The role of the social media manager has changed over the past few years—from learning new platforms to responding to customers online, each day can be vastly different. Social media management plays a crucial role in maintaining your brand’s integrity and it’s even more important today to make sure you’re effective. Embrace some of these techniques and strategies to ensure your brand remains top-of-mind amongst all the social noise.
Each month be sure to set clear goals for yourself and for your brand’s social performance. After all, without goals, you will likely get caught up in daily tasks like posting and creating content. However, in order to truly grow social channels organically, it is important to keep the following in mind when setting goals you can stick to.
SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Instead of saying “I want more followers next month”, set an achievable number and select a deadline for yourself. For example, setting a goal of adding 100 new followers in the month of June holds yourself more accountable to the growth of your channels.
Reviewing your social media performance ensures you are creating the best social strategy possible and evolving it over time. By analyzing optimal posting times, impressions and engagement rate, you can set monthly and quarterly goals that are effective and attainable.
When setting goals, make sure to consistently ask yourself how that goal will directly benefit your brand management and business. How would gaining those 100 new followers for the month of June help increase your ROI? How does it benefit your bottom line? Answering these questions will ensure you’re working towards goals that make a difference and an impact within your organization.
In order to foster an online community, it is imperative to pay attention to not only what your audience has to say, but what other brands are posting as well. If you aren’t observing what competitors or other brands are doing, you’re missing the opportunity to grow and expand your community and social strategy. Set aside time everyday to take note of what your audience is talking about and audit your competitors’ feeds. If you aren’t socially aware of other brands and news that impacts your community, you aren’t being effective. Take a step back, listen, and learn.
While every social media manager knows that impressions and engagement are key metrics, it’s important to prioritize fostering an engaged online community that listens and trusts your brand. Of course you want more followers, but strive for quality over quantity. As a social media manager, it is important to know inside and out who you want in your online community and what that audience wants to hear. Oftentimes, social strategy falls on deaf ears when the social media manager can’t form a brand community, only able to preach to a brand audience.
A community is built on mutual trust. Your audience trusts you through the humanization of your brand voice. They feel a connection to your products, your voice, and your mission. While an audience simply views your content, the community digests it, processes it, and connects with it. They keep coming back for more. It is vital to be present, respond to messages (good or bad), and give thoughtful support. Your community can tell when you’re being genuine or when you’re being fake.
Building a strong relationship with your online community is key to effectively message all that your brand has to offer. In order to do this, you must embrace and know your buyer personas inside and out. Who is your target audience? What are their interests? What do they do in their free time? What pain point are they trying to solve when purchasing your product? In order to build an effective social strategy, you must have solidified answers to these questions. Become your target audience.
Consistent, quality engagement with your social fans is a pillar of a solid brand marketing strategy, but making sure that content lands with the right people at the right time can be a challenge. Look for ways to syndicate your brand’s content on multiple social media pages, not just the ones you own. ThumbStopper is a social media automation tool that creates custom curated feeds for your content and syndicates directly to the social media feeds of your local retailers.