There’s no right or wrong way to build a social media marketing strategy, as long as you do so with one word in mind: results.

The biggest mistake you can make is assuming that you have a strategy, when in all actuality you’re “throwing ideas against the wall” in hopes that something works.

In other words, there’s more to a social media strategy than posting here and there and relying on luck to do the rest.

Here are the basics of building a social media marketing strategy that you can scale in the future:

• Choose a platform (or platforms): You don’t have to create content for every platform, but you should pin down which one(s) are right for you and your brand. For example, maybe you decide to start with Twitter and Facebook, with the goal of branching onto Instagram within several months.
• Review your competitors: The point of this is to better understand what is and isn’t working within your space. It doesn’t mean you should copy every last thing your competitors are doing. But you should take their strategy into consideration when building your own.
• Start slow with trial and error: Don’t bite off more than you can chew early on. Instead, build slowly through a trial and error process. This will allow you to answer questions such as: What’s generating the best results? What’s falling flat? How can you tweak your strategy for better engagement and ROI?

These aren’t the only steps you’ll take to build a social media strategy from scratch, but they’re more than enough to put you on the right path.

Your strategy will evolve as the days, weeks, and months go by. As long as you’re comfortable with your approach and the results you’re generating, you will continue to make progress.