What’s The Best Way to Manage Social Media?

Here are a few things to remember when you are putting your social media or digital marketing strategy in place:

1. Put Your Customers at the Core of Your Social Media Strategy

Establishing a social media presence on various platforms is not and should not be a goal itself. Social media management is more of a tool than an objective. Everything that you do on your social media accounts should be determined and led by your target customers, their interests, and habits.

That’s why the first step to the successful management of social media accounts is researching and understanding your audience.

Before you start to plan your content you should find the answers to the following questions:

• Who is your target social media user and ideal customer?
• What social media platforms are they most active on?
• What type of content are they interested in?
• What format of content do they enjoy the most?
• When are they most active on social media?

Knowing the answers to all these questions will help you put together the best possible social media strategy for your business. Once you’ve done that, all that is left is to start creating content, scheduling social media posts, tracking their performance, and readjusting your plan when needed.

2. Quality Rather Than Quantity

Just as with everything else in digital marketing, quality is more important than quantity. Trying to capture the largest possible audience and keep your users engaged by scheduling social media posts all the time will not do it. First, social media algorithms are getting smarter, so they do not give preference to accounts posting all the time if the quality is questionable. Second, your audience will appreciate the fact that you have put the time and effort necessary to create high-quality content which is unique compared to other companies’ social media posts being scheduled every single day.

Once you’ve created a social media marketing strategy after studying your target audience, you should make sure that every single piece of content which you produce, and share contributes to achieving the goals set in your strategy. Your social media posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, as well as on any other social media platforms should be logically connected to one another and serve the same business goal.

3. Choose the Most Relevant Social Media Platforms

As a beginner social media marketer, you shouldn’t expect to be able to conquer all social media networks at once. You might have noticed that most social media influencers focus on two to three platforms at the most. This just makes social media management more doable and much less stressful when you first get started in digital marketing.

Based on the results of the research that you’ve done on your target audience you should choose a couple of social media sites to start off with. My top tip is to choose platforms that are optimal for different content so that you can diversify your social media strategy until you figure out what works best for you and your customers. For example, go for Facebook (where you can share virtually any digital content), Twitter (where you can post short messages and media), Instagram (where you can share photos, infographics, other images, and videos), and YouTube (where you can give your video marketing skills a go).

As a startup or beginner, don’t overdo it by creating too many accounts on different platforms that you won’t be able to manage effectively. Again, quality rather than quantity is key.

4. Schedule Social Media Posts Regularly

Another really important element of the social media management strategy of any beginner, as well as experienced digital marketer, should be scheduling posts on a regular basis. You should create a social media schedule as part of your marketing strategy and stick to it. To make this as efficient as possible, use a social media management tool that incorporates a calendar, like Buffer, Hootsuite or Social by Find A New Website.

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When you are building a reputation on social media channels, users will start expecting new content from you at certain intervals. If you are good at it and get some followers, they will be actually looking forward to seeing your new social media posts. And the last thing you want is to disappoint your potential customers before even converting them.

That’s why scheduling posts on social media should follow a strict schedule. You can even make this schedule known to your users. For example, if you create videos for YouTube and post them every Wednesday, you can conclude your videos with “See you next Wednesday with another video from us!”

5. Think About Your Timing

As I mentioned at the beginning, different social media users are active on different days of the week and at different times of the day. For example, if your product targets business owners, it’s best to schedule social media posts for Monday morning or Wednesday morning. On the other hand, if you market leisure products, your audience will most likely be online at the weekend.

Base your decision when to share your content on social media accounts on research. Then integrate it into your social media strategy and stick to it.

6. Build a Community

Let’s forget selling for a minute… Doing well on social media is not like being an authoritarian dictator. It is not a one-way street. To succeed, you should build a community and be an active part of it. Give more than you take.

You can’t just post and expect everyone to engage or comment on your content, you have to interact with them and be actively engaged by listening to what they have to say. Read their comments and respond to them; see if they like or dislike your posts; check what type of content they share; etc. You can also post polls and surveys occasionally to show your users that you really care about their opinion and to understand what they think and what they need so that you can provide it to them.

Connect with other businesses and influencers in your industry and explore opportunities to cooperate. Comment on their social media posts and share them on your accounts when you believe they will be of value to your users. Soon others will start doing the same with your posts.

7. Track Your Performance

Now that your social media strategy is underway, it is not enough to keep scheduling posts without caring about the performance of the old ones. Tracking how your previous posts are doing, whether they are getting the expected attention, and if they are attracting your target audience is key for success. This is the only way to know if your strategy is working.

Start tracking the reactions, likes, comments, and shares of your social media posts as soon as they go live. Analyse what content, what format, which network, and what time of posting produce the best results. If you are not satisfied with the achievement, adjust, and track again.

Facebook Creator Studio and Google Analytics are good tools to track traffic and stats.

8. Find the Best Social Media Management Tools

To execute your strategy efficiently, you need to use the best social media management tools such as Buffer, Hootsuite or Social by Find A New Website. These tools will allow you to have your calendar filled weeks in advance so that you don’t have to worry about staying up late at night to post at the best time for your audience in other countries like America or Australia.

Another important tool is a social media calendar. This feature helps you see an overview of your social media marketing plan with data and stats. Being able to see all your published and scheduled posts on a single dashboard will help you decide if your strategy is well balanced.