When is a marketing or social media 'strategy' really just a 'plan' and why does it matter?

There’s a bit of confusion out there about the difference between a strategy and a plan, especially when it comes to social media.

My thoughts on this come from over 25 years quietly but constantly working away on both strategies AND plans and often seeing people confused by the difference. I’ve worked with an extensive range of organisations - from startups and micro businesses to national networks, financial institutions and government organisations and I’ve also been teaching this very subject for over 6 years now.

Because I love to share my knowledge, here’s a little breakdown to get you thinking about your own strategy 👇🏻

✨ What goes into a marketing or social media strategy?

When you know what you need to achieve, why you need to achieve it and how you’re going to know when you’ve achieved it - that’s a strategy. 

Your marketing or social media strategy requires an in-depth understanding of your business objectives,  the competitive landscape, your existing and future customers and all that good stuff. Your strategy will include details of your customers or clients and their wants, needs and behaviours. 

Though your strategy won’t need details of messaging and creative, it should include a breakdown of the channels you intend to use and why. It’s also helpful to include an audit of your own and your competitors marketing channels.

✨ What goes into a marketing or social media plan?

Once you’ve finalised your strategy, you can look at how you’re going to actually implement it. A marketing or social media plan would include the ‘how stuff’, including things like; how often you post; what creative to use; when to post; what to post and, all that implementation stuff. 

👉🏻 Why does knowing the difference between a marketing or social media strategy and plan matter?

A plan should support a strategy not be one, because leading with ‘how’ before ‘why’ means you are likely to be just guessing. This leads to wasted time and inconsistency - something your customers won’t respond well to.

Now…

If you want to stop guessing and build a clear and consistent strategy and implementation plan, please get in touch and we can talk about the best way to develop a social media or extended marketing strategy that achieves your business goals as efficiently as possible.

I work with my clients in a number of ways; 

👉🏻 I can do it for you.

👉🏻 We can work on it together.

👉🏻 I can teach you to do it yourself.

A proper uncomplicated and smart strategy makes content planning and creation pain-free and much quicker! Get expert advice and guidance without all the fluff, jargon and deadset BS flying around about this stuff 🙄

Hi I’m Erika ✌️ I’m a marketing specialist with a BA in Media and Comms, Masters of Marketing, Cert in CX (Customer Experience) and over 25 years experience. I’m well placed to help you navigate the sometimes overwhelming world of marketing and social media. I work with you one on one or create fun and action-oriented workshops and webinars for groups, organisations and businesses. Book a free discovery call with me or simply email me to get the conversation started.

For more tips, connect with me on Facebook and Instagram or just get in touch, I'm always happy to help.