How To Revive a Stagnant Social Media Strategy

Are your brand’s social media accounts dead? Are you trying to figure out how to revive them? Struggling with a stagnant social media strategy?

If you’re reading this article, then the answer to some of these questions is probably “yes.” Each year, thousands of business owners and marketers give social media marketing a try, but find their efforts falling short.

For example, you might have tried creating a content calendar and creating engaging content in the past. But you found yourself getting busy, other areas in your business had priority over social media, and your social media efforts stagnated. Perhaps, you made a few social media marketing mistakes.

How To Revive a Stagnant Social Media Strategy

In this blog post, we will discuss what it means to have a social media strategy, share some common social media challenges that business owners face, and provide some tips and tricks on how to revive a stagnant social media presence.

As a business owner, there’s never been a better time to build a digital presence online. We hope these insights from the Two Step Social team will motivate you to get your social media presence back on track!

Assess Your Previous Social Media Strategy

If you want to know how to revive a stagnant social media strategy, then it’s important to assess what went wrong in the past. Did you have a process? Did you follow a content calendar? Before investing the time and effort, did you have an end goal in mind?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, then it’s not surprising that your previous strategy has fallen flat. A successful social media strategy should have the following elements:

– An end goal
– A content creation strategy
– An engagement strategy
– Systems and teams to implement them

Ask yourself: have you have clearly defined each of these elements? Did your previous social media strategy have an end goal? Did you have a clear content creation strategy or schedule? Were you consistently engaging with your users or followers? Did you or a team member truly have the bandwidth to handle these tasks yourself?

These are all important questions to ask yourself if you want to say goodbye to stagnant business growth on social media. Take an hour of your day to sit down and go through each of these questions. By clearly defining your goals and capabilities, you will likely find yourself more motivated to follow through.

Define Your Target Audience

Your target audience greatly depends on the type of business, your industry, and a few other factors. For example, suppose you own a high-end bakery in Mobile, Alabama. In this case, your target audience is likely local families and individuals in the Mobile area who can easily drive to your shop and who have the income to make a purchase of your luxury sweets. If this bakery offers wedding cakes, then another target audience could be local engaged couples.

On the other hand, suppose you’re an attorney who owns a law firm in Charlotte, North Carolina that specializes in commercial and business law. In this case, your target audience is other established business owners who need your services for litigation, trademark issues, or other civil matters. Your end goal is to capture leads who are interested in your legal services.

By clearly defining your target audience, you will develop a better idea of what social media content to create and avoid. When you have a target customer in mind, you will find that the content creation planning process is significantly easier.

Figure Out Which Social Media Channels to Post On

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc… Every month, it seems like there is another channel to keep up with! It can be extremely overwhelming to business owners, especially to those who are new to digital marketing and have faced social media challenges in the past.

Many social media management agencies believe that small businesses should only be active on one or two social media channels. There is some truth to that. On the one hand, you don’t want to be posting to a channel that has few members of your target audience. On the other hand, why not post content to a smaller, less “important” platform if you believe you might get some traction?

At Two Step Social, we believe you should post to all of the social media channels that are relevant to your industry. Then, you can choose the channels on which you would like to spend extra time posting additional content or engaging with your target audience.

Let’s use the high-end bakery in Mobile, Alabama as an example. We believe this business should post to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google Business Profile. They could cross-post the same content to each of these channels. Why wouldn’t they? There is no downside! However, to save time, perhaps they could invest all extra bandwidth into engaging with others in the Mobile, AL community on Instagram specifically. If there is stagnant Twitter follower growth, perhaps they could spend some time engaging on that platform as well. Pick your battles, and stick with them!

Establish a Consistent Posting Schedule

One of the best social media tips for many business owners is to create monthly or weekly content creation calendars that follow specific themes. For example, you could plan to post a video on Tuesday and Thursday of each week, post a testimonial from a customer/client on Fridays, and stick to general promotional graphics on Mondays and Wednesdays. Be creative with it, but stick to a schedule!

As an aside, don’t feel like your schedule should be set in stone. While you should always have a plan that you stick to, don’t feel like you can make tweaks each month based on how certain content performed. For example, if you find that posting pictures of your team members is not resonating with your audience, but explainer videos are doing exceptionally well, then consider replacing future “team feature” posts with additional explainer videos!

Experiment with New Content Types and Formats

Now that you have identified your target audience, selected your brand’s social media channels, and built out a consistent posting schedule, it’s time to start posting content!

The great thing about social media is that there many different types of content and formats! For example, on Twitter, you can post short-form text content. On Instagram, you can post videos (e.g. Reels). On LinkedIn, you can actually post full-blown “articles!” This is great news to business owners because you can create the types of content that best resonate with your target audience.

At first, maybe stick to only posting regular pictures. There’s no need to get too fancy when you’re just starting out. After a month or two, commit to also posting a video once or twice per week. Once you have the hang of it, start experimenting with carousels, Instagram stories, Twitter polls, or other interactive content types!

Closing Thoughts: How to Avoid Stagnant Business Growth on Social Media

Reviving a stagnant social media strategy involves assessing your previous approach, defining your target audience, selecting the right social media channels, establishing a consistent posting schedule, and experimenting with new content types and formats. By implementing these social media tips and addressing common social media challenges, businesses can breathe new life into their social media presence and foster greater engagement with their audience. Remember, a successful social media strategy requires commitment, adaptability, and a clear understanding of your goals and target audience. Embrace the opportunity to learn and grow, and watch your social media presence thrive.