Social Media is not just about Facebook and Twitter, and most community managers understand it takes a lot more effort than just scheduling a tweet or post. As an independent designer, you are most likely your own community manager with a limited amount of spare time to get it done.
Unfortunately for some, social media overload can occur and a day’s work can become a tad more daunting.
Rather than submitting to this overload, prepare in advance, and get ahead of the madness with these 3 tips…
Set up listening feeds
In order to be relevant to your audience, you as a brand must listen first, and listen often to what the audience is saying, what the competition is doing, and what is occurring in daily culture and news.
Yes – that’s a lot to listen to each day, but not impossible. The key is to set up listening feeds such as RSS for your social media with specific keywords (including your brand name so you know when it’s mentioned).
Simple tools like Hootsuite are great for twitter lists as well which allow you to group your audience, the competition, and news handles in a way that it’s easier to listen and also easier to respond in a more real time manner.
Have allotted time each day
There will never be enough hours in the day for everything, but it’s important to make time to listen, monitor, and engage with your audience.
Thoughtful comments, answering questions, and asking questions in return are some of the foundational pillars of a good social media strategy.
Tip – if you’re a morning person, grab your coffee and take an hour each morning before the rest of your day begins.
Home Base
Yes there are tons of social media channels out there, including fun video creation and sharing platforms like Vine or the photo sharing apps like Instagram. However, it doesn’t mean your brand has to be on every channel all at once.
Test and learn and see which ones your audience engages with most and focus on your “home bases” first and foremost.