[YOUR COMPANY NAME]

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

[Date]

[Your name]
[Your title], [Your team]
[email address] [place your logo here]
Instructions for using this template

Once you’ve followed the advice in our social media strategy guide, you’re ready to use this template.

To fill it out, you need to make your own copy. To do that, click the File tab in the upper left hand corner
of your browser. Then select Make a copy…

Now you have your own version.

Note: Slides with a light blue background, like this one, are instructions to help you customize the
template. Before you share your strategy with stakeholders, remember to remove them from the
presentation.
Executive Summary
Writing an effective executive summary

The executive summary is a synopsis of your social media marketing plan. It should not exceed one page.

The summary should contain the following information:

● Identify the problem or need for a social media strategy or proposed campaign
● Explain the anticipated result(s)
● Lay out the budget, time, and resources required to execute
● Include any additional information worth noting
Executive Summary
Executive Summary

[Point 1]

[Point 2]

[Point 3]

[ect…]
Social Media Goals
Setting smart goals

Set goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely
● Related resource: How to Set Social Media Goals And Reach Them

Make sure they are aligned to business objectives to accurately measure return on investment
● Related resource: A Step-by-Step Guide to Proving Social Media ROI

Track the right metrics to stay focused on what matters

● Related resource: The Social Media Metrics That Really Matter (And How to Track Them)

The objective, goals, and metrics you’ll see further down in this template are examples. Update with what works
for your business.
Key performance indicators
By [date/month/quarter/EOY], we will:

[Insert S.M.A.R.T goal here — eg. “We will grow our Instagram audience by 50 new followers per
1 week.”]

2 [S.M.A.R.T goal]

3 [S.M.A.R.T goal]

4 [S.M.A.R.T goal]
 How goals align to business objectives
Business objective Social media goal Metric(s)
Awareness
Grow the brand (these metrics illuminate your current Followers, shares, etc.
and potential audience)

Turn customers into Engagement

(these metrics show how audiences are Comments, likes, @mentions, etc.
advocates interacting with your content)

Drive leads Conversions

(these metrics demonstrate the Website clicks, email signups, etc.
and sales effectiveness of your social engagement)

Consumer Testimonials, social media sentiment,

Improve (these metrics reflect how active average response time (for social
customer retention customers think and feel about your customer service/support) etc.
brand)
Target Audience
Defining your audience

Knowing who your audience is and what they want to see is key to creating content that they will like, comment
on, and share. It’s also critical for planning how to turn followers into customers.

Use the next slide to clearly and succinctly define who your target audience/customer/buyer persona(s) is.
● Related resource: How to Build a Buyer Persona (Includes a Free Template)
 [Persona name] [Persona name] [Persona name]

[What sort of job titles would this persona

Example job title(s)
have? List them here]

[What would they be looking to do with, or get

Needs(s)
out of your product/service/business?]

[What is their number one challenge (that you

Pain Point(s)
can solve for them?]

[What social media platform does this person

Prefered social network(s) use most often, i.e. where is the best place to
connect with them?]

Unique Characteristic [XXX]

Budget (for your

$[XXX]
product/service)

[Other characteristic, e.g.

[XXX]
age, sex, location, etc.]

[Other characteristic] [XXX]

Competitive Analysis
Conducting a competitive analysis

Analyze the competition’s social media presence. This will help inform your own social strategy. If you know
what your competitors are doing well—and not so well—you’ll discover where you might have a competitive
edge.

Or, if you’re asking your boss to invest more in social media, showing your leaders where your peers and
competitors are succeeding can help with that too.

Use the next slide to create a high-level overview of your competitors’ plan. Then conduct a SWOT analysis
(strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats) for your own brand using slide no. 16
● Related resource:
How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis on Social Media (Free Template Included)
 Networks active Number of followers Strengths Weaknesses Content that resonates

[Use a tool like Buzzsumo

[Competitor # 1]
to check]

[Competitor # 2]

[Competitor # 3]
 SWOT Analysis

Positive Negative

Strengths Weaknesses
● What are your strengths? ● What are your brand’s weakness on social media?
● Write them here ● List in point form
Internal
● And here ● Eg. “Low Twitter engagement”
● Eg. “Video production and expertise” ● etc.
● etc.

