Social media for business can be overwhelming. From creating a social media strategy to launching campaigns and improving your ROI, it’s easy to feel like you’re juggling with one hand behind your back. But it doesn’t have to be that hard.
We’ve put together a list of our top tips and best practices to help you break through the noise and cut down on time spent managing your social media accounts, so that you can focus your efforts on attracting the right people to grow your business.
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Effective social media management is crucial for businesses to enhance their online presence. |
| 2. Strategies like forming a social media team and leveraging the power of social media can lead to scalability. |
| 3. Cost-effective approaches and tools are available for businesses to optimize their social media efforts. |
| 4. Hiring an in-house social media coordinator can bring several benefits to a company’s digital strategy. |
| 5. Properly leveraging social media can significantly impact brand growth, engagement, and overall success. |
Be On The Right Platforms
First, it’s important to know what your customers use and where. You don’t want to be the pizza restaurant that doesn’t have a presence on Facebook or Instagram because you’re only focused on what’s working for you right now.
Your customers are on social media all day long, so if they don’t find you there, they might just order from one of your competitors.
Next up: demographics! Knowing who is using each platform will help inform how you approach them, both in terms of content creation and acquisition strategies.
Finally: look at how other brands are doing on those platforms. If there are any specific tactics or strategies that seem to be working well for others in your industry, consider trying something similar yourself!
If all else fails…you can use a tool like Sprout Social (or another platform) to manage all of these steps for you!
Starting a social media team can significantly enhance your business’s online presence. Discover our comprehensive guide on how to start a social media team to effectively manage your digital engagement strategy.
Use A Social Media Management Tool
A social media management tool can make all the difference in your business’s social media strategy. With one, you’ll be able to:
Keep up with content volume – If you’re posting manually, it will cost you valuable time and energy just trying to stay on top of things.
With a tool, however, you’ll be able to schedule posts ahead of time so that they automatically go out at the times that are most likely to generate engagement.
Understand data – Data analysis is essential for understanding how well your content is performing on each platform and how often people engage with it (or don’t).
A social media management tool provides this information in a user-friendly format so that it’s easy for everyone on your team from marketing professionals down to interns to understand what’s happening on their respective platforms.
Automate posting – The best way to ensure good performance across multiple platforms is by automating as much as possible so that people only need access when something goes wrong or needs special attention from an admin or manager who has access rights (and perhaps even some training) but doesn’t have time available every day.
You can also automate other processes within your organization – like sending emails or sharing links – creating a more streamlined process overall!
Have A Clear Content Calendar
To avoid social media burnout, you’ll need to have a clear content calendar. This can be done in several ways. If your business uses a platform like Hootsuite or Buffer, use it!
These platforms allow you to manage all of your social media accounts from one place and keep everything organized.
Another option is to use Google Calendar and set up different types of content for specific days. For example: “Monday – Blog Post”, “Tuesday – Video”, etc.. You could even go beyond that by setting goals for each type of content (i.e., post 10 blog posts this month).
Unlock the potential of your business with the immense power of social media. Learn about the types of businesses that can scale with the power of social media and take your growth to new heights.
Be Yourself And Be Authentic
You’re a person, not a brand. You don’t have to be fake or overly professional on social media. If you’re posting about something that’s personal to you, be genuine and honest about it. Don’t try to pretend like a big company would; it will come across as inauthentic and people will notice.
Your social media presence should reflect the real person behind the business, not someone who is overly polished, but instead someone who has the same interests and values as your customers or clients do.
Be open about your own experiences whether they are funny moments or struggles and let them show through in how you interact with others online!
Use Data Insights To Inform Your Strategy
Using data insights to inform your strategy will allow you to tailor your social media management strategy. This means that you can:
Identify what’s working and what’s not. Data analytics helps you identify the posts that generate the most traffic, engagement, and sales. It also lets you see which posts are driving conversions or generating leads.
Identify your target audience. Using social listening tools such as Hootsuite Audience Insights, Sprout Social’s People Explorer tool, or BuzzSumo’s Content Analyzer software can help businesses determine who their ideal customers are based on information like location and interests (e.g., “I like puppies!”).
This information is crucial when determining how to tailor future content strategies according to specific needs of different target audiences especially when creating custom audiences within Facebook Ads Manager!
