Beyond planning: The importance of strategic planning

The longer we run our business, the more emphasis and priority Lara and I put on planning. And I don't mean just laying out a plan for what we want to do. Every year, we take a more strategic approach to setting goals, developing products, and creating content. It's making us better at what we do, better at helping our clients, and understanding our clients' needs. 

We have started having 3-4 planning days per year to set priorities, plan timelines, discuss ideas, etc. It's time we spend away from doing any work for clients or product development. However, it's absolutely critical to the short- and long-term progress and success of our business.

So much of what we do as business owners applies to planning and using social media in a strategic way. Imagine, if you will, a person who has what they feel is a fabulous idea for a business. Remember the jump to conclusions mat from Office Space? (Warning: there's a little four-letter language in this clip.)

Starting a business without clear goals, research into marketability of products and services, or realistic view of what's involved can lead to a rude awakening. I think every business owner has experienced this to some degree - whether a product or service completely bombs or they have to rethink their entire business model. That's usually when you come to the fork in the road and you have to decide which new direction to take.

Strategy is just as important to social media success

We make every effort to simplify social media for our clients. It's not rocket science. We know this. However, between using the actual tools and crafting messages with a strategic focus and tying it all in to your business objectives, the process can get overwhelming. Small business don't need a 100-page strategy document, but they do need to start with identifying goals, audiences, and key messages. Once they know the what and the why, then they can move on to tactics (the how). The "how" is pretty easy once you've established "what" and "why".

Answer these questions for your business

• Why do we use <insert social network>?
• Is our presence effective?
• Are we using it to our advantage?
• Have we gained any customers through that channel?

They aren't easy questions, but it's worth reflecting. This is the time of year that we all start looking at a fresh start in the New Year. We all want to be more organized, focused, productive. 

You can do all of those things, but it starts with a plan. I'm personally terrible at setting goals for our business in the areas that I am responsible for - Lara is pushing me and reminding me to be better (or just do it). I know the importance. I know why I struggle with it. I'm working on a solution that works for me and our business because without setting those goals, even knowing my audience and key messages, I'm holding myself and my business back from being the best we can be.

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Webinar - Get Results in 2015 using Social Media with a Plan!

Lara and I are going to talk about planning tips, advice, and resources during our December 9th webinar. Sign up here!

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Do you struggle with staying focused in your day-to-day use of social channels? That can derail your plans for social media AND other areas of your business. Our Daily Social Media Checklist can help.

Just enter your email address and we'll send you this free tool to help you focus your efforts. You'll also receive weekly emails from Lara and I with valuable tips and information about how to grow your business using social media. 

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Small business resources: 2014 planning

We’re already a couple of weeks into January but we’re still working hard on our overall planning for 2014.  Today we’re sharing some resources that we’ve found helpful in planning our year. Leave us a comment and share some of the tools, tips, or tricks that have helped you get on track for a great 2014!

Leonie Dawson

(Affiliate Link)I discovered Leonie Dawson about a year ago. She’s a self proclaimed hippie and I will admit that at first I didn’t really think her content would be for me, but I was wrong.  Last year we bought her business planning document and liked it so much that this year we went on to buy both her business planner and her life planner (affiliate link).

I really like that she helps you close off the previous year and figure out what you learned, what you achieved and sometimes what you need to let go of.  Then she helps you figure out what your goals are for the coming year and how to break them down into achievable pieces.

(Affiliate Link)

Planner Pads

I’m not very organized; I readily admit it. We were told about Planner Pads by Amanda from Little Lotus Yoga and right away I saw how my brain and this planner could work together. :)

The concept is of a funnel.  You list everything you have to do at the top and then funnel it down to the right date and time. If you don’t do it when you funneled it down, it’s still on the list at the top to funnel down elsewhere.

Since I’m also a big fan of writing things out by hand, this planner has worked really well for me - and everyone else we’ve recommended it to has loved it as well. 

Wellman Wilson Consulting

We have a few planning documents we think can help you get 2014 off to a great start as well.

We have a planning document to help you figure out what direction to take your content in this year with purpose, goals and metrics.  We also have an editorial calendar for you to schedule content into ahead of time taking the guess work out of “what do I write today?!”

Are you ready to have an amazing 2014? We are! 

The challenge of consistent content delivery

What’s the challenge?

Not enough businesses plan ahead.

What topic do you want to discuss today? How about tomorrow? Next week? Next month? How do these topics help you achieve your overall business goals? Did you write them down?

Many business owners feel they have to sit down for X amount of time per day and “do” social media. While I think setting a dedicated time to check in is a good thing, it’s not necessarily the best time for you to scramble to put a blog post together, promote it on Facebook, Twitter et al and then try to squeeze in some actual social interactions. 

Instead, why not block off a half day once or twice a month to bulk schedule your foundation content? Does that sound overwhelming? Here are three steps to make it painless.

1) Create and use an editorial calendar.

Your editorial calendar is where you can decide whether you want to have themes to focus on - monthly, weekly, and/or daily. Here’s a sample of our editorial calendar:

See how organized it can make your process? Sign up for our newsletter and I’ll send you the Excel file!By taking an hour to plan out about 6 months of themes, you will create a plan that guides your work.

2) Write the content.

Set aside a fixed time when you can sit and write uninterrupted. Use this time to write blog and other social media posts that fit your themes. Don’t forget to update the editorial calendar as you do the writing. 

