When developing a social media strategy, it’s important to determine how social will fit into the mix of your overall marketing strategy as well as the vision and mission of the chorus. Find a team, set goals, and choose channels and content that fit into your organization’s structure while also providing relevance to your target audience. Consider which types of content you want to create and share as well as determine what personality you want to portray. Experiment, automate, and analyze to refine your social media strategy.
Find Your Team
Look for a team of tech-savvy, well-connected, and experienced social media marketers to develop and implement your social media strategy. Social media is not a side project, but rather an important component of your overall marketing strategy. It should be put in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing! Determine how much time each person can contribute and try to delegate assignments. Your social team will likely have someone leading the team with a few dedicated content sourcers, writers, and/or posters.
Set Goals
Consider your chorus’s mission and overarching goals. Using this, plan out how you can help the organization reach these goals through use of social media. Set clear, measurable goals for yourselves. Sample metrics might include post engagements, followers, post clicks, video views, ticket buyers via social, social referrals to website, or leads/email subscribers generated via social.
Choose Which Social Channels to Use
Don’t take on more than you can chew! Carefully select which channels your chorus will use based on the demographics of your target audience. For example, if your buyer persona is “The Family Concert Goer” you might want to find channels that parents frequent. Here is a breakdown of demographics by social channels. Popular social networks include:
Source Content
Start to follow organizations that your target audiences follow. If your buyer persona is “The Family Concert Goer,” search for parenting Facebook groups/pages, Meetups, Reddits, or other forums in which local parents might participate. By following or liking these channels, you’ll find great share-worthy content on a daily basis even if you aren’t creating your own content. This is also a chance for you to engage with your audience in a non-promotional way and, if the opportunity arises, even post your own relevant content in the forums.
Post Your Chorus’s Content
As your marketing team creates new content, post to social channels. But, remember the 4:1 ratio! This applies on your social channels too. For every social post that promotes your concerts or events, you should post three other pieces that are relevant and interesting to your target audience such as “10 Activities to do With Your Children in [Boston],” “How to Help Your Kids Become More Cultured,” or “The Benefits of Singing for Children.”
Make Your Own Social Content
Some content will be created specifically for social. Think videos, memes, GIFs, etc. As a team, brainstorm some ideas for creating original, unique, share-worthy social content that resonates with your target audience.
Experiment with Boosted Posts & Advertising
Try experimenting with boosting the post (Facebook) or advertising your content within your social media platforms. This typically works best when you put spend behind a piece of content that is already performing well organically. Did your organic post get a lot of likes or shares? Try putting advertising dollars behind it to see the additional reach.
Automate As Much As Possible
Try to use social media management, listening, and scheduling tools to automate your workload. Automating can help eliminate your administrative work and allow you to focus on the creative content generation and strategic side of social media management. Here are a few tools that can help:
Analyze, Revise, Repeat
Most social channels have their own analytics dashboard available. Run these reports on a regular basis to ensure you are posting the most relevant content. Learn what works, what doesn’t, and revise your strategy to boost your results.
Tori Cook is the former Director of Sales & Marketing at Chorus Connection, an active board member of the Greater Boston Choral Consortium, and a soprano with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. In a past life, she was the Music Director of the Harborlight Show Chorus and President of Chorus pro-Musica. When not making music, she daydreams about adopting a golden retriever puppy and scuba diving to exotic locations around the world.