Identify trends relevant for businesses in their industry (e.g., hashtags). The best way for a business owner or marketer-in-chief to stay on top of this type of info?
Be aware of what’s hot on Twitter at any given moment by scanning popular hashtags being used by other brands within one’s niche field(s).
For example: say there’s an upcoming event coming up where lots of people are already talking about going…you’ll want keep tabs on those conversations so they don’t get lost among all those other tweets flying around cyberspace!
By keeping an eye out now instead later down road after everything has happened already means less stress while still having plenty knowledge beforehand 🙂
Use The 80-20 Rule
It’s easy to go overboard when you’re trying to get the word out about a new product or service. You want everyone in the world to know about it, so why not compromise and pay for ads?
This can come back to bite you if you don’t have enough money left over after shelling out on ads for organic promotion.
On the other hand, if you spend too much on organic promotion and not enough on paid advertising campaigns, then your audience will never see your product or service at all.
The best way to keep this from happening is by following what’s known as the 80-20 rule: 80% of your content should be organic, 20% should be paid.
Effective social media management doesn’t have to break the bank. Explore our insights on how to save money with social media management services and optimize your budget while achieving your marketing goals.
Embrace Storytelling Through Social Media
Stories are the currency of social media. Videos, photos, and articles are all compelling in their own right and can draw a lot of attention to your brand. But they’re not just that they’re also stories.
Social media is all about storytelling because it allows you to connect with your audience on a personal level.
It gives you an opportunity to share interesting tidbits about your business (which makes them want to keep coming back) while also showing off how awesome you or your company is by making people laugh or feel uplifted after viewing/reading it!
Promote Internally To Amplify Reach
Now that you’ve identified your target audience on social media and have a plan for engaging them, it’s time to start building your audience by promoting internally.
Make sure you have a clear content calendar
Use a social media management tool like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to track all of the content being shared across your company’s channels
Use the 80/20 rule – dedicate 80% of your team’s time towards creating new, fresh content and only 20% monitoring what others are creating and posting on behalf of their organization (unless you’re going full-time into brand journalism)
Embrace storytelling through social media; be sure to have a clear call-to-action (CTA), which can lead prospects through their purchase process so they end up making purchases rather than just clicking around aimlessly in search of more information about why they should buy from you in the first place! If there’s no clear call-to-action then there won’t be any conversions.”
Always Have A Call To Action In Mind
When you’re creating social media content, it’s important to always have a call to action in mind. A call to action is an action that you want your audience to take after reading your post or viewing your video.
For example: “Buy our new product,” “Sign up for our newsletter,” or “Learn more about us by visiting our website.”
Your call-to-action should be specific so that people know exactly what they’re clicking on. If they aren’t sure what they’ll be getting from the link, they might not click on it at all.
Here are some examples of calls-to-action:
- Sign up for an X free trial today!
- Click here for more information about X feature!
- Download this free ebook today!
Focus On Trends And Events Relevant To Your Business
The best way to keep up with trends and events is by looking at current hashtags. Hashtags are essentially terms that people use when they share content on social media.
The word “hashtag” was first used in 2007, but it didn’t become popular until 2009 when Twitter started using them. Nowadays hashtags are everywhere you can even find them in commercials for products!
As you scroll through your Facebook newsfeed or Twitter feed, you’ll notice that some posts include a hashtag (#). This means the post is associated with a specific topic or event (e.g., #socialmedia).
If you want to get in on the action, find out what’s going on around your business and create relevant hashtags that people will search for when looking for information related to those topics or events
Look at what people are doing on social media: Look at trends over time including how fast they’re growing (or shrinking) and where their growth rates differ from region to region across the country/world
Considering an in-house social media coordinator? Understand the benefits through our article on why you should hire an in-house social media coordinator and make informed decisions to enhance your social media efforts.
Find Opportunities To Collaborate And Share User-Generated Content
Social media is an amazing tool for businesses to use to find new audiences and grow their brand. But it’s not just about growing your followers it’s also a great way to work with other businesses and discover new opportunities.
Collaborate with other businesses. Social media makes it easy for companies to find, connect and collaborate with each other (and all the people who follow them). For example:
You could create an Instagram account that features user-generated photos from both your company and another business or organization. This way, you can share the stories of multiple different people in one place on social media which will help attract more followers!
