Social media has changed the way we communicate as brands. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, chances are your organization has at least one social media account. Unfortunately, that becomes one more thing you need to manage, and it is often forgotten or put on the backburner. Can it be easier? In a word, yes. There are steps you can take to make this less of a time-heavy chore and more of an efficient system that helps you sell. Here are five steps you can take to make your social media easier to manage:
1. Simplify with Scheduling
Remembering to post several times a day on your social media accounts can be difficult at best. On top of that, trying to create good content when you are in a rush is a recipe for disaster. Planning your posts ahead of time is always key, and there are a few ways you can do so.
You can pre-schedule your posts on most social media platforms without a tool or app to help you. Simply creating a spreadsheet or google doc ahead of time is an easy way to keep organized. If you want to take it next level, investigate a social media management tool that will let you queue or schedule posts for all of your accounts, seeing an entire week or month at a glance. This is especially helpful if you are managing a larger content calendar with topics, offers, deals, or sales. If you don’t have many accounts, there are several free versions that might be a good fit to start until you grow into a larger tool.
We have tried them all and would be happy to recommend one that will meet the needs of both your staff and budget. We also offer social media management tool setup, training, or assistance as a service to help you in this process.
2. Plan for Daily Engagement and Interaction Time
You cannot just post nowadays and hope for the best. If you want to grow your accounts organically over time, you need to set aside time each day for engagement and interaction.
This doesn’t mean you need to respond to inbox messages or comments the moment that they come in, but they will need a prompt response. “Getting to that later” when you are busy doesn’t always work and is a good way to set yourself up for failure. How can this be avoided? Schedule time each and every day for these tasks and handle them in bulk. You will be surprised at how much you can accomplish when you can focus on one thing and aren’t dealing with other tasks.
Other things to do during this scheduled time: invite people to like your page, comment in groups or on others’ posts as your page, and share or like other posts. This is also a good time to boost your content or setup ads or offers. A small budget can get a big return on social media advertising, especially if you target well.
3. Automate Some Customer Service Options
Do customers inbox your social media asking the same questions over and over again? Are there some qualifying questions that you need to ask on a consistent basis with those who contact you? You can save some time by automating some of these functions.
Through the help of bots and using a social media management tool (or sometimes the platforms themselves), you can automate the easy functions. This can save you so much time! It’s honestly not as creepy as it sounds and can be written using your brand voice.
Most management platforms have tutorials that show you how to do this, or if you want training in how to set this up, we can do that for you.
4. Centralize Your Inbox
Social media can be tricky to manage when you have multiple accounts on multiple platforms with multiple logins. Simply logging in to each one and checking your notifications takes a decent amount of time.
How can you make this easier? Centralize that inbox! This is the best gift that any social media management platform can give you. There is only one place to log in and the information for all of your accounts falls into one centralized location. You’re much less likely to get sucked into scrolling social media accounts and wasting precious time.
If multiple staff members are monitoring your accounts, you’ll know what was handled and what still needs to be managed. You can even leave each other internal notes!
5. Carve Out Creative Time
One last way to make your social media easier to manage is to carve out your creative time separately to create your content. Make sure this is protected time, and that you have space and freedom to focus on flexing those creative muscles. This is the time where you create images, videos, and the accompanying posts that go with them – something witty, clever, and eye-catching that will resonate with your target market.
Carving out this time will make a big impact on how these posts land in the days to come and will make you stand out from your competition. Focusing on your creativity without distraction will allow you to connect with your customers digitally, which is even more important during these trying times.
Taking the steps to make your social media easier to manage will help you focus on what really matters with your social media – creating content that sells. The pandemic has changed everything, including how you communicate with your customers. Selling your product or service(s) digitally are essential to be successful in this environment.
If you need help with any of this – strategy, training, setup, or management, please contact us. We would be happy to have a consultation with you to discuss your needs and budget and find a solution that will work for you and your team.