Meltwater B : Social Media Management

'I follow you!'

What might have sounded cringy years ago is nowadays perceived as a compliment.

And all thanks to the emergence of social media.

Social media channels are not just another place for content and advertising, they have become an opportunity for companies to directly communicate and engage with their target audience.

Therefore, every marketer has to be familiar with the basics of social media management and the steps of setting up and implementing a social media strategy.

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the ...

• definition of social media management
• daily schedule of a social media manager
• social media platforms to promote your business
• do's & don'ts of social media management

Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

Let's get to it!

Table of Contents

What Is Social Media Management?

Social media management describes the strategies and tactics used to manage your company's presence on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Co.

It involves activities like:

• creating and implementing a social media strategy
• publishing & analyzing the content you post
• engaging online with your audience

and many more.

Engaging with your audience through social media has become a necessary part of every online marketing strategy...

But why?

Why Is Social Media Management Important for Business?

If executed correctly, social media management can do wonders for your business, whether big or small.

Let's take a look at the five main advantages:

1. You Generate Brand Awareness

By regularly publishing high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience, you can significantly boost the brand awareness of your company.

Tip: You can save a lot of time by automating your publishing and scheduling tasks with a social media publishing platform.

2. You Expand Your Reach

If your readers like, post, re-post or share your content, their friends and followers will also see it. With every social media engagement, the reach of your content increases.

Another advantage is that the reach you generate via social media can be precisely measured. This gives you the opportunity to evaluate the success of your social media activities and to optimize them on an ongoing basis.

3. You Improve Customer Experience

Community management helps you stay in touch with your target audience. You can answer questions, engage with them and gain relevant insights for your business. The big advantage is that when you respond quickly, users feel valued.

The result: increased social engagement and reach.

4. You Manage Your Brand Reputation

Social media gives you the opportunity to build your brand's image or improve it. If a crisis occurs, don't be afraid to respond quickly and professionally to criticism. Taking a stand is a sign of courage and your customers will appreciate it.

5. You Stay Up-to-Date with the Latest Trends

By monitoring what's going on in your industry and looking at your competition, you stay informed about the latest news and updates, but also get a better image of what you should avoid. Learn from the successes and failures of your competitors!

Not only the benefits but also the current social media statistics are reason enough to start implementing social media management in your business.

Let's have a look at the current numbers.

Social Media Statistics [Infographic 2021]

DataReportal has released interesting stats demonstrating that social media is still on the rise and therefore one of the most powerful marketing tools out there.

This was the status quo in July 2021.

As the data shows, there are 4.48 billion social media users worldwide, which represents nearly 57% of the total global population.

On average, 16.5 users join a social media platform every second. Quite impressive, right?

The average user is active on 6.6 different social media networks each month and spends approximately 2.5 hours daily on them.

With many other social media platforms on the rise, Facebook still remains the world's most widely used channel with 2.853 billion monthly active users.

Now that we've covered the importance of having a solid social media strategy, it is time to focus on the person that implements it-the social media manager.

What Does a Social Media Manager Do?

A social media manager is responsible for a company's social networks and ensuring the right information is shared with the right people at the right time. The tasks are very diverse and include:

• writing and publishing content (posts, tweets, etc.)
• communicating strategically with users & customers
• researching current trends and topics
• conducting analyses and creating reports
• managing crises

Social media platforms are evolving rapidly, new channels are emerging on the market and for every business, it's important to keep an eye on the trends in terms of content.

Therefore, if you have the available resources, hiring a social media manager is definitely a good idea.

As you can see, the day-to-day schedule of a social media manager is quite busy, however, not everyone is suited for the job.

What Skills Do You Need to Be a Social Media Manager?

To work as a social media manager, you should be:

• Creative: You need to think outside the box if you want to make your brand stand out from the rest.
• Data-driven: As analyzing metrics is a big part of your job, you need to compare your progress against your goals and set the direction of your social media strategy.
• Organized: From managing collaborations, editing copy to posting across multiple platforms (crossposting), you have a lot to keep track of.
• Community-oriented: It is essential that you are cultivating a community and find ways your brand can interact within various online communities.

To shine on your job application, it is also important to demonstrate software and good writing skills.

But first and foremost, you have to be able to come up with an effective social media strategy.

How Do You Manage Social Media Effectively? [4 Steps]

A strategic social media plan consists of different steps.

Let's walk through them.

1. Determine S.M.A.R.T Goals

Before you start managing your social media channels, you need to take some time and determine your business goal(s).

