– Anna Mikell
In this day and age social media can seem like a lot to manage for one person, especially when some large brands have entire teams of people to take care of their social media. It’s easily manageable if you have a plan and keep things simple. Here are a few tips to help you stay on top of social media.
Start Small: It’s much simpler if you launch one outlet at a time. Once you are proficient at managing one, add another. Master one at a time and it will be much less complicated to share your brand through social media. Turn on notifications so you are able to respond to questions and comments in a timely manner and avoid spending an excessive amount of time monitoring your social outlets. Each channel has a learning curve and presents its own set of challenges. Once you learn the quirks it will take less time.
Plan Ahead: Content creation and distribution are much more manageable when you plan ahead. One of the best tools for this is to create a content calendar. You can do this by the day, week or month. Think about the topics that you are going to be promoting and plan them out. This is especially helpful if you are publicizing a special event. Planning ahead allows you plenty of time to share your story and will make it easier to remember important topics. Once you create your calendar and have it laid out you can schedule posts ahead of time. Facebook allows you to schedule posts directly from your page or you can use a service like HootSuite.
Leave Space for Spontaneous Posts: Schedules and content calendars are great for making sure that you don’t leave out stories that need promotion, but the beauty of social media is that it is always changing and others are constantly sharing their own stories. Leave a little room in your calendar so that you can post current news or share posts from other brands that you follow. This will also help your engagement with other brands and fans.
Keep an Archive of Content: Create a stash of content for your social media channels. This includes photos, videos, links and stories that you want to share on your channels. You don’t want to share too much on a social media outlet, and it’s a good practice to space out your posts. Anytime you see or create something that you might want to share, but it’s not the right time, keep it in your archive for later. This is also great for days when you are having social media writer’s block or need something new to share with your followers and fans.
Set Aside Time to Analyze: Setting aside time each week or month to analyze your social media is key to staying on top of everything. Everything from Facebook to Pinterest has basic analytics included now. Reviewing this information will help you to see what content your followers engage with the most and what they find the most relevant. It can also help you figure out the best time to post. This can vary from brand to brand and across all social media platforms. The more you review and fine-tune your content the easier it gets.
Anna Mikell is the Electronic Media Manager for Visit Gainesville and enjoys eating and photographing her way through delicious local restaurants in Alachua County. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Ga., and has been working in tourism and public relations since 2007.