3) Schedule the content.

Since you’ve already put everything in your editorial calendar, scheduling it all out is a pretty quick process. I recommend scheduling no more than 1-4 weeks in advance so you can easily make adjustments. Sometimes things happen that can change the focus you want to take. That doesn’t mean that content isn’t still good - it just means that it may be put off for a bit.

Bonus tip: Be present.

Scheduling your content is okay, even though some have differing opinions. However, scheduling content does not mean that you set it and forget it. I’ve met with clients who do this and they’re very unsatisfied with the results of their efforts. Get on social media and be social. You don’t have to tell your life story, but don’t push out content you want people to read without being there to talk to them about that and other things as well.

What other tips do you have for organizing and minimizing the time you spend on social media?

Three words for 2013

Last year I chose three words to help me guide 2012.  It’s an idea of Chris Brogan’s that has really taken off and many people have followed in his footsteps.

Last year my words were Focus, Organize and Produce.  I think I was fairly successful at all three, the biggest focus of all being that I formally joined forces with Karen to create Wellman Wilson Consulting.

Together we built a business with a clear focus and created/produced new courses and programs. We also started plans for many other programs that will launch this Winter. It was a very good year.

Words for 2013

As we jump into 2013 I am ready to focus even further and the three words I’ve chosen demonstrate that.  

Create

It’s not that different from produce except that it takes imagination into account.  We don’t all learn in the same ways and we aren’t just producing material for you.  A lot of what we have planned for this year is different than anything else we’ve produced in the past.  It will involve video and audio and worksheets and e-books.  We’re creating new products that we know will help people move forward with social media for their businesses.

Teach

It’s something we strongly believe in.  We want to help you learn the why and the how of social media.  You may not choose to do all of the work yourself in the end, but you’ll understand how social media works, and what to do to move forward. We want to empower you in a safe and straightforward environment. We want to make sure you understand and never feel like you can’t ask a question. We want to teach you to fish!

Help

Beyond teaching you, we want to be a resource and a support system for you. We are growing our coaching program which is quickly becoming an amazing group of people that all support each other. Tell us how we can help - it’s what we love to do.

2013 is going to be a great year - I have such great and positive feelings about it.  

How will you focus your energy this year?  Can you choose 3 words?  Leave a comment and tell us what they are!

Strategic Social: It starts with a plan!

Using social media to promote your business isn’t as simple as setting up a blog, a Facebook Page or a twitter account. Creating the right kind of content that is designed to achieve your specific business goals takes some forethought.

A social media plan gives you the opportunity to think through what you want to say and the direction to create content in bulk, eliminating the daily scramble for new content.

Here is a basic outline of what to put in a social media plan:

Who are you?

Write down exactly what it is that you do and why. Have you ever written it down concisely? If so, great, just use that! If not, take the time to write it down.

Who is your audience?

As tempting as it is to say “anyone who will pay me” here, don’t. Who are your primary target audiences? There can be more than one. Describe them as thoroughly as you can (age, gender, type of job, level of income, etc)

What are your key messages?

What do you want people to know about your business? You can have 3-4 and they can range from “we sell a great lightbulb” to “we are committed to the best customer service you can imagine” to “social media doesn’t need to be complicated.”

What are your goals?

Your goals for using social media can vary a lot. Pick 3-4 to focus on for the next 6 months. They can be about increasing sales, but they can also be things like “increase our web presence” “build  relationships with key online influencers”.

Tactics 

This is the real meat of the plan. How are you going to target your audiences with your key messages to achieve your goals?

Give yourself set tasks per week and then fill in an editorial calendar with them. 

Examples could be:

• Write two blog posts a week.
• Acquire two guest posts a month.
• Post daily on Facebook.
• Post three times a day on twitter.

You can then expand on those further:

• Every Monday share a photo of ____ on Facebook and twitter
• Every Tuesday promote a blog post
• Every Wednesday share a useful tip on ______ on Facebook and twitter.
• Every other Friday are guest posts on the blog.
• Every Saturday share a post from the archives of your site.

Aside from your editorial calendar what else could you plan to do to attract your audience?

• Write guest posts for other blogs.
• Offer to be interviewed in podcasts
• Build your newsletter list and commit to sending a monthly newsletter.
• Hold bi-monthly tweetups

The sky is the limit for tactics. Just remember to be realistic and to think about what your audience wants and would find of value.

Measurement 

Based on your tactics and goals, what measurements should you be tracking over the next six months? What is a reasonable result to indicate success?

• List a baseline and decide on a reasonable increase in twitter followers. (50 a month?)
• Increase engagement on your Facebook page by 25% 50% 100% per month (pick something reasonable based on your current engagement levels).
• Increase visits to your site by 20% over 6 months.
• Increase sales by 20% over 6 months.
• Have 6 guest posts published over 6 months.

Implement 

Now take all the above information and put it down on paper. You’re more likely to commit to it and do it if it’s a proper and formal document. 

Then do the work. It doesn’t always pay off immediately, but growing your online presence slowly and authentically is the best way to do it. Ask someone to be an accountability partner if you think that will help. 

Knowing how to get where you want to go is always easier with a map. Your plan is that roadmap to the destination you’re trying to get to (your goals) - make sure you have one.

Leave a comment below giving us an example of one of your key messages, goals, or tactics.