Know Your Target Audience
Before you start publishing everywhere and all the time, it is important to research your target audience. This will save you time publishing on platforms your audience is less interested in. First, think about who you want to target. Answer the question: what is the purpose of my publications? You will not use the same networks if you want to reach millennials at university compared to reaching new retirees. Do not be afraid to get statistics on the web before you create accounts. For example, you might discover that women between 20 and 30 like to use Pinterest, while YouTube is the most popular platform for men in this age group. You don't need to be everywhere at once, most of the time 2 or 3 social media accounts are more than enough.
Create and Adapt Relevant Content
Once you know what your audience is using, it's time to create content that will both get their attention and be useful to them. Do not publish because you have to, do it because you have something interesting to talk about. Do not forget to consider the formats of different platforms. Just because you post something on Facebook doesn't mean you can reuse the same format on Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest. Adapt your content! Get familiar with the specifics of each social media platform you want to use and use a variety of engaging visuals. Read blogs and follow expert pages. If need be, you can find many articles on Webself’s blog regarding social media management. For example, did you know that there are specific times to publish content? If you want your post to be viewed on LinkedIn, it's best to post on weekdays during office hours.
Have a Calendar for Publications
You never know when you're going to get the idea of the century that will go viral on the web. Therefore, have a place where you can write down your ideas the moment they come. Don't hesitate to draw inspiration from (not copy) what you see when you're on social media platforms. This will help you a lot to always have content, no matter the situation. Why not take the time to create a publication calendar? This will make it easier for you to have a guideline and organize your work. Do you need to have visuals for your publications or to translate certain texts? There are many tools that can give you a hand managing professional social media accounts. If you need to work with more than one account at a time and you would like to save time publishing your content, tools like Hootsuite, Later and Buffer can be very helpful. You can prepare everything in advance and posts will be published automatically. If need be, take a look at our list of tools to help you manage your social media!
Do it the Day Before
But how do community managers find out what their target audience is interested in? The answer is simple: they do it the day before. What exactly are they doing the day before? – monitoring what's happening on the web and social media. By knowing the people that you want to target, you can get an idea of the groups or pages they follow. Set aside a moment in your week to see what your competitors are doing and what your target audience is looking at. This will help you understand their needs, interests, and new trends. If you need to interact with different groups, we advise you not use your company's account if it is not directly involved.
Keep a Close Eye on Interactions and Comments
Finally, to ensure that your work stands out, it is imperative to keep track of the statistics and closely monitor your community's interactions on your pages. At WebSelf, we often start the day by looking at our social media pages to check what happened when we were not connected. We then respond to comments or questions sent via private message. You do not have to answer within minutes of receiving the question or comment, but it is important to react quickly, especially if it's a negative interaction. You have probably seen comments where there was no company response to unsatisfied customer feedback–this can seriously damage your credibility. Also, take note of your statistics. All platforms have a page where you can access the performance of your content. Write down what works and always try to improve.
In conclusion, you do not need to spend years at university to know the basics of social media management. Start by defining a target audience, then be present on the right social media platforms–the ones that will have a real impact. Following that, create relevant content, keep an eye on it and keep track of your results. Social media is a marketing tool that should not be overlooked!