By Nathan Gomez
Sometimes it feels like social media marketing is a long grocery list of things you need to finish before the end of the
day. The problem is that every time you cross off an item, three more items appear.
It can be overwhelming and frustrating running on the social media treadmill trying to get ahead. Especially if you are a social media agency, it can be tough to get everything done.
That is why, you need to refocus your energies on specific social media marketing tasks that get the most out of your day.
Social Media Marketing Tasks
1. Social Media Marathoners– Sometimes in the sprint to finish your task list, you might remember that social media is not a sprint. It is a marathon that will take months, if not years to completely recognize and surpass your initial goals. Therefore, do not overwhelm yourself with small tasks. Have a set amount of time you want to spend on social media every day. Then do it! The key here is that you need to be consistent in your actions. If you find something amazing for your clients, the question you need to ask is whether you can deliver this quality of information every day. It is okay to have a few really great pieces, but the consistency will beat that in the end.
2. Pick your channels– In the time it took you to blink, three more social networks might have been created. Okay maybe it is not that bad, but according to Wikipedia’s list of 200 different social networks it feels that way. Can you imagine checking into each social network every day to post your content? That would be an interesting conversation at the water cooler. “What did you do today at your social media company?” “We logged in and posted on 200 different social networks for my client.” “Wow!”
As you probably already know, more is not necessarily better in business. The problem with joining every social network is that at a certain point people get burned out by social media. This is why it is vital that you become an expert in one or two social networks. You can always expand later, but for now focus on what works best.
3. Manage your time– Keep track of your actions on social media. Otherwise, that 15 minutes or marketing could easily turn into 2 hours of Facebook newsfeeds. Social media marketing is the art of going on a social network and not getting sucked up into stories and weird cat memes.
4. Check your competitors– Instead of starting from scratch with social media services it is best to study your competitors to see what they do. Once you know what your competitors do, you can improve upon their strategies. Use tools like Twellow, What Runs Where, and Topsy to learn more about their tweets, ads, and activity on social media. Discover what your competitors do, so you can improve on their style and generate your own business from those clients.
5. Vary your posts– Next, do not get stuck on doing the same type of post, over and over again. Instead, create a variety of posts like text, images, videos, infographics, podcasts, and other content types to provide interesting information for all types of visitors who to your social media profile.
6. Analyze past content– Once you varied your content, analyze what works best. If you use a scheduling tool like HootSuite or MeetEdgar, you can check the analytics on the posts. Otherwise, use tools like Buzzsumo to determine what your customers like most. Do not make assumptions. Just review the data, and test it to ensure taht your conclusion was correct.
7. Social is the start of the conversation, not the end– You are on social media to help your clients start the conversation with their target market. Social media is not a sales tool where you can have buyers purchase directly off the social network. Very few industries work well with social commerce sales. Specifically, service businesses and retailers with large ticket items will find that using social media for direct sales is extremely tough. Therefore, encourage users to communicate with you. This way you build up a potential, life-long customers.
8. Don’t control, just communicate– a number of companies have deleted comments they did not like off their Facebook fan page. It is understandable to be irritated if someone criticizes your life work. However, social media is not a controlled environment where you can delete comments, just because you do not agree with them. Unless a user violates the social networks spamming or safety rules, it is best to keep the posts up. It might require restraint, but the honest communication back and forth with customers could be worth its weight in gold.
9. Keep learning– We mentioned earlier how there are over 200 different social networks. Even the number of social networks keeps growing, the number of changes that occur on the big social networks changes as well. Therefore, do not stop learning. You will constantly be amazed at the changes each social network makes. Are you ready to get things done with your social media marketing? If so, then let us know how you plan to implement the changes we explained above. Put your comments about what things you can finished faster with Social Media Marketing.
About the author
Nathan is a freelance blogger and tech enthusiast. He maintains keen interest in progress and development in the Technological space. He also provides consultancy on social media services to small and medium sized companies.
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