Don’t get lost over managing social media

by Apr 30, 2016Social, Tactical, Web2 comments

” […] don’t worry too much about how successful your posts will be. Ultimately, your audience will determine this for you and you’ll adjust your approach based on what’s working.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’ve decided to devote an entire blog post to answering a question that was asked at one of our social media seminars: How does one not get lost managing social media?

The truth is A LOT of business owners wrestle with trying to remain active online, while managing every other aspect of their businesses. How many times have you searched for a company on a social network to discover that they have been inactive for the past year? You’ve probably encountered this, or perhaps YOU are that company. Often, companies are inconsistent with their social efforts because they don’t see immediate gains. The truth is, the return on social media can be slow. When most discover that sales pitches don’t work well online and that “this social thing” takes up a lot of time, they abandoned social media altogether.

 

Social media takes patience.

 

The right approach to managing social media starts with being patient. It’s unlikely that your brand will become an overnight success like a business that lands a deal on Dragons’s Den, whose following can skyrocket in the hundreds of thousands. But it can still achieve the same level of success over time.

Business owners get impatient when social media efforts don’t lead to sales after a few months. It takes a while before a seed grows into a tree. And you will reap the rewards of offering your audience value, entertainment, and a dependable relationship in the long term.

 

"Business owners get impatient when social media efforts don’t lead to sales after a few months. It takes a while before a seed grows into a tree."

 

Consider how a dedicated YouTube vlogger might produce videos for 2 years before finally getting paid by the 300th episode! What happened between episodes 1 and 299? A dedicated audience was built. Imagine this vlogger abandoned ship at episode 50, saying “this YouTube thing doesn’t work”. Does this put things into perspective?

Great! Now, you probably want to know how to successfully manage social media, without letting it take over your life. Here are the first steps:

 

Start planning next month's social media.

Decide what you want to post and make a schedule. Also, decide what you want your visuals (or other forms of media – video, podcasts etc.) to look like at the same time. I wouldn’t advise jumping too far ahead (i.e. scheduling several months in advance) because your posts need to remain current.

Once you’ve planned and researched the content you want to share, schedule time to produce it. Then decide when to schedule your posts online. Don’t be afraid to try new things out. And don’t worry too much about how successful your posts will be. Ultimately, your audience will determine this for you and you’ll adjust your approach based on what’s working.

In any case, stay on top of your social media by planning a month ahead of time. This is the best way to integrate it into your busy schedule, rather than keep putting it off.

Segment your tasks online and do one everyday.

The best way to get stuff done online is to break up your tasks. For example, say on Monday at 2:00pm you may decide to FOLLOW new people on the platforms you’ve committed to. On Tuesday at 12:00pm, you commit to joining a Twitter chat. And on Wednesday at 7pm you reply to your Instagram comments.

Whatever the task may be, the key is to reserve a specific time for it in your schedule. And don’t spend a lot time on one particular task either. Simply outline what you want to do, get it done, and cross it off your list!

If you aimlessly spend 5 hours every day on social media, you will eventually burn out. At this point, you can say that social media is managing you! Instead, dedicate 1 hour every day to execute the tasks you’ve segmented.  Once you get into this flow, the time you spend on social networks will feel like no time at all!

To recap

The secret to efficiently and effectively managing your business’ social media: creating and sticking to a “social schedule”. Actually, it’s not really a secret. Like anything in in life, you have to dedicate time to making something like social media work. This means that you need to be patient. Outstanding results don’t occur overnight. So, stick to it, because it can take a while to reap the rewards from the online relationships you sow today.

Meet the author.

Kristina Dapaah

Social Media Specialist

She’s best described as a ‘latte sipper’ with a knack for social results. When she isn’t scheduling content for a client’s social feed, she can be found blogging from her kitchen table while somewhat listening to a TED Talk.

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2 Comments

  1. Kim

    Do you have any tools or templates you recommend for planning and creating content calendars?

    Reply
    • Taro Abarbanel-Uemura

      Hey Kim! I think this would be a great blog topic to cover. Please look out for it at the end of June 🙂

      Reply

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