Did you know that 60% of the world’s population uses social media? Which is more than half of the population! The average daily usage is 2 hours and 24 minutes (April 2023).
And here in New Zealand, social media marketing is just as important, with 4.24 million social media users in January 2023. More broadly, 84.9 percent of New Zealand’s total internet user base (regardless of age) used at least one social media platform in January 2023.
(Source: DataReportal)
According to a study by SproutSocial, 70% of consumers feel more connected to brands with CEOs that are active on social.
Given today’s digital landscape in New Zealand, an effective social media plan is essential for any NZ business looking to establish a strong digital marketing and social media marketing presence, engage with their target audience, and drive meaningful results.
We will walk you through the step-by-step process of creating a winning social media marketing plan that will set your business up for success in NZ. Whether it’s a social media agency working for you, your own staff, or just you, these 8 steps will help you lay the right foundation for your social media marketing efforts.
So here they are, 8 steps to social media marketing NZ.
Step 1: Define Your Social Media Campaign Goals and Objectives
- The first step in creating a social media marketing plan is to clearly define your goals and objectives, ultimately tailored to your business goals and objectives.
- Identify what you aim to achieve through your social media efforts, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, boosting sales, conversions, or anything else.
- Setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals will provide direction and enable you to track your progress effectively.
Step 2: Know Your Target Audience
- Conduct market research and create buyer personas to gain insights into your audience’s demographics, interests, behaviours, and pain points. This will help you customise your content, messaging, and targeting to connect with your NZ audience and build meaningful connections.
Step 3: Select the Right Social Media platforms for your NZ audience
- Each social media platform serves a unique purpose, and it’s crucial to choose the ones that align with your target audience and business objectives.
- Evaluate the demographics, user base, features, and advertising options of different platforms that are popular in NZ such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc. Select the platforms that best suit your business and focus your efforts on those channels.
Step 4: Develop Engaging Social Media Content Strategy
- Compelling and relevant content is the backbone of any successful social media marketing plan.
- Identify the types of content that resonate well with your audience in NZ, such as informative blog posts, engaging videos, captivating visuals, user-generated content, etc.
- Plan a social media content calendar incorporating key dates and events around the company calendar, outlining the topics, formats, and publishing schedule to ensure consistent and quality content delivery.
Step 5: Implement Effective Social Media Engagement Tactics
- Social media marketing in NZ is a two-way street, and active engagement with your audience is key to building relationships and fostering loyalty.
- Develop a plan for engaging with your social media audience by responding to comments, messages, and mentions promptly.
- Encourage conversations, ask questions, and run activities or contests for active participation.
- Social listening tools can help you monitor conversations about your brand and gather valuable feedback to improve your products or services.
Step 6: Analyse your competition
- Identify who your competitors are in the social media landscape. Look for companies or brands that target similar audiences in the same industry as yours.
- Discover the social media platforms where your competitors have a presence such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, etc.
- Find out the number of followers your competitors have on each platform.
- Assess the type of content your competitors are posting in terms of the topics, and formats they use. Also, assess the frequency of their posts.
- Evaluate social media engagement metrics such as likes, comments, shares, retweets, views, etc. Analyse the types of posts that generate the most engagement and try to identify the strategies behind them.
- Keep an eye on customer comments and reviews on your competitors’ social media profiles. This information can highlight areas where your competitors excel or areas where they fall short, providing opportunities for your own brand.
Step 7: Monitor, Measure, and Adjust
- Regularly monitoring and measuring the performance of your social media marketing efforts is vital to understanding what works and what needs improvement.
- Utilise social media marketing analytics tools to track key metrics such as reach, engagement, click-through rates, conversions, ROI, etc, and Google Analytics for understanding the traffic to your website from social media.
- Analyse the data, identify patterns and trends, and make data-driven adjustments to optimise your social media marketing strategy for better results.
Step 8: Stay Updated and Adapt
- Social media platforms and trends in NZ are constantly evolving, so it’s crucial to stay updated with the latest industry developments.
- Keep an eye on algorithm changes, new features, and emerging platforms that could offer opportunities for your business.
- Continuously adapt your social media marketing plan to leverage these changes and stay ahead of the competition.
“Content is fire; social media is gasoline.” – Jay Baer
Crafting a winning social media marketing plan in NZ requires careful planning, understanding of your audience, and consistent monitoring and adaptation.
By following the step-by-step guide outlined above, you can create a robust social media strategy that aligns with your business goals, engages your target audience, and drives tangible results.
If you have more questions on how to go about crafting your social media marketing plan, feel free to get the help of a social media marketing agency or reach out to us!
Here at Synthesis, we can help you develop a social media strategy and get your content right for each social media platform, and if required we can do it all for you on a week-to-week basis. Contact us for assistance with your traditional marketing, digital marketing, and social media marketing needs.
