When it comes to creating a meaningful impact using social media, creating a well-planned strategy is key. By following the four tips discussed below, you’ll be well on your way to creating an effective and manageable social media campaign.
1. Be in the Right Place at the Right Time
Before diving head over heels into social media, spend a little time ensuring that you know where the people who matter most to your business are gathering. Facebook and Twitter might get the most attention, for example, but investing all of your resources on these platforms won’t do you much good if you’re target market is congregating on Google+ and LinkedIn.
Similarly, some social media platforms are used much more heavily at different times of the day and days of the week. For example, Facebook sees a big rise in traffic over the weekend, while LinkedIn is used the most during traditional business hours.
Of course, when and where the people who matter most to you can differ depending on your niche, so be sure to do some research and testing on your own to figure out where to focus your efforts.
2. Use the Right Tools
If you’ve been using social media for long, you know that there is no shortage of third party apps and programs out there designed to make life easier for social media marketers. While some of them can be incredible timesavers, however, many of them will overload you with data and features you don’t need.
Keep life simple and spend your time on social media more effectively by starting off with a couple of tools you’ll actually use:
- Social media management platforms: If you’re relatively new to social media, the quickest thing you can do is take advantage of one the handful of management platforms out there for managing your campaigns. Instead of visiting each of your profiles one by one, tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck allow you to update and track all of your accounts from one convenient platform.
- News aggregators: One of the keys to building a following on social media is sharing great content, and this can be a full time job without the right tools. With news aggregators like Feedly, you’ll always have great content ready to share at your fingertips across all of your devices.
3. Use a Publishing Schedule
Although it’s recommended that you use a tool like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to keep track of replies and mentions as they occur, setting up a publishing schedule is a great way to keep your timelines buffered with engaging content. Some prefer update their profiles during periods of peak activity, while others sit down and schedule out a few days’ or weeks’ worth of posts in one fell swoop.
4. Avoid the Dreaded Social Media Time Suck
It’s one thing to have a social media schedule on hand where you’ve laid out exactly how much time you’re team is going to spend on these platforms. It’s quite another to use this time effectively.
With all of the distractions that come with using social media, it’s helpful to lay out ahead of time exactly what you want to accomplish during the limited window that you available to build an audience and keep them engaged.
Investing some thought and time in laying out your social media strategy ahead of time will make your campaign much more effective and hassle-free in the long term. In fact, many online marketers find that they are able to do all of the social media management and updates necessary in as little 20-30 minutes a day once they’ve learned the ropes.
Just remember that nothing is carved in stone and to make adjustments to your strategy along the as you discover what works best and what doesn’t.