You could write a blog post about why you love a particular product or service, then ask readers if they know any great places where they can purchase that product or service locally.
They’ll be happy to share their recommendations and you’ll have access to some fresh content as well!
When someone else publishes something on social media that relates back around again towards your company/brand/website etc.,
Check out our tip below on how best practices within their industry may change depending on what type(s) of campaign(s) are being used within said industry.”
Test Paid Ads Alongside Organic Content
There are a few reasons why you should be using paid ads to test different messaging, copy, and images:
They allow you to gauge whether or not your organic content is working. If it’s not converting, then you can use that information to determine which parts of the ad need more work (or if you need to change up your messaging).
You can see what kind of impact video has on engagement rates. This will help inform your decision on whether or not it’s worth investing in video content down the line.
Build Relationships With Influencers Who Are Relevant To Your Target Audience
Influencers are people who have a large following on social media. What do they do? They recommend products (and services) to their followers, and they get paid for doing so.
So when you work with an influencer to promote your business, you are essentially paying them to say good things about your brand. In turn, that helps build your reputation, credibility, and presence in the market as a whole.
If this sounds like something that could benefit your business and if it does then it’s time to start building relationships with relevant influencers in order to reach out to their audiences through sponsored posts or sponsored stories (which are basically native ads).
Use Cross-Promotion Channels Effectively, Such As Google Ads And Email Marketing
Cross-promotion channels are a great way to help your social media posts get noticed by new audiences. For example, you can use Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) to inform people about new blog posts or products you’ve released.
Email marketing can be another effective option for sending out news about upcoming events or deals that might interest your subscribers.
Find ways to make the most of these opportunities; don’t just throw them out there without thought!
If you’re going to pay for an ad on Facebook, try making it look like two friends are talking to each other instead of having one person shout their message at everyone else in their feed.
And if someone clicks on an email link from one of your emails, keep them engaged by offering something valuable when they arrive at whatever new site/page was linked in said email.
This way people won’t think “I’m clicking here…now why did I do that again?”
Leveraging social media can transform your business’s online presence. Dive into our ultimate guide to leveraging social media to harness its potential for brand growth, engagement, and success.
Keep Your Hashtags On Brand But Be Creative With Them Too!
Even if you’re not using hashtags to promote your content, they can still be a valuable tool for building your audience.
If you have a hashtag that represents your brand and it’s being used by others in the community, it helps increase the reach for all of those posts. You’ll see an increase in impressions or clicks on individual posts that use that hashtag compared with those who don’t use them.
This is especially important as we move toward more organic growth strategies such as organic acquisition from social media platforms which means we’re seeing less advertising on platforms like Facebook and Instagram because of their algorithm changes over time.
So now when someone comes across a piece of content about brands or products they always look at what kind of interactions there are around those topics first before taking action himself/herself (i.e., liking something).
Conclusion
The beauty of digital marketing is that you can experiment with different social media strategies and learn from it as you go. The best way to decide what works for your business is to try a few different things and see how they resonate with your audience.
For example, you could choose one hashtag each month and test the performance of organic tweets against paid ones in order to determine which route has the most success. Good luck!
Further Reading
Sprout Social: Social Media Management Learn about best practices and strategies for effective social media management, including content creation, engagement, and analytics.
Indeed: Managing Social Media for Companies Explore how to manage social media for companies, including tips on creating impactful content, engaging with audiences, and measuring success.
Buffer: Social Media Management Tools Discover a variety of social media management tools that can help streamline your processes, schedule posts, and analyze performance.
Now, here’s the “FAQs” section with five questions and answers:
FAQs
How can I effectively manage social media for my business?
Managing social media for your business involves creating a cohesive content strategy, engaging with your audience, and tracking performance using analytics tools.
What skills are important for a social media manager?
A successful social media manager needs skills in content creation, community engagement, data analysis, and staying updated on industry trends.
What are some recommended tools for social media management?
Popular social media management tools include platforms like Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, and Later, which help schedule posts, track analytics, and manage multiple accounts.
How can social media management contribute to company growth?
Effective social media management can boost brand visibility, increase audience engagement, drive traffic to your website, and ultimately lead to higher conversion rates.
How do I measure the success of my social media management efforts?
Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as engagement rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, and follower growth can help gauge the success of your social media management strategy.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.
