If you are the social media manager for your company, or perhaps you have been the designated social media person for the business (as well as doing your “real” job).  If so then I need to scream from the rooftops that social media is SO much more than just posting new content onto your chosen channels.  

If you are stuck in a rut, and you find yourself searching for yet another article to post on your LinkedIn or Facebook page, then here are a few suggestions.

#1 – Update your branding

Your branding needs to be consistent across all of your platforms.  Take a look and see if your profile picture looks ok?  When was the last time you updated your Facebook cover photo (click on your cover photo and see the date on the right).  LinkedIn has recently changed the size of the company page overview banners and the personal profile pictures are now round rather than square – what does yours look like?

#2 – Read your digital marketing plan

Do you have a plan?  What are your goals and objectives? A plan will include an engagement, listening and measuring strategy.  What are you doing to actively grow your network?  Does your digital marketing strategy include advertising budgets for social, or PPC?  How often should you post online?  What times of day should you post online?  Do you have a strategy for listening to your competitors, or monitoring what is being said about you or your business online?

If you would like to book a planning session with Green Umbrella, click here.

#3 – Have the last word

Whether someone has left you a good testimonial, a bad review or just commented on one of your tweets or Facebook posts, you should always have the last word!  Like that comment, say thanks for the testimonial and respond the review.  This is the golden rule of all social media management techniques – always have the last word.

This is one reason why we love working with eClincher (social media management tool).  It has a neat little “inbox” where your comments, new followers, LinkedIn post comments, etc. are accumulated together.  Simply work through the inbox every day and you will never miss the opportunity to have the last word!

#4 – Listen to the thought leaders of your industry

If you want to be ahead of your competitors then you need to have an effective listening strategy for the thought leaders in your industry.  There are numerous ways to do this:-

1. My favourite way is to register with an application called Narro. I subscribe to the feed of the thought leaders in my industry, and Narro will add the articles into my Podcast player (Overcast).  This way, I can listen to the audio versions of the blogs whilst on my commute to work, or if I am walking the dog.
2. You can also send the feeds to Hootsuite or eClincher – and then repurpose this content from the dashboard.
3. Twitter lists are essential. Add all of your thought leaders to one Twitter list.  Each day, click on this list to catch up with the latest tweets from your industry.  (It is possible to add these lists to a column in Hootsuite or eClincher, which is quite handy).
4. Follow your thought leaders on the various social media channels.
5. Simply subscribe to their blogs! (If you like to read then this is probably the best option for you).

#5 – Cleanse your accounts

Every two months you should be cleansing your social media channels.  What do I mean by cleansing?

Facebook – check your page settings (there are always new little settings in Facebook that are often important, but we never find out about them!).  Click settings and work your way down to see if there is anything that you have missed.  Have you verified your page?  Have you set your preferred page audience?  Have you selected the new page layout template that works best for your business?  Also, take a look at the “about” area on Facebook.  Have you added your terms of business?  Have you clicked the “check in here” area?  Opening hours etc?

Twitter – I would recommend cleansing your Twitter account each month.  (Mine is a reoccurring diary entry so that I do not forget!).  At the end of each month simply visit www.manageflitter.com and start to unfollow people who are no longer relevant.  Unfollow those that have not tweeted in the last 6 months (if they don’t tweet then why are you following them?).  Unfollow those that have no profile picture, or perhaps tweet in a foreign language that you don’t understand.  Check out the “who is not following me back”.  If there are names in this list that you feel should be following you back, then put a strategy together to make sure that you get noticed by them, so they feel compelled to follow you back!

LinkedIn – when you add something new to your LinkedIn profile then your network is notified.  Every two months, I would recommend changing something on your profile.  Perhaps it is new media, or your professional headline, or even update your profile photo, but think about this as a strategy to get noticed.

#6 – Measure the results

Are you creating a monthly results report for the business?  What is your website traffic like compared to the same date range for last year?  What is your most popular page? (check out Buzzsumo) to find this information, or look at your Google Analytics. (Acquisition > Behaviour > Site Content).  If you find that a certain type of content on your website is popular, then simply do more of that!  Add this to your strategy, then repeat in two months time. Check your insights on Facebook, your analytics on Twitter and your stats on your company page on LinkedIn.  Make a note of key analytics for this reporting period, along with any tweaks or changes that you are going to implement for the forthcoming month.

Conclusion

If you are simply posting content to your social media channels every day, without exploring all of the above areas then you are doomed.  Content is king, but only if your audience is interested in the content! If they are commenting and you never respond then they will soon vanish.  If you are simply broadcasting without engaging with your audience then you will not build rapport or any type of relationship with your customers.  So have a look at your content and ask yourself these three questions:-

1. Are people commenting on my posts?
2. Am I communicating with others and sharing their content?
3. If I saw my post in the newsfeed, would I find it interesting?

If the answer is no to any of the above then you need to have a quiet word with yourself and rethink your daily social media strategy!

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