Assess Your Current Social Media Presence

Before diving into planning, it's crucial to evaluate where you currently stand in your social media journey. Here are some steps to assess your current social media presence:



• Audit your social media accounts: Keep a record of all your social media accounts, even those you're not actively using. Look at each one and determine if it's meeting the goals you set for it.
• Analyze your engagement: Review the engagement rates of your posts. How are your followers interacting with your content? This analysis provides insight into what's working and what's not.
• Evaluate your audience: Look at your follower demographics and analyze if they align with your target audience. If not, it could be an indicator that your content strategy needs revamping.
• Competitor analysis: Look at what your competitors are doing on social media. This is an opportunity to learn from their successes and mistakes.
• Brand consistency: Check if your brand is consistently represented across all platforms. This includes tone of voice, visual aesthetics, and messaging.

Define Your Goals

Setting clear, measurable, and achievable social media goals is a crucial next step in your 30-day plan. Your goals will guide your strategy and help you gauge its success. Below are key points to consider when defining your social media goals:

• Specificity: Goals should be clearly defined and specific. For example, instead of a vague goal like "increase brand awareness," aim for "gain 100 new followers on Instagram in a month."
• Measurability: Make sure your goals can be quantified. This could be in terms of followers, likes, comments, shares, or website visits driven by social media.
• Attainability: Goals should be challenging, but realistic. Consider your resources, budget, and current social media performance when setting goals.
• Relevance: The goals should align with your overall business objectives. If your business goal is to increase sales, a relevant social media goal could be to drive more traffic to your online shop.
• Time-bound: As you're developing a 30-day plan, your goals need to be achievable within this timeline. Regularly review your progress towards these goals throughout the month.

Create a Content Calendar

A content calendar is your roadmap for what you’ll share across your social media platforms. It helps you plan, organize, and schedule all your social content in advance. Here are the steps to create an efficient content calendar:



• Brainstorm Content Ideas: Start by brainstorming ideas for posts. Think about what kind of content will resonate with your audience, and align with your defined goals. This could be blog posts, product promotions, behind-the-scenes peek, customer testimonials, industry news, etc.
• Decide on Post Frequency: Determine how often you will post on each platform. The ideal frequency varies based on the platform and your audience's preferences.
• Schedule Your Posts: Use a social media scheduling tool to plan out your posts at least a month in advance. Remember to also schedule time for engagement - responding to comments and messages, and interacting with other posts.
• Create Variety: Include a mix of content types and topics to keep your feed fresh and your audience engaged.
• Review and Revise: Make sure to review your content calendar regularly and make revisions as needed. Trends change quickly in the social media realm, so flexibility is key.

Consider Paid Advertising

While organic reach is an essential part of your social media strategy, paid advertising can immensely amplify your presence. Social media platforms offer a variety of ad formats that can help you reach a broader, more targeted audience. Here are several steps to consider when integrating paid advertising into your 30-day social media plan:

• Determine Your Ad Budget: Establish how much you're willing to spend on social media advertising. This will depend on your overall marketing budget and the specific goals you hope to achieve.
• Choose the Right Platforms: Not all social media platforms may be suitable for your business or your advertising goals. Choose the platforms where your target audience is most active.
• Select Ad Formats: Different ad formats serve different purposes. For instance, Facebook offers options like Image Ads, Video Ads, Carousel Ads, etc. Choose a format that aligns with your campaign objectives.
• Target Your Audience: Use the detailed targeting options offered by social media platforms to reach your ideal audience. This could be based on demographics, interests, behaviors, or a combination of these factors.
• Test and Optimize: Run multiple versions of your ads to see what works best. Perform regular analysis and make necessary adjustments to optimize your campaigns. Remember, social media advertising is not a 'set it and forget it' process; it requires constant review and tweaking.

Monitor Engagement

Monitoring engagement is essential within your 30-day social media plan. It helps you understand how your audience is interacting with your content, which posts are resonating, and where there's room for improvement. Here are some steps to effectively monitor engagement:



• Track Engagement Metrics: Monitor likes, shares, comments, and other interactions on your posts. Tools like Facebook Insights, Instagram Insights, or Twitter Analytics can offer valuable data.
• Respond to Comments and Direct Messages: Engaging in a two-way conversation with your audience builds relationships. Take the time to respond to comments and messages.
• Review Engagement Trends: Look for patterns in your engagement rates. Do certain types of posts generate more interaction? What are the best times to post for maximum engagement?
• Consider Feedback: If your audience leaves feedback or suggestions, consider them. This is a valuable opportunity to understand your audience's needs and expectations.
• Adjust Strategy as Needed: If certain posts aren't receiving the expected engagement, don't be afraid to tweak your strategy. Stay flexible and open to change.

Analyze Your Results

Analyzing your results is the final step in your 30-day social media plan. This analysis will provide insight into the success of your plan by comparing the goals you set at the outset and the results achieved at the end of the month. Here is how you go about analyzing your social media results:



• Measure Success: Use the objectives set during the goal-setting stage to measure the success of your social media efforts. Did you achieve the goals you set?
• Use Analytics Tools: Leverage the analytics tools offered by each social media platform to gain insights into post performance, audience demographics, and engagement patterns.
• Look at ROI: If you used paid advertising, calculate your ROI by comparing the amount spent on ads and the results achieved (like increased sales, traffic, or followers).
• Evaluate Engagement: Assess how well your audience interacted with your content. Low engagement despite high visibility might indicate that your content is not resonating with your audience.
• Reflect and Adjust: Use the insights gained from your analysis to reflect on what worked and what didn't. Adjust your next 30-day social media plan accordingly. Remember, social media strategy is a constant cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing, and adjusting.

About Swell Social 

Swell Social is a full-service digital marketing agency in Ventura, CA that specializes in helping businesses of all sizes create, execute, and measure their digital strategies. We provide a turnkey solution to help you establish an effective presence across multiple platforms. Our team of experts will work with you to develop custom content, manage campaigns, monitor engagement, and track performance – all while helping you reach your goals. Get in touch to see how Swell Social can help transform your organization's online presence.