My budget

Establishing a budget is a key factor to develop a Social Media strategy. Even if the budget is $0, it is important to determine how much money you are willing to spend, and why. In this regard, why you are spending money is as important as how much, if not more. Depending on your goals and your current situation, it could make perfect sense not to spend a single penny on your Social Media profile.

Hence, before establishing a budget you ’ll need to decide why and when to spend it. Here’s where coming up with your goals is super important. Do you just want to share a picture of your beautiful plants with your community? Or do you want to promote a special deal you ’re offering on your Premium In Depth Consultation services?

The AIDA Model

To help you answer these questions, you can take a look at the AIDA Model. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Each one of these terms describes the different stages that the members of your community will experience.

Firstly, you gather the attention of a number of people. Some of these will be interested in what you ’re telling them. Even a smaller amount will desire to obtain what you ’re marketing. Finally, out of the many people whose attention you initially managed to attract, a select number of them will take action and purchase what you ’re selling.

This funnel-shaped model helps you determine who in your audience you want to target with your paid Social Media posts. If you promote a post directed to the many people who are in the Attention stage, it will probably get lost in the sauce. However, if you target it to those people in the latest stages of the funnel, who are on the brink of taking action, you will make the most out of your money.

How to spend your money on social media

Facebook Ads offers you different options to increase your Social Media presence through paid social. When it comes to Instagram, you can either run a campaign or boost one of your posts. Running a campaign allows you to target your paid posts so you can pinpoint the exact audience you want to talk to. On the other hand, boosting a post from your feed will increase its visibility among your followers.

The first option is probably more suited to target the latest stages of your conversion funnel. Otherwise, boosting one of your posts can be handy –and cheaper!– if you just want to spend a small amount. Even though it’s not as exhaustive as the previous option, this practice is recommended to increase the visibility of one of your posts that’s doing particularly hot. If you ’re not in the situation or the mood of spending big money, it can also work as a substitute for a campaign. If that’s the case, remember the funnel! Make sure to boost a post that you think will help you achieve your goals: a discount, a giveaway, a new service/product…

But what if I just want to go organic?

Even though paid Social Media is a very good option to achieve your goals, it’s not the only one. There are plenty of opportunities for you to grow your Social Media accounts without spending a cent. You should probably put these practices into work whether or not you

decide to run ads:

1. Be consistent. It’s not about posting very often, but very consistently! Decide the cadency and frequency of posts that work for you and stick to it. More about this in My schedule. 2. Post useful and meaningful content. It’s recommended that 80% of your content provides value for your followers, while 20 percent focuses on self-promotion. More about this in My content. 3. Diversify. There’s life beyond the feed –Instagram gives a lot of ways to reach out to your audience!–. Reels and Stories are good options to offer your community more casual, interactive, and dynamic content. 4. Team up. Do you know any fellow private practice physicians that are also trying to grow on Social Media? Reach out to them and work together! Not only will you provide better content to your audience, but you will also get visibility among their followers. More about this in My network. 5. Engage. I know, posting on your Social Media account is already so much work. But it is highly recommended to engage with your community. It will increase your visibility, boost your authority and showcase how amazing and caring of a physician you are! 6. Use hashtags. Hashtags are a good tool to become visible for those who don’t follow you yet.

My budget for the Social Media plan is…

Once again, it is your time to shine now! Write down how much money you ’d be willing to spend on Social Media right now, and what would you expect to get out of that money.