Here’s a fact for you: More than 9 out of 10 businesses, including physical therapy clinics, have moved their commerce efforts to social media. Clearly, you have a lot of competition. Many haven’t maximized their platforms, though, because they’ve only been winging it. So, if you want your small business to stand out on social media, you need a proper plan.
This brings us to the topic of our discussion: The social media planning cycle.
What is the social media planning cycle?
The social media planning cycle is a 9-step process that revolves around what businesses should do to achieve their realistic goals.
These steps aren’t always sequential, though. You can move back or forward the cycle as you see fit. On the other hand, it’s also a continuous process that you will have to revisit and (re)adjust as necessary.
9 steps that complete the cycle
1. Listening
Social listening is primarily tuning in to the conversations that revolve around your brand and niche. This helps you understand what your audience says and feels about your practice and its services.
Moreover, you can also listen to conversations about your competitors as well as your industry as a whole.
This step isn’t just about listening, though. Social listening is also about analyzing the data you collected from your observations. This, in turn, pushes you to the next step of the cycle.
2. Goal-setting
The next step is setting goals based on the data you gathered from listening to the chatter around your industry. What does your audience want from you? What did they dislike? What are your competitors doing? What trends are booming in your niche?
That being said, your goals should always – and I mean always – be SMART. Otherwise, you may just be setting yourself up for failure. And, like the cycle itself, treat these goals as moving targets and adjust as you see fit. Here’s what SMART means:
- S – Specific
- M – Measurable
- A – Achievable
- R – Realistic
- T – Time-bound
By its nature, setting goals also means knowing where your brand stands within the industry. Doing a SWOT analysis helps you do this. I know, I know – all these acronyms can be confusing. So here’s what SWOT means:
- Strengths: Where does your brand excel?
- Weaknesses: Where does your brand fall short?
- Opportunities: What strengths do you have that you can further exploit?
- Threats: What problems could potentially be, well… problematic?
3. Defining strategies
With your goals set, the next step is forming strategies to achieve them.
Now, these strategies can be as creative and flexible as you want them to be. And, to us, this is where marketing is the most fun.
Also, successful social media campaigns follow a fluid set of guidelines. A few of these best practices include:
- Using incentivized CTAs (call-to-actions)
- Using multiple social platforms if you’re able, or focusing on the few that matter most
- Making sure that your campaigns go with your brand’s personality
- Tracking your results
4. Identifying your target audience
If you already have a solid marketing strategy, the next thing you should focus your attention on is who you should be marketing to (aka your target audience).
Be as specific and detailed as you can be when you’re developing your buyer persona. Don’t just stop at basic demographics. Include information like, what your ideal customer does on a day-to-day basis, how many kids they have, how stressed they are at work and other relevant details that your PT clinic can help solve or improve.
Forming an accurate buyer persona is crucial because not doing so is one of the top reasons why businesses fall short of their social media efforts.
5. Choosing your tools
This step goes hand in hand with the next because the tools you use work differently on different platforms. For example, long-form content works well on LinkedIn but Twitter’s character limit won’t let you post the same thing.
The tools you choose to use can help increase the success rate of your strategy which, ultimately, should reflect in your sales.
A few commonly used tools include:
- Hashtags
- Images
- Reels
- Stories
- Interactive social media posts
6. Choosing your platforms
Choose your platforms based on the data you gathered from social listening and defining your target audience.
What platform does your audience spend most of their time in? What do your competitors use? Where is the industry as a whole finding most of its success?
This is crucial for businesses that don’t have the resources to tackle all networks at once. If that’s you, your resources will be best used on a sniper approach where you focus your attention on where you can find the most success.
Having said that, every platform also has its differences, so shape your strategies accordingly.
7. Implementing your plan
After you’ve gone through all the previous steps, it’s finally time to implement your plan.
This is where an accurate buyer persona, SMART goals, strategic creativity, tools, and platforms come together. If you’ve done your dues in terms of preparation, you’re already ahead of the competition.
8. Monitoring
Monitoring the data that comes back to you is how you’re going to be able to track the success of your campaign.
Fair warning: The most well-thought plans can also fail.
If yours does, it’s not the end of the world. Move on to step 9.
9. Tuning
Truthfully, monitoring campaigns and seeing failure is where many marketers stop and quit. But oh no. Not you. You were made for this. Plus, if you’re in this stage, you also should have read when I said that strategies are flexible. This step is where that flexibility becomes apparent.
So, why is your campaign failing? Or, on a brighter note, what can you do to make it more successful?
Use the data you gathered throughout your campaign to tune the details of your strategy until your clinic stands out from the rest.
Conclusion
The social media planning cycle (SMM cycle) has the power to propel your brand forward amidst an ocean of competition. And the best part? It’s fluid.
The cycle is by no means a rigid set of rules. Rather, it enables you to adjust your strategies in a way that fits your brand and its audience. We recommend using the cycle as a guide for when you’re just starting your campaigns. And, when you find yourself in a rut, move back and forth the cycle as you see fit.
But, if you need help, let’s talk about how we can help you through every step.
