One of the craziest things you’ll experience as a social media manager (or entrepreneur taking on the role) is attempting to keep all of the posts, retweets, shares, likes, comments, and connections organized.
A lot of people ask how I keep all of my clients’ social campaigns (along with my own) organized and effective. It’s not easy. I’m a bit of a scatterbrain in many ways. However, even when I’m spinning 50 plates at a time, because I have a serious problem with always wanting to start another business, I manage to stay pretty on top of my social media.
Yes, it helps that I just really like social media. It fascinates me and I love jumping on and seeing what nonsense everyone in the world is talking about today. But I also know it’s an incredibly valuable tool for your brand….if you use it correctly.
We’ll get into how you should be using it later. For now, let’s focus on being able to use it without a mental breakdown. Staying organized is key and there are a few things that are key for staying organized.
Here are 5 tips to help keep your social media management organized.
1. Create A Content Calendar
This calendar should include all of your social networks, when you plan to post to each, what type of content you’ll be posting, when you need to create new content, and some form of annotation noting if a post was scheduled/completed. Be sure to schedule a couple 15-minute blocks for interacting with your audience (following back, retweets, favorites, shares, responding to comments, pinning, etc.) If you wanna get a little nerdy, I suggest color-coding as well.
The bottom line is; having a plan of action for all of your social sites can save you countless hours of frustration, trying to catch up with activity.
2. Have A Social Dashboard
I cannot express enough how much easier this is when everything is in one place. There are a few good ones out there, but I recommend Hootsuite for your central “hub” of social media. You can connect multiple accounts, posts to any one, or all, of your social networks, and schedule posts automatic publishing.
You can also get all the content you need for sharing, right in your Hootsuite dashboard. I simply set up lists on twitter, that include reliable sources of quality information, and then set those lists up as ‘streams’ in my dashboard, and I have a seemingly endless stream of quality content. Hootsuite also has some nice analytics for tracking and measuring.
3. Schedule Your Posts
One of the best features of Hootsuite is the ability to schedule posts for one, or multiple, accounts. I suggest setting aside 30-45 minutes every 2-3 days to schedule the next 3-4 days worth of posts.
For example: I sit down on Mondays and schedule posts for Tuesday-Friday. I then sit down Friday and schedule posts for Saturday-Monday. So, while I’m scheduling posts for future days, my accounts are posting and I’ve got consistent activity everyday. During the week, I’m also sharing some things instantly as I come across them. This is perfectly fine to do, because it adds to the activity.
Extra tip: Utilize this time to take a look at your analytics and determine what days/times are giving you the best results.
4. Have Quick and Reliable Sources for Content
Know where the content is coming from. This can be included on your calendar as well. When planning your posts, note whether you’ll be sharing someone else’s content or your own. I stick close to a 70/30 rule. Around 70% of my posts are shared content and around 30% are my own.
Some people ask why I share more of other people’s content. Simple; I want to be a resource for my audience. I want them to know they can always expect great content from my feeds. So when I then share my own content, they are much more likely to check it out. Try it. It works.
5. Know Where You Belong
One of the biggest mistakes I see brands making everyday is trying to be on every network. The fact is; you probably only need to be on 2-3 social sites. Yes, you should have a facebook page. But if you’re not getting results from facebook, you should not be spending too much time on it. Do some research, assess your ideal audience, and focus on the right networks. This alone, can take your unorganized mess of a social campaign and make it very manageable.
Challenge Accepted?
None of these tips are worth anything if you don’t put them into action. If you’re serious about getting organized and really utilizing social media, email me at Jeff@enimultimedia.com and let me know which of these tips helped you the most and how you’ve implemented them into your social media campaigns.