It doesn't matter if you want to promote your content, increase traffic to your website or attract new customers...what matters is that you set S.M.A.R.T goals.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Timely

Once you know where your social media strategy is headed business-wise, it's time to focus on the content.

2. Create a Content Strategy

Choosing the right content and determining the optimal schedule for publishing is central to your social media campaigns.

Here are a few tricks on what to keep in mind when creating a sensible content strategy.

Figure out what has worked well for you in the past

Which social media channels have your target audience engaged with the most?

What types of content have performed best in terms of views, click-throughs, and comments?

Conduct a social media audit

A social media audit will help you understand what your audience responds to. Focus on social networks, content types, and social campaigns which are seeing a return on investment (ROI). To gather your data, it is best to use a social media analytics tool.

Analyze what your competitors are doing

How are your competitors using social media?

How many followers do they have compared to you on each channel?

Which types of content are performing best for them?

How are they engaging with their followers?

By looking at your competition and gathering competitive intelligence, you can get a sense of where you stand and identify content gaps.

Test your content

No matter how big or small your team is, testing and playing around with different messaging and content types is the only way to learn what really resonates with your audience.

The same rule applies when it comes to the best time to post on social media.

Create a social media content calendar

Once you know which social channels you want to prioritize and which types of content you want to post on each one, it's time to build out a social media content calendar that you can use to prepare content for the upcoming weeks and months.

3. Social Monitoring & Listening

You want to make sure that the information you're posting on social media is of interest to your target audience.

This is where social monitoring and listening come into play.

Social monitoring means actively looking for mentions and conversations that pertain to your brand, products, hashtags, employees, competitors, and customers.

Social monitoring makes it possible to:

• track social media engagement
• check on the sentiment and performance of your marketing campaigns
• boost your recruiting efforts (ex. by identifying a job seeker persona and adapting your job postings accordingly)

Tip: If you want to dig deeper into the topic, we recommend you analyze the features available on social platforms (e.g. Facebook monitoring) and check out top social media monitoring tools in 2021.

Social listening, on the other hand, is how you track, analyze, and respond to conversations across the internet.

Through social media listening you can:

• measure the performance of your social media efforts
• manage brand reputation
• identify your biggest fans and influencers
• discover new product ideas
• spot emerging trends in your industry

The easiest way to master these diverse tasks is by implementing a social media monitoring tool.

To find out more about the Meltwater solution, simply the post.

4. Measure the Results of Your Social Media Plan

Also vital in helping measure your client's goals and the effectiveness of your social media efforts is choosing the right social media metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs).

They tell you where you stand in terms of starting metrics, what you want to achieve and it informs you what action you need to take to meet those goals.

Among the most important social media metrics are:

• Reach: the number of unique people viewing your content
• Social Media Engagement: tracking the volume or ratio of likes, shares, comments, etc.
• Impressions: the total number of times your content has been viewed
• Click-through-rate (CTR): the percentage of people who clicked on a link in your social media post after viewing it

Voilà, now you are prepped for creating your own social media strategy.

To simplify the complex process, there are a variety of social media management tools you can utilize.

Useful Social Media Management Tools

Some tools listed below are designed to help automate various tasks while others provide you with valuable data and insight.

Here are the ones you should consider:

• Research tools: Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends
• Analytics tools: Facebook Insights, Twitter Insights, LinkedIn Analytics, Meltwater social media analytics tool
• Content creation and curation tools: Canva, BeFunky, Feedly, Meltwater social media engagement tool
• Social media publishing tools: Hootsuite, Meltwater social media publishing tool
• Competitive analysis tools: Facebook Insights, Meltwater competitive analysis platform

If you just want to organize your workflow and make sure not to miss any important steps, try a social media strategy template.

Although the process of creating a social media strategy might seem complex and a bit overwhelming, the best recipe is just to dive in.

However, there is another marketing niche you might want to consider for your social media strategy...

Influencer Marketing on the Rise: Partner up

There's no denying thatinfluencer marketing has become a core marketing strategy for many brands. Reason enough to consider it for your business as well.

If you partner with an influencer to promote your products and services, you can

• raise brand awareness
• reach new audiences
• engage existing audiences
• increase sales and website traffic

However, you need to pick the right influencer. Ask yourself what you want to achieve with your campaign, who will receive your message and how will your brand be perceived.

Once you have selected your influencer, there is another aspect you need to focus on.

How Do You Manage Your Influencers?

