Tips For Social Media Management
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Social media is the undisputed king of the internet. If you don’t believe it, here’s a few statistics from Pew Research, Nielsen Company, and Experian Marketing Services to firmly place the crown on its head:
- 73% of American adults use social media sites.
- People spend 27% of their time online using social media. In America that equates to 16 minutes of every hour.
- In 2010, social media passed pornography as the number one activity online and remains in the top spot today.
You are probably already using social media, which means you are with the vast majority of businesses in America. The question that begs to be asked though is: Are you managing it properly? With new social media networks popping up all the time, managing your presence can seem like a tedious burden. It doesn’t have to be though; all you need to do is manage it better.
Managing Multiple Sites
If you are using multiple social media sites to promote your company, then it may seem like you are spending a lot of time trying to create a unified message across them all. However, it doesn’t have to be that hard. There are a number of great social media management sites that you can use to schedule posts to go onto multiple sites.
In February, Search Engine Journal released its list of the top 10 tools for managing social media. Topping that list was HootSuite. HootSuite is a great option for anyone who uses social media whether you’re a beginning or have been doing it for years. It allows you to manage all of your pages (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.) from one online dashboard. It also allows you to track conversations and measure campaign results. To top all that off, it has a free version, as well as a pro version for just $9 a month, which is probably sufficient for most contracting businesses.
There are a slew of other social media management sites out there. If HootSuite isn’t for you, check out the list from Search Engine Journal at https://hvac-blog.acca.org/sejtop10.
Have A Dedicated Staff Member
Monitoring Social Media Whether you are company with five employees or 100 employees, having someone dedicated to your social media efforts is essential to success. This does not have to be the only thing that this person does, but they should be able to dedicate at least 30 – 60 minutes to this part of their job a day.
This person should be responsible for posting information to your company’s social media pages, monitoring comments and discussions, responding to questions and comments as necessary, and tracking results. They should also be well informed of what you have in your social media policy (see the March 2014 issue of IE3 if you need help with this), so they clearly know what your expectations are when it comes to your social media presence.
When you select the person on your team that you want to give this responsibility to, make sure you choose wisely. You want someone who understands and is interested in social media, but also able to look at your sites with a professional eye. If you give this responsibility to someone who is not interested, then your sites may not provide the returns you would like. On the flip side, if you find someone who loves social media, but does not know how to run a business page, you may find that your posts, tweets, and images miss the mark still.
Using An Outside Company
You can also use a third-party company to manage your social media efforts. There are plenty of marketing companies out there ready and willing to help you. The key to using a third-party is to do your research and make sure that the company will be able to cater to your company and your company’s voice and message. If you skip this part of the selection process, your social media voice and message may not come off genuine, and that will turn off the people who are following you.
At the end of the day, successfully managing your social media sites does not have to be a full time job or take a lot of time. If you utilize some readily available, low cost tools, you can easily manage your social media is 30 – 60 minutes a day. And the relationships you build through this social outreach will benefit your company for years to come.
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Posted In: ACCA Now, Technology
