Between Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin… and actually running your business, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by social media. Here’s five social media management tools and strategies I share with my GTA clients to help them take control of the social media machine to attract leads and raise the profile of their business.
Focus on Where Your Customers Hang Out
Feeling “social media overwhelmed” is often fueled by the pressure to be present on every social media platform. You will never have the time to maintain Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and a Google+ page on your own on a regular basis. Instead, pick one or two social media platforms and focus on maintaining a regular presence on those, and learning their peculiarities.
How do you know which channels to choose? Go where your customers are hanging out.
B2B businesses usually focus on Linkedin, while consumer-focused businesses benefit from Facebook. A business with visual, tangible products will benefit from Pinterest, while Google + is notable for the SEO benefits it can provide your website.
Check out Competitors
Make a habit of monitoring the content posted by your closest competitors and brands to which you aspire. Often these can be your best sources of content inspiration. Competitor channels are also great for doing research into which influencers to follow, and potentially attract to your own channels.
Schedule Your Posts in Advance
Free or inexpensive third party dashboards like Hootsuite and Buffer, allow you to create and schedule your posts weeks in advance, and manage your posts from one app, rather than logging into individual platforms.
Consider Paid Posts and Ads To Expand Your Reach
Social media is increasingly becoming a “pay to play” and “pay to be heard” platform. But the good news is, you can launch a paid social media campaign fairly affordably. Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin currently all allow you to post “sponsored” ads and content so that your updates get viewed by customers outside of your follower network. This is important as Facebook’s algorithm actually limits your posts from even being seen by more than 20% of your “organic” followers.
Hire An Expert to Do It For You
If you’re simply out of time, or find it a struggle to keep up, outsourcing your social media management can free up your staff time while someone else helps develop your strategy, manages your followers and writes your posts.