Your relationship with an influencer should go beyond a purely transactional one as they could become your brand ambassadors in the future. Here are some tips on how to set the foundation:

• Get them excited about working with you (e.g. by sending them free samples of their products)
• Clearly communicate your expectations about the campaign (ex. outline the type of content, frequency of posts, etc.)
• Nurture the relationship by keeping them updated about the latest happenings, invite them to exclusive brand events, etc.

When it comes to social media management, there's also always the question of budget...Let's find out what costs you can expect.

How Much Does Social Media Management Cost per month?

The cost of social media management tools and services varies, which is why it's so important to request a tailored quote before you decide on one.

Cost of Social Media Management Tools

The price for a social media tool depends on

• how many accounts you want to manage
• what kind of features you are looking for
• how many posts you want to publish
• how many people will be using the tool

According to Tech.co, expect a monthly cost between $10 and $600.

Cost of Social Media Management Services

If you want to unleash the full potential of your campaigns, social media management services are the way to go.

Their price depends on many factors:

• company size
• how often you plan on posting
• what types of services you require
• which platforms you want to use
• the level of analytics you need
• whether you'll provide customer service via social media

The estimated cost for social media management services is between $4,000 and $7,000 per month, however, the outcome will be more than worth it.

Do you already know which social media platform(s) to use for your brand promotion?

Not sure?

Then, the next chapter might help you decide.

Best Social Media Channels for Your Business

There is no definite list of THE BEST social media networks. To choose the right one(s) for your business, let's walk through their main features and benefits.

Facebook

Millions of companies use Facebook Business Pages to share organic news, events and talk to customers.

But there are two other reasons why you should care about Facebook:

• their advertising tools are some of the best to target your ideal buyer,
• Facebook groups are an excellent way to build a captive audience, which in many ways may prove more fruitful than other ways of reaching your customers

That's why Facebook is still one of the most important platforms for your social media strategy.

To learn more about how to create organic posts and ads on Facebook, check out our Facebook management guide.

YouTube

With over 2 billion users, YouTube is not only the second largest social network but also the second largest search engine in the world-after Google, of course.

YouTube offers a variety of business advantages:

• it helps with SEO
• it has some of the highest referral rates of all the social platforms
• the platform has high conversion rates when it comes to paid advertising

Managing a YouTube channel enables you to host original content, communicate with your subscribers, but it's also a great place to syndicate content and advertise.

Instagram

To get an idea on how to post on Instagram, what hashtags to use for your brand or how to verify your Instagram profile, you should first understand the purpose of this channel.

Instagram is a photo- and video-based social network, and users follow individuals and brands to be entertained by interesting visuals.

The most popular feature is Instagram Stories aka. sharing 'instant' visual content, often with fun filters and visual effects, followed by Instagram Reels.

Over 500 million stories are posted every day and one-third of the most-viewed Instagram Stories are from businesses.

Tip: Convert a personal Instagram account to an Instagram business profile, make sure to get verified on Instagram and

• include a business phone number
• company address in your bio
• enable the 'shop' button
• make sure to choose the right Instagram profile picture
• start posting on Instagram

Instagram is important because it has very deep engagement, especially for brands.

Twitter is a popular microblogging network for posting messages of up to 280 characters, called 'tweets,' which can include photos, links, GIFs, or videos.

Hint: If you want to focus on the latter, make sure to check out our guide about posting videos on Twitter.

Twitter is fantastic if you want to discover what's trending in your industry, with customers, partners, and prospects.

It's also a place where people often express their opinion about products and services, making it a channel your business can't ignore.

You should manage your Twitter account, share content and engage with your target audience regularly.

One of the best uses of Twitter is organic networking. By engaging in conversations with your audience you build brand loyalty and trust.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the platform most business-to-business (B2B) marketers are familiar with.

Once a network primarily used for recruiting, it has become a popular platform for the latest news and networking.

Users post status updates, photos, or videos that can be shared, liked, and commented on.

There are several reasons to use LinkedIn:

• it's ideal to build thought leadership
• to offer value through targeted advertising
• to share content that will drive links back into your website properties

Once you've selected the channels where your target audience spends their time, you need to come up with creative concepts to promote your product or service.

Take a look at this short video from The Digital Sales and Marketing Channel showing five social media campaigns that generated a lot of positive feedback. Get inspired

To avoid any mistakes down the road, let's wrap it up with …

The Do's & Don'ts of Social Media Management [Infographic]

We hope that with our guide you got a better image of what social media management entails and how to kick it off.

To find out more about our social media solutions, fill out the form below and our team will get back to you