Most of you are time poor and have other things to be getting on with.  Let’s start with a plan.  Here is a simple 8 step plan to get you thinking about your brand and social media plan.

  1. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE?

Set your intention.  Why are you using social media?  What are you goals?  What do you want to achieve?  Who in your team will be your all-star Social Media Manager or do you need to outsource?  What is your ROI? Do your team really have the skills and the time to ensure that your brand is represented well in this space?

  1. IF YOU HAD AN AVATAR – What would they look like?

Who is your audience? How old are they? What do they look like? What do they do? What brings them to your venue or your business?  This is important as you need to know who you are talking to so you can work out where you are going to find them.

  1. WHERE DO I START?

Again….there are many Social Media channels to choose from.  Once you know who your target market is you need to choose one channel to focus on.  Build it, invest and schedule and once you have a loyal following you can then shift your focus and start to build another channel.

  1. CONTENT IS KING

You should already have an overarching brand identity – now you need to apply that to your Social Media plan.  What is your brand?  How can you best represent it?  What is your tone?  What are your members interested in when they are not talking directly with you?  Tone and brand need to be consistent which is why ONE person should be in charge of what is posted on your Social Media accounts.

Once you have that sorted you need to develop content topics, around promotions, community, menu changes, and renovations plus any new offerings.  Why not introduce your team members – highlight a new member every month.  How did you contribute to the community this week?  Talk about your members?  Introduce new members or guests to your audience.  What are people saying about your venue?  Run photo competitions.  Ask them questions.  Tell stories and include Videos and Photos.  This is the best part you can be as creative as you want.  There are lots of ways to engage with your audiences.  The biggest mistake I see are perfectly put together pieces of artwork from the graphic designer advertising $5 Coffee and Cake or a $15 Steak.  Sex sells this doesn’t.

Get creative with your posting this is meant to be FUN!!! Spend a day creating for the month.  This will ensure consistency across the month.

  1. PLAN POST & SCHEDULE

The fun bit! Scheduling is a great tool to use as you can schedule the date and time of your post as far up as you would like to go.  All you need to do is monitor and interact.  Use a content calendar to plan what your month will look like incorporating all your food and beverage offers as well as what other fun things you can focus on and how you will be engaging with your members over the coming months.  Leave room for those things that crop up on the day but if you have your month plan you are set. Click here and we will send you a Content Calendar template.

  1. PLAYTIME

It’s not over yet.  To build your audience you need to interact and engage with them.  Listen to what they have to say and respond to them.  What are your competitors doing?  Keep an eye on them – What do they have planned this month? You want to attract new members and increase brand awareness so start kicking the ball around.

  1. REVIEW

Time to measure performance.  If you are using Facebook they have some great insights for you to utilise.  Check out what worked and what didn’t. Refine your style and measure your results.  Also who were your audience?  What time of the day are they on social media?  Are they male or female?  What are their age group?

  1. Start at 4 and RINSE & REPEAT

It’s not that difficult – just follow the above steps and once you have those down you are well on your way to having a fun interactive and engaging social media account that is of value to you and your club or business.

Don’t have the time or the inclination to be social? Call Illegally Blonde your Social Media Manager on m: 0416 243 387 or e: shayne@illegallyblonde.com.au