If you are trying to build an effective social media presence, one of the most helpful things you can do ahead of planning your content and creating a strategic plan is conduct a SWOT analysis. A SWOT is a type of analysis consisting of identifying four main elements: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. There’s also a fifth element to the SWOT that is not part of the acronym, but can set you apart as a social media professional, the strategic implications section of a SWOT. This section is short and basically summarizes the finds from the SWOT and shares what you plan to do about them. (Freberg, 2019). “A SWOT analysis can be used to explore and identify solutions to problems, take advantage of new opportunities and ventures, decide which steps to take to help rejuvenate a community or brand online, or brainstorm new ways of engaging online through social media” (Freberg, 2019, p.237). This tells you where you stand both internally and externally and gives your organization the opportunity to plan ahead.

For example, at my place of work, we recently updated our mission statement to: “Helping the community thrive by providing accessible primary care to the underinsured in Rock County.” A SWOT analysis can guide how we share this on social media:

• Strengths: Trusted reputation in the community, real patient stories, knowledgeable staff.
• Weaknesses: Smaller following, inconsistent posting, limited staff time.
• Opportunities: Highlighting our mission, volunteer support, educating the community about accessible care.
• Threats: Old mission statement is well-known, limited time and funding sources, online misunderstanding, limited promotion budget.

It’s great to identify these elements but it’s even more important to put them to work and use them to create a real plan of action. For example, we have the opportunity to use social media to highlight our new mission and one of our strengths is having real patient stories that we can share. So, planning to post a patient story each week not only showcases our impact but also helps boost engagement and spread awareness of our work and help familiarize the community with our new mission statement.

SWOTs are an essential piece of social media research because they help organizations plan better and grow social media with a purpose.

Freberg, K. (2019). Social media for strategic communication: Creative strategies and research‑based applications. SAGE Publications, Inc.