The words you use and the emotions you convey have a huge impact on your audience and the way you’re perceived. For example: if you have a picture of a family that looks really happy with a sold sign. This conveys happiness. When people see this on your page they will think you made this family very happy by finding them their perfect home.

Step Four: Plan Your Content

13. What types of content should I post on which social platforms?

14. What type of content best supports your mission?

15. What are the main topics, categories or messages that support your business page?

16. Should you use social media to provide customer service?

These questions can help you determine what topics you cover on social media as well as what type of media you end up posting. For example: text updates, links, quotes, photos, videos, etc. Here is a list of different platforms and what to use them for:

·           Updates with links & quotes: Twitter and Facebook

·         Image-based networks: Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr

·         Video networks: YouTube, Vimeo, Vine

·         Business-focused networks: LinkedIn

·         SEO and authorship networks: Google+, Blogger

·         Location-based networks: Foursquare, Yelp

·         Niche networks: Reddit, Blogger

Step Five: Create Content

17. What resources do you have?

18. How do I become the expert in Real Estate on social media platforms?

19. What is the workflow from content creation to publication?

20. How often should I post new content on my social networks?

21. How does social media fit with our other campaigns?

It is important to think about the expertise that you or others might have. Share expertise you see on other people’s pages on occasion, but really try to create the content yourself to make you look like the expert. I typically tell people to post 3x a week on listing updates (Facebook or Twitter), twice a week on image-based networks (Pinterest, Instagram) and twice a week on LinkedIn, Blogger and Google+.  You want to make sure you are mixing your social media in with all the other marketing you are doing. Have your social links on your websites, campaigns, flyers, etc. Make it easy accessible for users to find.

Step Six: Analyze and Measure

22. How will you define success with your social media campaign? New leads, a transaction, etc.

23. What is working with your social media marketing efforts, and what is not?

24. What is the customer journey from search to transaction?

25. Where does social media fit within your funnel?

The measurement stage is a big one, and no less important than the others even though it often comes last. Having answers to these questions ahead of time will help you follow up with your strategy and see what works and what you should continue to focus on. There is a lot of value in using ROI to benchmark your social media stats to compare the performance of your posts. It is important to understand these stats and to analyze them to find out what works and what doesn't.

For more information on how social media and marketing can help you in Real Estate visit my website. If you would like to set up a time to meet with me to create your social media marketing campaign, contact me.