For social media managers, maintaining and optimizing a company’s social media is vitally important. Between the many social platforms, however, wires can get crossed and best practices can be forgotten. With these tips, we’ll help you establish the best routines, create templates and more to take your social media management to the next level.
Get in a schedule
You don’t have to have a type-A personality to need more organization in your life. As a social media manager, the variety of posts, tasks and needs from each platform you use can get overwhelming quickly. Creating a schedule not only cleans up your work day and gets your thoughts organized but can offer an improved ROI and increased engagement with your target audience.
Scheduling social media posts is important for several reasons:
Create a consistent presence. Consistency is your best friend when managing social media profiles. It establishes a reliable schedule audiences can follow, enabling them to come back for more content.
Identify what your content lacks. Scheduling posts ahead of time gives you a big-picture view of the type of content being posted to the company profile and may help you identify gaps. For example, you may post a ton of DIY tips but not enough product or service content.
Analyze the most engaging posts. Creating a schedule for posting (and automating that schedule) frees you up to analyze the posts’ performance. Identifying which posts your audience loses interest in — or those that have viral engagement — inform future content schedules.
Related article: Hiring a Social Media Manager? 7 Important Traits to Look For
How to create a social media posting schedule
Creating a social media posting schedule takes a bit of elbow grease up front but saves a ton of stress in the long-run.
First, you’ll want to conduct research. It’s important to know general peak engagement times by platform in addition to when your target audience is most active on the platform. For example, 50-plus-year-old females don’t have the same engagement on Facebook as 13- to 18-year-old males.
Next, create content for specific audiences. This is especially important if you have separate accounts for different and diverse audiences. One size does not fit all when it comes to social platforms, so build up libraries of content for each audience and platform.
Finally, decide how often you can create and post content in your daily schedule. Use an online tool like Hootsuite or Loomly to schedule posts based on business needs — and remember to build in enough time to send each post through edits and reviews.
LMP Team Tip
Different social media management platforms offer different features and integrations. Our marketing associate Helen recommends trying out multiple tools to find the one that best matches your team’s bandwidth, approval workflow, and goals for social media.
How to create a social media calendar
Creating a social media calendar is similar to creating a social media posting schedule.
It’s important to first audit your social accounts to have a comprehensive view of your current content, times for engagement and your existing audience. Then establish a style guide either in Photoshop, Illustrator or a web-based tool like Canva.
Create posts and copy to go with each piece of content. Remember to craft captions unique to the platform; diversifying tweets from Instagram captions and Facebook posts. Write in a tone that is reflective of your brand and how you want to be perceived.
For an extra lift, research important or relevant holidays to your business and company anniversaries.
Further Reading
Not sure what to post? Plan ahead using a calendar of social media holidays. Bookmark a few — like this handy calendar from Hootsuite or this flashy freebie from Later — and reference them whenever you need a little extra inspiration.
Best practices for businesses’ social media presence
Wondering what the best practices are for the top social media platforms for businesses? We’re here to help.
Facebook best practices
Identify and understand your target audience. Before creating content, you need to identify to whom you’re speaking. Find out what they like and dislike, when they’re most active on Facebook and the values that are important to them to build connections.
Use quality creatives. Utilizing high-quality creatives serves a multitude of purposes, including establishing brand recognition, the potential for increased engagement and more. You don’t need a full-time graphic designer to accomplish this, either. Canva offers amateur designers the tools they need to make striking content.
Post consistently. Along with our recommendation to get on a schedule, Facebook themselves encourages business owners who advertise and engage with audiences on Facebook to post on a reliable schedule.
Instagram best practices
Post consistently. Consistent posting schedules are pivotal to every social platform and Instagram is no different. Posting on a routine schedule, or going live at the same time every week, keeps audiences engaged and returning to your profile.
Be authentic. Instagram is a platform built on connecting and cultivating relationships over liking similar things. For businesses, having an authentic voice and collaborating with influencers or other companies in the same industry can have a lasting positive impact.
Interact beyond posting. Companies and brands won’t see a flurry of engagement — or at least, engagement that leads to action — if they only post content and nothing else. Sharing stories, commenting on posts and responding to direct messages are the best ways to consistently engage with your audience base.
Related article: 10 Best Practices for Instagram Marketing
LinkedIn best practices
Ensure your basic information is complete and comprehensive. One of the top reasons business pages don’t get the engagement they want is because their basic information is lacking. Make sure your organization’s logo, overview, organization info and call to action is updated and accurate.
Post and engage consistently. Hundreds of businesses and thought leaders have found success consistently sharing tips or success stories each week. Again, consistency is key!
By The Numbers
According to Hootsuite, brands who post on LinkedIn 1-5 times per day see the most success on the platform. By contrast, the sweet spot for Facebook is 1-2 posts per day, and the magic number for Instagram is 3-7 times per week.
Try boosting your posts. Do you feel that you have engaging content but aren’t satisfied with the organic reach it’s getting? Try putting a little money behind the posts that have gotten the most engagement to drive the reach and get new eyes on your profile.
Twitter best practices
Only use one to two hashtags. Using minimal hashtags saves valuable space and keeps each tweet focused on a specific message.
Engage by retweeting and replying. Like Instagram, Twitter encourages conversation. Connect with followers and your target audience by retweeting, quote tweeting and replying to tweets in which the brand is mentioned.
Ask questions and run polls. Questions and polls create conversation with your audience and Twitter users at large. These elements can help you gather feedback, show your brand’s tone and personality and more.
Need ideas for your social media content? A great editorial strategy can help feed your social media calendar. Book a discovery call with Lightning Media Partners to learn more about how we can help you plan and create blog content that can be promoted and shared via social media.
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