How to Build a Strong Foundation in Social Media

As Social Media takes centre-stage, it has become all the more important for professionals and freshers to have a fundamental knowledge of this medium.

Social media might be a dynamic channel which changes every month, but the core essence of it remains the same: Communication & Networking.

Keeping yourself rooted to these core fundamentals of social media will not only help you grow professionally in an organization, but also equip you to adapt every change in the industry with effortless ease.

So how do you go about building a strong foundation in an industry that is as vibrant as social media? Follow me as I take you through it.

Strategy is King

If your strategy is in place, your social media efforts will be far more effective. A good strategy involves understanding the requirements of the brand, its personality and the target audience. This will help you devise a communication and content plan - one of the most crucial aspects of any strategy.

Your strategy will also determine which platforms you want to have a presence on and how you will work on them.

Build a Strong Foundation in Social Media. Register for our Social Media 101 Workshop Today!

Creating a content plan, ideating campaigns and contests, analytics are all tactical activities that will be decided by your core strategy. However, most of us begin our social media plan with these tactics and lose out on the bigger picture. It is always Aim > Strategy > Tactics. We need to move from top to bottom and not bottom to top.

Content Marketing

Don't limit your content to just the CTAs (Call to Action) in your Facebook updates and tweets. Nor should you view your content as something that drives more engagement. If engagement was the holy grail, everyone would be putting up photos of cute babies.

The way you communicate through your updates tells a lot about your brand. Your tonality, your responses to complaints, your apps & contests and even your creatives are a part of your content marketing efforts.

A lot of us view creatives separately, but the fact remains that creatives are an integral part of your content strategy. So make sure that you stick to a content strategy that depicts the brand in the most appropriate way.

Content Marketing also involves adding value to the lives of your target audience. Create content that your TG resonates and connects with. It can be funny, nostalgic, sad or simply insightful; your job is to make sure that the time your audience spends on that content is a time well spent.

Understand The Platforms

Social media is built of platforms that enable people to connect with each other through various means. In order to come up with tactics that propel your brand's social media presence on these platforms, you need to have a complete understanding of their features, user behaviour and advertising options (if any).

This understanding will equip you with the knowledge and reach out to your audience with best (and the most apt) form of content and drive real business results; you will also use this information when you're creating an overall strategy for the brand.

Register for our Social Media 101 Workshop Today to Build a Strong Foundation in Social Media

If you are not familiar with a platform, you will end up burning money and wasting efforts.

Stay Wired-In

As a social media professional, you can't afford to stay out of touch from the world of digital. The landscape can change overnight, and trust me, you don't want to be caught napping when that happens. So make sure that you are glued to all the insightful blogs out there and stay abreast with every latest update in the digital marketing scenario.

Being wired in will also get you acquainted with remarkable campaigns and ideas that other brands have used.

While all these suggestions may look easy to follow, they aren't so. You need a lot of practice and regular zooming out from the daily activities.