So, you've been given the task of managing the company social media pages... duh duh duuuhhh! This may seem daunting at first, but fear not as we've compiled a list of 7 tips to help you create the ultimate social experience.
Over the years, we've managed our fair share of company social pages, and with that experience comes knowledge - and a whole lot of it! We've taken the liberty of highlighting just a few things that we've found to be super useful when managing a companies social presence.
1. The Brain Dump
Writing a plan can sound boring because you'll think that you can just make things up as you go along and save yourself the hassle, but trust us, doing so will help you to understand what you're trying to achieve and why you're sharing the content in the first place.
Within this plan you should outline how often you wish to post to each social media platform and the type of content you're going to post whilst keeping a record of your metrics for each platform.
A plan can be as simple as an excel spreadsheet with a list of things you'd like to post. List them in date order, with as much detail as possible. Next to that, you could even write yourself an action list of things you need to do in order to make sure you have the information you need in time.
Try and plan at least 2 weeks in advance, ideally a month, to give yourself enough time to attain all the relevant information needed to write your posts.
2. You Chose... Wisely
This may seem a simple task, but choosing which social platforms you're going to use is extremely important. You want to make sure that the time you're investing is going to pay off.
If you’re just getting started, keep your number of active social networking sites to three or less. For most businesses, particularly small businesses, trying to tackle six different social media accounts often results in doing a mediocre job with little to no results.
Choose the platforms that bring the most value to your business by putting your brand in front of your target audience.
Check out our previous post to find out 'which social media platform is best suited to your business'.
3. Create A Personality
Yup! You read it correctly, create a personality. Think about your brand for a moment. Now think of your target audience. What are the things that your brand needs to say and the way that it needs to sound in order to start building a rapport with your target audience?
The best way to do this, is to personify your brand. Get some sticky notes and start writing personal attributes of your brand personality. Is it male or a female? How old is it? Is it fun? Intellectual? All of these kinds of questions ultimately need to align to what your target audience are looking for in your brand personality.
Why is this important? Because the more comfortable your audience feel, the more likely they are to interact and engage with your business.
4. Make Sure Your Profile is Complete
Aside from your website, your social profile is the next best thing to an online shop window, so make sure it's up to date and fully complete for your target audience to understand what it is you do, and how to contact you.
5. Sharing Interesting Content
Now, here's the bit that businesses struggle with. It's about finding the right balance between content that reflects your organisation, who you are, what you do, your culture, your personality, your market positioning and much more.
Allow us to share with you an example of how your content can define the interaction you receive from your audience; We recently undertook some research for a recruitment client which brought to light some interesting findings from two of the top recruitment organisations in the UK. Both companies were of similar size and had a similar social following, but there was one key differentiator.. their content.
The first company share industry updates, company sales posts and nothing more; no personality, no culture, simply nothing interesting to a social user which results in them having minimal engagement.
The second company on the other hand, not only share industry updates and sales posts, but also post photos of their staff enjoying themselves in the office. They portray their culture, their company values, they frequently share good stories about their people and the work they do.
The second company succeed on social media because their content is reflective of who they are and why they exist. This goes to show that great content results in great engagement.
Why not consider some of the below as ideas for your social content;
Share photos of your work, your offices and your people to give your audience an insight to the spirit of your company and the faces behind your brand.
Post a competition to excite your followers and create a buzz.
Pose questions to your target audience to increase their engagement with you, maybe consider running a poll?
6. Use Eye-Catching Imagery
Almost all social managers now know that when posting content to social sites, they're much more likely to gain engagement by attaching imagery or a video to the content. As a business, you not only want eye-catching imagery, you'll want imagery which represents your organisation and your products and services.
Consider using creative mockups and branded artwork whenever you post your content. Instead of a generic image from the web, use striking imagery with your logo located somewhere on the picture. That way, it's more likely that people will see your brand and recognise it as you continue to share content.
7. Engage With Your Followers
Ultimately, the whole point of social media is to be social. As a business, it's important that you actively engage with your followers, respond to every comment, retweet relevant mentions and like customer posts. Remember, you're acting on behalf of the business, so only interact with things that the business would interact with.
Need Help?
If the above sounds like a little too much to handle, why not consider outsourcing your social media management to Ouma? For an affordable ongoing monthly fee, we'll get your social platforms buzzing with excitement and your followers eager for more. Contact us today to book a one hour free consultation with one of our team!
Click here for more information.