Ah, social media.
We love it. We hate it. We love to hate it. We hate to love it. If this were a Facebook relationship, we’d say ‘it’s complicated.’
There is admittedly a small group of unicorns who don’t have social media but for the most part, we all have a profile or account on one of the many platform options. Let’s face it — even Fran Lebowitz, who famously does not own a computer or smartphone, still knows what is going on online.
More than half of the world – 4.62 billion people to be exact – currently use social media, spending an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes a day scrolling, exploring and engaging.
But if you own a business, having a social media presence is non-negotiable to entice and attract potential customers. But where do you even start? How do you know what to post? Do you need a content calendar? We’ll answer a few of the most frequently asked questions next.
Question: What does a social media manager do?
Answer: A social media manager curates and posts content, manages a cohesive brand presence on social media, and manages the brand’s reputation and community.
They also build out a content calendar to make sure the right content is being pushed out and built-in around other marketing initiatives. That’s all the organic approach. They make sure that your social reflects your messaging and drives the big goals for the company forward.
Ideally, you’re having weekly meetings and check-ins to know what kind of news is happening. Knowing what events and big things are happening each week helps your social media manager know how to build out content while also hitting your quarterly goals.
Question: Which platform should I be posting content to?
Answer: Most businesses should be utilizing all, if not most, social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and LinkedIn. Repurposing content is one of the smartest things you can do for the content you’ve spent time creating.
Let’s say you just launched a new product. You can post a blog about it on your website, share a photo and blurb about it on Facebook, post a video of how to use it or what it is for on Instagram, link that blog post on Pinterest, add that video link to Youtube. You get the gist.
Learning your audience and where they spend most of their time is also helpful in curating different versions of the same post or scheduling out what kind of content goes on which platform.
We’ve mentioned this before, but TikTok is the fastest growing platform and is holding onto its quickly acclaimed users, leaving creators a platform for quick, informational or entertaining videos. When creators and business owners can follow and post videos using trending sounds, they remain relevant and their audience continues to grow.
Question: When is the best time to post?
Answer: Good news! There are apps for that — Sprout Social and Buffer are two of our favorites.
Generally, it’s helpful to consider which times of the day you are on your phone. Maybe on your lunch break or during your evening tv binge perhaps? You could start posting during these times and dive into the analytics of your posts within the app you posted to see when you received the most views or engagement.
A lot of scheduling apps also have features that consider when your audience is online and do the work of posting at different times to learn when is best for you.
Question: How do I grow my audience?
Answer: A good place to start is to make sure you are posting consistently and regularly.
Having a content calendar and spending time thinking of ideas will give you something to lean on and that will help you on the days when you have no idea of what to post or what to say. No shame here — it happens to the best of us.
An easy way to fill your content calendar is with holidays and important dates. Also, make sure you’re introducing people to your brand, and, more importantly, the people behind the brand.
Audiences don’t connect with companies, they connect with people. You want to show who you are, what you’re good at, and what your ‘why’ is.
There are lots of fun ways you can stay active and make sure you’re posting the average amount of times you need to. This will be the best way to organically grow your audience. Remember, these things don’t happen overnight.
Question: What are some tools that are must-haves for content creation and management?
Answer: Here are some of our favorites for creating graphics, tracking analytics, and scheduling posts.
Hopefully, this blog has cleared up some questions for you, but if not or you’re overwhelmed with the idea of managing your accounts, it might be time to hire someone to help.
We are here for you and cheering you on every step of the way.