Instagram Without “Likes”

A strategic plan is made up of the creative and systematic approach of taking an idea from research

to reality. Karen Freberg, in “Strategic Planning for Social Media”, says a strategic plan is a thorough

and systematic document that outlines what a brand, individual, or organization wants to accomplish

from start to finish. This can be used to address a problem, take advantage of an opportunity, or

explore new possibilities. The purpose of it is to assist a social media professional follow and apply

guidelines to various areas and situations. 

There are many components to a strategic plan. They include background information such as brand

voice, vision and mission. Next there is research conducted. This can include an environmental scan

analysis, social media communication audit, a situational analysis, and a SWOT analysis. The final

part of the strategic plan includes goals, objectives, audience, tactics, and budget. All of these things

are pulled from the information collected previously. From this information, a content calendar is

formed. 

This may seem like a lot of work to run a social media account when any normal person can run a

personal account with not much effort. I felt the same way when I first heard about these plans. It

wasn’t until I started to be assigned research for design projects. I didn’t understand how important it

is to understand your audience, competitors, environment, strengths, and weaknesses. Just as it is

for a design campaign, it is extremely important to understand these things for a social media

campaign. If you were to go straight into planning the content calendar without collecting information,

your campaign wouldn’t be as compelling and successful as it would be if you did the research.