Tips for Developing a Winning Social Media Program
Strategy is a choice, not a chore.
Everyone has a "social media strategy" until the first quarterly business review hits, and the numbers are’t going "up and to the right." And while the easy answer is to say that the content published in the previous quarter was not good or engaging, there’s an underlying reason as to why. Typical business leaders often treat social media like a megaphone, but the winners treat it like a laboratory.
To help my clients cut through the noise, we don't start with questions like "What should we post?" Instead, start by evaluating how your organization stands up to five core elements and dive deeper into some topics that might help you evolve your current social media strategy.
If you or your client can't answer these with data-backed confidence, you don't have a social media strategy; you're just casually creating content and hoping for success. So where do we start?
The Five Core Elements
Audience: What do we know about our target audience? Where are they actually spending time online? If your target audience is Gen Z, you likely need to focus your efforts on Instagram and TikTok. If you're a B2B Enterprise organization whose target audience is senior decision makers, you're likely creating content that will resonate with a more professional audience on LinkedIn.
Content: What is the purpose of the social media content we're creating? What is the "value exchange" your brand or organization is offering? Why should your target audience stop scrolling? Hint: It's usually by educating, entertaining, or informing your audience.
Goals: What is your actual goal for using social media, and how does it tie back to the actual business outcomes of your organization? A good example would be to generate "3,500 monthly web visitors and 75 qualified leads," not just "add more followers."
Measurement: What does success look like for your organization? Or more directly, how do you prove that your efforts are having a noticeable impact? Success should be tied to your overall business goals and can look like referral traffic, lead attribution, and Share of Voice through Social Listening.
Resources: How do you plan to allocate your available resources to creating said content? If resources are strapped, identify ways to extend the life of a piece of creative or content so that it can be repurposed across channels.
Stop Guessing: Conduct an Audience & Competitor Audit
Now that you've spent a little time thinking about those 5 elements, here's a staggering reality: 56% of marketers do not conduct formal research to understand their target audience. Which means they are throwing darts in a dark room, hoping to hit the target.
Understanding your audience and how they are active on social media is the only way to unlock consistent engagement. What does that look like in practice?
Audit the Competition: You don't need to copy them, but you do need to see where they are succeeding and falling short on social media. Identify the gaps. If your top competitors are ignoring video content, that is the "green space" your brand has an opportunity to play in.
The Multi-Platform Reality: The latest data showthat the average social media user now cycles through 6.7 social platforms per month. Your brand doesn't need to be on all of them; you need to be on the right ones with a tailored approach for each. Don't try to cut corners by posting the exact same content across channels.
The Content Powerhouse: Short-Form is King
Speaking of video content, the data is in, and it's a landslide. Sprout Social data shows that short-form video content is 2.5x more engaging than long-form content. In 2026, if video content isn't at the center of your "Content Mix," you're trying to cook with one hand tied behind your back.
There is no "one-size fits all" content mix. Still, a good starting point should be content that is educational (e.g., How-tos, industry and proprietary insights), community-focused (e.g., create two conversations within your content, ask questions), and culturally relevant (e.g., Humanize your brand, lean into trending content themes).
The "Monitor & Pivot" Loop
Last and not least, we have to talk about data and performance. Social media is evolving faster than ever. And what worked in Q1 might be irrelevant by Q3.
So look to establish KPIs and move past vanity metrics like followers gained, and look at more impactful metrics like Click-Through Rate (CTR), Landing Page Views (LPV), and Conversion Rate. And keep your team agile by setting a regular monthly sync, reviewing data to see how your content is performing, and leaning in double on what's working and ruthlessly cutting what isn't. And if you work with a creative team or even have a more design-oriented team member, try to determine why content performed above benchmarks through a qualitative lens.
The Bottom Line
Developing a winning social program isn't about being everywhere; it's about being intentional somewhere. It's a marathon of consistency backed by the sprint of real-time data.
