How To Create An Actionable Social Media Plan: A Guide To Boosting Business Growth And Confidence

Step 1: Define a Clear Goal

You’ve probably heard the phrase “a goal without a plan is just a wish”; your marketing is the same.  Your first step in creating a social media plan is to define a clear, specific goal to provide you with direction and purpose, so you’re not just posting for the sake of posting but working towards a destination. This will help you focus on your efforts and ensure your posting aligns with your business objectives.

Please think about what you'd like to achieve from your social media plan.  

A few examples include:

• Increase brand visibility by growing the number of followers
• Generating more leads from potential clients
• Driving more traffic to your website

It helps to have something to work towards, so set targets for yourself and track your progress.

For example, if you’re looking to generate more leads, how many leads do you need compared to the number of clients you want to work with each week/month? 

Please make your goals specific and put time against them; this helps measure progress regularly and identify patterns.

Step 2: Understand Your Audience

Once your goals are decided, you must know who you want to reach.  Understanding your target audience means you can speak directly to their needs and desires in your content.  Imagine talking to a room full of people you don’t know; some will relate to what you’re saying, and some will leave the room because the information isn’t relevant to them; this is what your content is doing for you and why it helps to be specific and authentically you.

Things to consider about your ideal person in that audience:

• Start with the demographics (age, gender, where they live)
• How does your service solve their problems?
• What do they want to be different in their life?
• What are their values and beliefs?

Getting to know your audience helps you tailor your messaging, visuals, and overall strategy. When you speak to someone in person, depending on their age, for example, you might speak differently to a 40-year-old than you would to someone in their 20s—tone of voice and what you choose to share on your socials make a difference.

Step 3: Choose Your Social Media Platform

Don’t be tempted to be everywhere at once and spread yourself too thin.  You do not need to be on every single platform.  Focus on 1 or 2 social platforms where your target audience is most active.  You’ll be more effective with your time and energy by concentrating your attention on the channels that impact your business most.  

Thanks to Social Pilot, here is some information on the three of the most commonly used platforms:

Facebook:

• • Great for building community and engaging in groups and events.
  • 2.11 billion daily active users - it's the most used online network in the world

Instagram:

• • Great for visual content, storytelling and connecting with your audience through posts, stories and reels.
  • Over 500 million active daily users

LinkedIn:

• • This is no longer a job-hunting platform; it’s a great place to make connections and engage as you would at a networking event.
  • Over 134 million daily active users

Don’t be put off by the big numbers! Imagine the bread aisle at the supermarket—there’s plenty of choice for the different people purchasing the product.

Choose the platform based on where most of your target audience will likely hang out.

Step 4: Develop Your Brand Voice

This is all about how you communicate with your audience—the tone, style and personality behind your posts.  Developing a consistent but natural brand voice makes your content more relatable.  As a woman working to grow a business, bring your authentic way of speaking to your content.  The people consuming your words will work with you, so avoid using a business voice!  It isn’t easy to stay consistent when you create a business persona for yourself; you want to build trust, so my advice is to be yourself.

Step 5: Create a Content Strategy

Now that you have a clear goal, you know who your audience is, and you’re speaking in your content as you would if you met them in person, it’s time to develop a strategy for your content.  

This is where you outline what you’ll post when you post it and the type of content you want to create.

a. Content themes:  Selecting themes or subjects (also known as content pillars) makes planning easier; this allows you to spread different content across the week.  

For example:

• • • Monday: An inspirational post to kickstart the week
    • Wednesday: Behind the scenes look at your business
    • Thursday: Talk about a current offer
    • Friday: Testimonial to showcase your results

By planning this way, you remove the guesswork and maintain variety in your posts.

b. Content types:  Mix up the content to keep it engaging.

• • • Use images and graphics that represent your brand
    • Videos and reels get more engagement; add them in to build a connection
    • Stories stay for 24 hours, perfect for behind-the-scenes and promotions
    • Polls and questions encourage engagement and interaction 

c. Consistency, consistency, consistency—it’s key to momentum and staying on your audience's radar, but it doesn't mean you have to post every single day! Be realistic about what you can achieve. If that’s three times a week for you, stick to it as much as possible. Quality is more important than quantity.

Step 6: Schedule and Automate

It’s time to streamline your efforts and automate.  Scheduling your posts for automatic posting is a great way to save time and maintain the frequency of posting without needing to be online all the time.  

Scheduling tools like Buffer, Asana, or Hootsuite enable you to plan your posts. You can batch create your content in one or two sessions and schedule it across weeks/months. This frees up time for more enjoyable tasks, such as working with clients or taking time for yourself.

Step 7: Engage and Build Relationships

Social media isn’t just about posting content; you must also engage with people.  The more you interact, the more people see you; the more you interact with your audience, the more connected they feel to you and your brand.  Building relationships leads to loyalty, repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals.

Engage as you would at a networking event:

• Reply to comments and messages promptly, show interest, and provide value.
• Ask questions to encourage engagement by requesting feedback or asking for opinions
• Join in conversations and relevant discussions where you can offer advice and share your expertise; groups and other people’s posts are great places to join in this way.

When you see people responding to your posts and comments, consistent engagement helps to build your confidence and grow your audience.

Step 8: Track your Progress

Keep an eye on the metrics to see what’s working and what isn’t so you can make data-driven decisions to improve your strategy.  All of it is trial and error; don’t be afraid to experiment with different content to get a feel for what your audience likes and resonates with.

Some key metrics to check in on:

• Follower growth - to see how many new people you’re gaining over time
• Engagement rates - notice the comments and if the content is being saved or shared
• Website traffic - is your content doing the job of driving people to your website?

Tracking key metrics will provide tangible evidence of your progress and let you see where your strategy might need adjusting.

Step 9: Celebrate ALL The Wins

As a female founder and solopreneur, it's easy to forget to celebrate your successes.  Celebrating EVERY win, no matter how small, will boost your confidence.  Whether it's another five followers or a positive comment on a post - celebrate it and remind yourself that your efforts are paying off and moving you closer to your goal. Growing a business takes time and patience.

Creating an actionable social media plan is one of the best things you can do as a solopreneur to promote and grow your business.  By setting clear goals, understanding who your target audience is and developing a consistent strategy for your content and engagement, you’ll feel more empowered in your role as the boss of your business.

Patience, tenacity, and consistency will serve you well in building a successful business.