For brands, social media is the ultimate multipurpose tool. It is a news and content megaphone, customer service channel, research page, employee and customer engagement platform – and in the case of @Wendys, meme generator – all wrapped into one. It underpins our entire digital ecosystem as both consumers and professionals, creating thousands of touchpoints as we simply navigate our daily lives.

Because of our constantly changing relationship with social media, optimizing a social media marketing strategy is a bit of a moving target. It requires connecting the right dots at the right time for exactly the right audience, all simultaneously.

The challenges in achieving this goal are reflected in how many social media marketers struggle connecting their efforts to one of the most important brand metrics: revenue. In fact, according to a recent survey of CMOs and CCOs, 53 percent of today’s communicators believe integrated PR impacts brand reputation, but only 36 percent believe that it also impacts deal acceleration and revenue.

This gap, however, is not insurmountable. Amid the community engagement are limitless possibilities to leverage social media as a powerful educational tool, connecting with prospects to identify problem areas and moving them along from awareness to consideration to that end-all-be-all goal of “customer for life.”

It starts by rethinking social media’s role at individual moments within the buyer journey.

• Are you present on the social platforms that cater most effectively to your target audiences?
• How does their online behavior inform which content you should build and promote?

When 63 percent of marketers regularly report social data to their bosses, social media teams need the clearest idea of who their customers are and where social content can be the most impactful.

Introducing: A Social Media Framework for Growing Brands

At PAN Communications, we’ve grown alongside the social media ecosystem and how it influences the buyer cycle. With over 25 years of Integrated Marketing and Public Relations expertise, we’ve developed a data-driven approach to building best-in-class social media marketing strategies, growing customer engagement and building new relationships from the ground up. If you’re interested in turning your social media platforms into a buyer journey success engine, learn how PAN does things differently.

Click below to download the social media framework.

For those who are still getting their feet wet: If you’re considering how a social media plan fits into your overall strategy, start by asking yourself the right set of questions to frame your use case for individual channels. Be sure that you understand your audience and brand messaging & positioning, map the right goals to your business objectives and have the right resources in place before jumping into social media. Need a starting place? Use the questions below to talk through your strategy with your team and head of marketing. Then, use this guide to social media across the buyer’s journey to ensure that each channel plays the right role for your brand.

Questions to Ask When Planning your Social Media Marketing Strategy

Setting Social Media Goals

• Why have you joined social media?
• What is your brand’s overall purpose?
• What does your brand aim to achieve with social media?

Knowing your Audience Across Channels

• Who is your target audience?
• Which social channels do they use?
• What topics are most important to them?
• What events matter to them and their lives?
• What problems can you help them solve?
• What jobs can you help them complete?

Defining your Brand Voice & Values

• What is your brand voice?
• What is your brand messaging & positioning?
• What emotions do you hope to convey through your brand’s visuals and messaging?

Planning Your Content Strategy

• What types of content will you post?
• What type of content best supports your content marketing & PR strategies?
• What are the main topics, categories or messages that support your brand?
• Should you use social media to provide customer service?

Outlining Success via Brand Goals

• Lead generation
• Thought leadership
• Customer Advocacy
• Employee Advocacy
• Recruitment
• Reputation Management

Content Creation & Execution

• What realistic internal / external resources do you have?
• Who will set up and maintain your company’s social media accounts?
• What is the workflow from content creation to publication?
• How often will you post new content on social channels?
• How does social media fit with our other campaigns?

Analyzing and Measuring Social Media Success

• How will you measure ROI and define success with your social media strategy? (Think brand goals)
• What is working with your social media marketing efforts?
• What is the customer journey from search to purchase?
• Where does social media fit within your funnel?