This document provides a template for creating a social media action plan. It outlines key questions and considerations for business owners and social media managers to address when developing their social media strategy, including: who will manage social media; posting frequency goals; selecting appropriate platforms; aligning social media goals with business goals; defining the business's voice and competitive advantage; establishing guidelines; engaging audiences; encouraging participation; monitoring tools; handling feedback; and evaluating benchmarks. The overall goal is to integrate social media effectively into the business's overall marketing strategy.

1. Social Media Action Plan
Provided at Create Your Social Media Marketing Strategy
Presented by: Rabiya Jilani, Loudoun Small Business Development Center
Name of Business:
Names of people managing social media:
Will you be managing this internally? Will you be hiring someone to manage social media? Will you
have employees, business partners, volunteers, interns manage social media?
How often will you be updating social media?
This will be a learning process, but have some realistic goals and make it part of your daily routine.
Get acquainted with the different social media outlets. Which tools will you be using ?
Pick and choose the social media platform(s)/site(s) that best fit your marketing needs, reaches
your target market and that you’re comfortable with. You DO NOT need to be on all social media
platforms.
What tools are your strategic partners, clients and competitors using?
Do your research, educate yourself.
What is your business marketing goal?
Your social media strategy is a part of your overall marketing strategy and not a way to replace
traditional marketing.
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2. What is your social media marketing goal? How does it align with the overall business marketing
goal?
What are you trying to achieve via social media?
What is your business’ unique voice?
What is your competitive advantage?
Establish social media guidelines, policies and procedures.
This can be a list of things you want to achieve, assign tasks, objectives, roles etc. Make sure
everyone involved with the business is involved and informed.
How can you bring your business story to life?
Will you tell a story, use videos, testimonials, something else?
Who is your customer/audience?
Demographic, geographic, personalities, likes, dislikes etc.
Who else will you be engaging with?
Business partners/local businesses? Complimentary businesses?
What content/information will be important to them?
Remember, the goal is to give relevant and useful information
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3. What exclusive news/content are you going to share?
Offer value don’t spam
How will you be promoting your social media presence?
Website? Email signature? Business cards? Cross Promotion? Brochures? Newsletter?
How will you encourage fan participation? Polls, questions, feedback etc
Will you be playing giveaways, offering discounts, looking for feedback?
How will you reward your followers?
Special offers, news, resources, discounts etc
Which monitoring tools are you going to use?
Listen to what is being said about you and your business. Use services like google alerts.
How will you handle negative feedback?
Create an action plan to handle negative feedback.
What are your benchmarks for evaluation?
Number of people following you/fans? Number of engagements? Number of website visits?
How often will you revise your strategy?
Remember to always evaluate and adapt your strategy.
Please note this is just a guideline, kindly use your own judgment when creating a social media plan for
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