Digital marketing is constantly changing. Business owners have great opportunities to find (and be found by) target customers. However, taking full advantage of what an online presence has to offer requires spending time and effort to learn best practices of each digital outlet. Even after mastering a platform, however, entrepreneurs and marketers must still take the time to stay updated on changes occurring weekly (and sometimes daily). It takes patience, research, and a little creativity. 
Before you start creating content, you must first create an overall digital media plan. This will include what, when, where, and how to post for each platform. Not knowing the best practices of digital media can make all your efforts useless. The best content will not help your business if it’s sent to the wrong platform or shared at the wrong time or fails to meet standard best practices. So let’s go through the basics of what you know when you’re framing your digital strategy.
Not knowing what to post online will have a negative effect on your whole online marketing plan. This is the foundation for everything you will do online. Every business should have a guide for how they want to be viewed online. The strategy that you plan will have a direct correlation to how many, and what kind, of leads you will land. Do you want to be fun, edgy, serious or strictly informative? Even more importantly than what you want, make sure you know what your customer wants. All of your content online should be tailored to your audience/buyer persona. Whether it’s a blog or posting on social media, you’ll conduct research, write and then analyze your results. Every post should matter to your audience; ask yourself, what will my audience be getting out of reading your content? If you can’t answer that question, there is no need to post.
Not every platform is for every business or organization. The ones you select should have different types of content focus, chosen based on the unique audience and engagement you will get from that platform. You need to find out which platforms your audience uses. Take a look at your competitors and see what channels they’re using. Are you willing to pay for certain social media sites? Places like Facebook and Instagram are places where brands are able to expand their reach and views by paid posts and advertisements. You should also consider the future of the sites; you should know which platforms are declining and which ones are emerging. If you catch a new platform on the rise that fits your target demographic, you might be able to implement a content strategy that helps your business emerge as a channel leader. Here’s a quick summary (accurate at the time of posting) of each social media platform that might fit your business:
Like stated above, your posting times should be centered around your audience. When are they online? Before you schedule or write your content, check insights on the various sites and understand that your optimal times may be drastically different (or not) than the standard best times. Once you find days and hours you should post content, be sure you revisit the strategy on a weekly basis. Thanks to the ever-changing algorithms on many of the platforms, you can’t just “set and forget” these posts. These are a lot of factors to consider, and you might not have the time to do the appropriate research, but here’s a quick-start guide.
These are some of the best practices you should know when starting or revising your digital strategies. Remember your digital presence isn’t just about likes, shares, retweets, and pins, it’s about making sure that each of your posts supports your overall goal and speaks to your target demographic. Not knowing (or following) these practices might harm your digital presence online and, worse, may open a door for your competitors. With so many different platforms these tips will have you solidify your online strategy and maximize your business’s marketing efforts.