18 ways to wash the blood, sweat and tears out of managing your social mediaÂ
Managing your social media can feel a bit (or a lot) like battling a mythical multi-headed, shapeshifting monster. So many platforms, updates, and algorithms (what even are those?) to wrap your bursting brain around.
Who fondly remembers the simplicity of MySpace or when Facebook was solely a way to connect with friends?Â
In the twenty years since Mark Zuckerberg and his mates launched Facebook as a social networking 'thing' for students, social media has morphed into the must-have business marketing tool we all need to master.Â
If the mere mention of getting to grips with social media is giving you the jitters, bear with me, gentle reader. I'm about to cut through the crapola with some dead-set simple dos and don'ts to help you scrub up nicely on socials.
Seven Do's
1.Know who you're talking to:Â Who are your ideal customers? (Here's a hint for most small business owners: They're probably people a lot like you.)Â Figure out what gives them the pip, aka their pain points AND what floats their boat, aka their wants, dreams and desires. Then get busy relieving the pain and providing the pleasure.
2. Choose 1 or 2 platforms:Â Show up in style where your audience hangs out. For example, if your customers are female mums between 30 and 40, then Instagram is your natural home. There are loads of ways to research who shows up where. This article has a good current overview of the major platforms. Take a squizz. Â This Hootsuite worksheet that still refers to X as Twitter is an oldie but a goodie. How to research your social media audience Â
3. Create cracking good content:Â Stop agonising over clever things to write. Tell
simple, genuine stories about your business supported with quality pictures and short videos—these don't need to be award-worthy productions. In short, show your face and be your (much more interesting and engaging than you might think) self. Try these  10 Rock Solid Tips for giving your socials a touch of the Blarney Stone.Â
4. Get into a routine: Find your posting rhythm. For example, can you commit to creating awesome content in two posts and one reel a week?If you stick with this for a bit, it'll become the third most natural thing in the world, after breathing and drinking coffee.Â
5. Engage, engage, engage: I can't stress this enough. 'Set and forget' posting will not cut the social mustard. Be as well-mannered, lively and responsive as you are in real life (IRL). Answer comments, comment on other people's posts, and start whole new conversations. As a kind, polite human you probably wouldn't ignore someone IRL who's trying to ask you a question, pay you a compliment or offer a helpful (even if it's ham-fisted) suggestion. So why would you do that on your socials? Â
6. Track your performance: All social media platforms have built-in tools to analyse the performance of every single post. If it's just too head-bangingly hard to do the analytical grunt work yourself, outsource it to someone who loves the stuff, me for example. However you decide to handle your analytics, get smart about using the intell to adjust your content. Do more of what works well, but know that in the fickle universe of socials that can change in an instant changes in a nanosecond.  adjust your strategy accordingly. If a post falls pancake flat, ask yourself, 'Would I even want to read this?If you want a deep dive into hot tools you might get to help you, here's Hootsuite's guide to 21 of the Best Social Media Analytics Tools for 2024.
7. Showcase your customers' experiences: Â This super powerful bit of smart social media action is often called 'leveraging user-generated content (UGC).'Â Â Simply put, this means spruiking all the lovely things customers say about you anywhere and anyhow on your socials.Mailchimp has made this super comprehensive but very readable guide to all things 'UGC'Â Â Â
Eleven Don'ts
1.Don't be spammy: Your customers will smell the ick factor a mile away! So don’t be too hard-core salesy or self-promoting
2. Don't ignore negative comments: Reply fast but never furiously. If you’ve stuffed up, say ‘sorry’ and suggest how you might fix that thing. If someone is vicious or venting, stay cucumber cool, stick to the facts and try to be kind.
3. Don't post stuff your audience doesn't give a fig for:Â If you've done your homework on Point 1 above, 'know who you're talking to,' you'll have ample amounts of targeted, top-quality stuff to post about.
4. Don't over-post:Â Less is more. One genuinely useful, interesting, well-illustrated post wins hands down over three to five hastily thrown-together, half-baked ones.
5. Don't neglect other ways to reach your people:Â Social media is a great marketing tool, but we don't own or control it. Make it just one part of your strategy. Do other important stuff like encouraging people onto your email list. Here are 4 Ways to grow your subscriber list.Â
6. Don't buy fake followers or likes:Â This is a costly way to damage your reputation and credibility.
7. Don't ignore SEO optimisation: Include keywords and hashtags in all your content so Google bots and actual humans can locate and love you.All platforms have built guides to using hashtags. Here's one from Instagram  Here's SEO Heavyweights Ahref's list of 10 Best Free Keyword Search Tools for 2024
8. Don’t forget to protect your privacy: Secure your personal information and make sure you turn on two-factor authentication.
9. Don't post straight AI-based content:Â If you're using tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini to draft your posts, edit in some of your own language and personality. Showing up on social media is all about being a living, breathing member of #teamhuman. Showing up as a smart(ish) but soulless robot is going to turn your reader right off.
10. Don't ignore trends: Earmark some energy for staying up-to-date with the latest trends and challenges thrown up by your platforms of choice. YouTube and TikTok are great sources of easy-to-digest education on what's hot and what's not. Just search for ‘trends’ in your niche area.
11. Don't be scared to stumble and stuff up: Mistakes are a great way to learn on social media and everywhere else. Don't beat yourself up if your posts aren't perfectly proofread, works of art #doneiswaybetterthanperfect. Plus, the tools and techniques for using your fav platforms are evolving at warp speed, so it's easy to miss things the first or fifth time around.  If you want a heads up on how not to stuff up, here's Hubspot's longish' (gulp) list of 20 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid in 2024. Good luck!
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That's a sure sign you've got the energy and endurance to succeed on socials. Because managing them and making them work well is a marathon, not a sprint.
Focus on being genuinely useful to the humans who need and want what you're offering. Have heart-driven conversations and a whole heap of fun doing it, and your socials will grow to become a mainstay of your stellar marketing.
Bravo, you made it to the end of this blog!
Need a hand to wrangle your socials to shape? Prefer to hand the whole kit and caboodle to someone who knows how to get them humming? Have a question about succeeding in social media and the do's and don'ts?
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