Over the last decade many businesses have been in a mad dash to open social media accounts — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat or YouTube — in order to boost sales or brand awareness.
If you don't have a social media presence in today's market, you simply don't exist to some customers. They want to be able to interact with your business, learn about your products and read past reviews. Not being on social media puts you at a disadvantage.
Registering for an account is the easy part. You can be up and running in a few minutes, but the real question is: are you being strategic with these accounts?
Are you regularly checking analytics and letting them guide your decision-making? More importantly, are you taking advantage of new opportunities?
Conducting a Social Media SWOT Analysis is the best way to craft an effective marketing strategy, by examining your businesses' strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
What Are My Strengths?
Business accounts on Instagram provide a wealth of information, including your top-performing content, reach, impressions, actions taken on your page and audience demographics.
What does this mean for you? Capitalizing on your strengths!
Businesses can determine what pictures or videos are performing the best on their page and replicate that content, or they can use demographic information to figure out what imagery resonates most with their audience.
In 2023 it was projected that 785 million people worldwide would use the Instagram app at least once per month. It remains the fastest growing network in the United States, especially among younger users.
As a business, Instagram is where you want to be, and even Threads now at this point for 2024.
What Are My Weaknesses?
Everyone has weaknesses. The good news is it is not too late to reverse course after conducting an in-depth SWOT analysis.
For example, how is your social media advertising going? Are you doing it at all?
Advertising through the Facebook Business Manager is simple, affordable and highly effective. Presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg spent $60 million on Facebook ads in the first three months of 2020 because they work well and he obviously had the ad budget.
Depending on the size of your business, a healthy Facebook advertising budget could be anywhere from $50-$500 per month. For that, you can get higher post reaches, website visits or new email contacts.
If you aren't doing it, your competitor probably is.
What Are My Opportunities?
New apps are being rolled out every year and existing platforms are continually evolving to keep pace. This gives you plenty of opportunities to consider.
One example is Instagram stories. First implemented in 2016, it allows users to post fun videos or content for 24 hours before they disappear.
The use of stories hasn't overtaken regular posting on Instagram, but it's growing fast. For stories, think about posting engaging content. Have fun with it. Post a sticker or two.
Another technique to consider is adding seo backlinks from your accounts because most people discover new websites through social media.
What Are My Threats?
Look at similar businesses on social media and audit their performance. Some of the things you could ask are:
- Is their engagement higher than yours? Why?
- Do they have more followers? Why?
- Is your content (pictures, videos or text) as sharp as theirs?
- Do they respond to comments or questions? Do you?
- What time of day do they post? Have you determined your page's best time to post on Facebook or Instagram?
This is the best way to be strategic with your social media marketing accounts.
Need Help With Your Social Media SWOT Analysis?
The truth is not everyone is an expert at marketing. If you need help conducting a Social Media SWOT Analysis for your business, read some of the informative articles from the Bootstrap Business Blog.
We are a leading source of news and tips on social media marketing, SEO and technology with articles like "How the Internet and Social Media Can Help Shape Your Business" and "5 Marketing Tips to Revamp Your Social Media Strategy." Visit the Social Media and Influencer Marketing sections of the Bootstrap Business Blog to learn more about SMM.