Coordinating Social Media Channels
So many social networks and social media marketing tools, so little time. As a business owner, you want to be able to manage multiple accounts for your company, be effective in your social communications, and not feel overloaded and overwhelmed. The are many things to think about when you are looking to improve the way you manage your social media channels and conversations. The three main things to consider are:
Time management. Any type of marketing takes time; however, social media marketing tactics require a different kind of attention than most other marketing tactics. You need to be “present” and be “listening” to what people are saying on a regular and frequent basis so you can respond in a near real-time manner. Checking your social networks should be built into your daily routine, but also need to manage your time so it doesn’t interfere with other work. If you are organized, methodical, and resist the temptation to let your attention drift from the tasks at hand, you can manage a few social media channels in one to two hours a day. Managing more than a few social networks will add more time to monitor, engage, and analyze.
Resource management. If you are a company of one, your resources are at a premium. Time is money, and while it is good practice for you to be directly involved in the conversations taking place on your company’s social media channels, you may want to invest in hiring someone to support what you are doing and free you up for business management and revenue generation. A part-time assistant can help bring important issues to your attention and forward messages to you that need personal responses. Train others on your team on how to engage in conversations on your company’s social media channels and provide them with detailed instructions.
Collaboration management. If there are multiple people on your team who help manage your social networks, establish an internal process that outlines how to carry out social media marketing activities in the manner that best suits your goals and objectives. Determine who is allowed to publish content versus who can compose it with editing and approval. Establish your brand personality and voice, and then train your team on how they can best represent your company online. Include social media usage policies and guidelines in your Employee Handbook or a training manual. Use tools that facilitate posting as a team to help keep track of collaborative social media marketing efforts.
There are many tools - free and fee-based - that can help you manage your social media channels. Determine your specific needs to find the tools that will suit you and your team.
These tools can help you:
- Post messages across multiple channels.
- Post messages from multiple sources.
- Analyze your social media channel effectiveness.
- Manage your followers.
- Track channel growth.
- Measure your brand’s influence within social media channels.
- Monitor conversations through alerts and regular, frequent engagement.
- Assess sentiment or the tone of conversations around your brand.
Having more social media channels doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll increase your impact, but more channels mean a greater need for tools to help you manage them. Look for tools with multiple functions that can support the growth of both your company and your social networks. Your social media management efforts can be facilitated by the right tools, but it’s the quality of the content you publish and the conversations you engage in that can make or break your success with social media marketing.