Opportunities Threats
● What/where are the opportunities for your ● What are your brand’s threats?
business on social media? ● Eg. “Competitor Y has a 2X higher follower rate on
External
● List in point form Facebook”
● Eg. “Competitors aren’t using Instagram Stories” ● etc.
Social Media Audit
Auditing your social media presence

If you’re already using social media, take a step back and look at:

● What’s working and what’s not

● Who is engaging with you
● Which networks your target audience is most active on
● How your strategy compares to the competition and/or your peers

→ Use our step-by-step guide to conducting a social media audit (+ spreadsheet template) to get this done
quickly and stay organized.
We will maintain these accounts:

[Social network] [Social network]

What it’s best for: What it’s best for:

Target audience: Target audience:

Types of content we will share: Types of content we will share:

Key performance indicators (KPIs): Key performance indicators (KPIs):

We will shut down the following accounts:

[Social network] [Social network]

Why it’s not working: Why it’s not working:

Deprecation timeline: Deprecation timeline:

Content Strategy
Crafting your content strategy

Determine your content mix and posting cadence on the next two slides.

Use the social media content rule of thirds:

● ⅓ of content promotes business and converts audience

● ⅓ of content shares ideas and stories from thought leaders
● ⅓ is original brand content

Download our editorial calendar template and social media content calendar template (link below) to assist your
planning.
● Related resources: Social Media Templates to Save You Hours of Work
Posting
The type of original content that we will create and post is:

[Reference audience research]

The type of related content we will share is:

[Related resource: The Definitive Guide to Content Curation: Strategies, Tips, and Tools]

We will post to the following channels this frequently:

[X channel / X times a day]

[Related resource: The Best Time to Post on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn]
Process
The audience that we need to tailor content to is:

[Reference audience research]

The editorial calendar that maps out our content release schedule is here:

[Add Link]

The social media content calendar that maps out our promotion plan is here:

[Add Link]
Next Steps
Measuring your progress

Use analytics tools to measure how you’re performing against the goals, business objectives, and metrics you set
earlier.

● Related resource: The Best Social Media Analytics Tools (+ Free Social Media Report Template)

Once you compiled data, create slides highlighting key learnings and next steps.
What’s working well?

[Social network] [Social network]

What it’s best for: What it’s best for:

Target audience: Target audience:

Types of content we will share: Types of content we will share:

Key performance indicators (KPIs): Key performance indicators (KPIs):

What’s not working?

[Social network] [Social network]

Why it’s not working: Why it’s not working:

Deprecation timeline: Deprecation timeline:

Progress
Net Followers Engagement
Channel Date Range # of Posts Click-throughs Mentions
Gain/Loss Rate

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Pinterest
Action items

Action items Complete by date

[Summarize your plan here] [date]

[“We will shut down X account”] [date]

[“We will focus on Y and Z platforms to drive brand [date]

awareness”]

[etc.] [date]
Do more with social media in less time
You’ve laid out your plan, now it’s time to execute. Use Hootsuite to manage your entire social media strategy from one
easy-to-use dashboard.

Here are just a few of the things you can do with the tool:

● Create, curate, and publish awesome content to all your social profiles from one place
● Schedule posts in advance, then visualize and organize posts for all social networks in an interactive calendar
● Find and filter social conversations by keyword, hashtag, and location to see what people are saying about your
brand, competitors, and industry
● Quickly and effectively respond to all messages and comments from a single inbox
● Get easy-to-understand performance reports to see what’s working and where you can improve
● ++ much more!

Your Action: Try Hootsuite for free or watch a demo to see what the Enterprise product can do.