If you’re a small business owner and you’ve decided it’s time to launch a social media marketing campaign, you’re probably already to jump in. It’s easy right? Grab your computer and set up your business’s social media account(s) and start posting deals. The truth is, social media marketing is no different than any other marketing channel. A little planning before getting started goes a long way in helping your campaign be more effective. Here are 8 questions to ask yourself before launching your social media marketing campaign.

1. Who is my audience? You may have heard the phrase before, “If you market to everyone, you market to no one.” To be successful with social media marketing you need to narrow down your audience. Which demographic(s) are most likely to use your product or service. With your target audience in mind you can start making decisions about how to run your social media marketing campaign
2. Which platform(s) should I use? The answer to this question depends on the answer to the first question. Twitter is great for text based content. Here you’re going to have people more interested in receiving very concise content. Instagram and Pinterest on the other hand are much more image- and video-based. Don’t select platforms at random, choose ones that fit your target audience and the content you’ll be posting
3. What are my short- and long-term goals? You can’t be successful if you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish. Sit down and make a list of short- and long-term goals.
4. What is my budget? Your social media marketing budget can be anywhere from zero to thousands of dollars. It’s free to create a social media account for your business but if you can also pay to extend the reach of your advertising to those that aren’t following your social media account. Decide before you start what your budget is for social media marketing
5. What is my competition doing? Watching your competition accomplishes two things. It gives you some ideas of what you can try (or improve on) and it gives you valuable information about the playing field before you enter it
6. What kind of content should I create? This is the heart of your social media marketing campaign. What kind of content will you create and post for your followers. Decide what type of content will be the most effective for reaching your short- and long-term goals
7. What content should I share? Sometimes you will want to post content from other sources as it pertains to your busines’s niche. If you do this, make sure you aren’t just copying and pasting. Make it your own by providing your own take on it
8. How can I engage my target audience? Finally and most importantly, you want your customers to do a lot of your advertising for you. Think about ways you can engage your audience so that you aren’t having to do all the work yourself

Source: business2community.com/social-media/8-questions-ask-setting-brands-social-media-strategy-0891820#!PLqbg