At one of my former positions in social media, I was given company passwords and that was it. Since the role had been newly created, it was an incredible opportunity to help shape role expectations and duties. It also meant that I had a lot of work to build a solid foundation and provide guidance for the future.
My first step? Writing and documenting a social media marketing strategy. It was a big project and took about 3 months to complete. A social media strategy is so much more than creating a content calendar and calling it good.
When creating a social media marketing strategy for your business, it’s incredibly importance to document the entire process as you go. Your strategy should be a comprehensive look at how your business uses social media to meet its goals.
Now, depending on your role, you might have a social media marketing strategy documented. However, it’s important to keep it up-to-date. Technology and platforms change quickly and if you aren't keeping your documentation current, you can quickly find yourself out of date, or worse, not ready to handle a crisis properly.
If someone needs to take over your position in the event of any emergency, they'll need to have the proper documentation and context to take over your role seamlessly. All this information should live in a binder that you can hand over if necessary.
So, what should be included in your documentation? Here’s a great start:
Social media strategy
Social media crisis plan & policies
- Bullying/Trolling/Harassment policies
- Crisis strategy w/ different scenarios
- Emergency contact information of key stakeholders
Social media team
- Team roles and responsibilities flowchart
- Social media passwords
Content Calendar
- Year-at-a-glance
- Monthly content calendar for each persona/journey
- Schedule and details of upcoming content offers/upcoming campaigns
Blogging Strategy
- Content calendar/ Schedule of blogs, etc.
- Key Performance Indicators/SMART goals
- Buyer Personas
- Content calendar
Branding, Imagery & Logos
- Company logo and branding style guides
- Font
- How to access company logos
- Company imagery access
Tone & Voice
- Tone & voice guide
- Key phrases to use
- Key phrases to avoid
Setting yourself up for success means making sure that you have each bullet point well documented. If you decide leave your position or have an emergency, this binder will prepare someone else to take over in your absence. It may seem like a lot of work; however; it will pay off. How have you documented your social media marketing strategy before? What have you included?
