10 Social media management tips to build productivity

With more than 4.7 billion social media users around the globe, it is evident that social media platforms have become an effective marketing tool for businesses of all sizes. However, social media management can seem overwhelming for a lot of people, especially with so many tasks being done simultaneously. Some of these tasks include content creation, scheduling posts, engaging with the audience, and running analytics. So to maximize the benefits of social media for business, a comprehensive and effective social media management strategy is a must! 

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In this article, we will explore some top social media management tips that will help you increase productivity, drive engagement, and enhance your brand's online reputation. Let's dive in!

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1. Identify Your Social Media Objectives and Goals

Having goals and objectives will help you determine if your management strategies are effective.  Here is how to go about the process.

Define your overall business goals

Before you can establish your social media objectives and goals, it's important to identify and understand your overall business goals. This will give you a roadmap of where you want to be, and how social media can help you achieve those goals. For instance, if your company's goal is to increase brand awareness, then social media can be used to increase visibility through engaging content, viral campaigns, and influencer marketing, among others.

Determine your social media objectives

Once you have set your overall business goals, it's time to focus on your social media objectives. These objectives should be aligned with your overall business goals, and focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be measured as progress indicators throughout the duration of the campaign. Some common social media objectives include increasing reach, boosting engagement, and generating qualified leads.

Establish SMART goals

Having identified your social media objectives, you need to set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely (SMART) goals to help you achieve them. For example, if your social media objective is to increase reach, a SMART goal could be to increase your follower count by 10% in the next 30 days. This goal is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

Know your audience

The key to determining your social media objectives and goals is understanding your audience. Who are they, what do they like, what are their interests, and where do they spend their time online? Through this evaluation, you can create campaigns and content that resonates with them and increases the chance of achieving your objectives and goals.

Evaluate and measure your progress

Once you've identified your social media objectives, it's crucial that you evaluate and measure your progress. By regularly monitoring and analyzing key social media metrics, you can fine-tune your tactics and strategies along the way. It will also ensure that you are on track to achieve your overall business goals. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness you can measure social media KPIs like brand impressions.

2. Plan Your Content 

Planning your social media content is vital for successful social media management. It allows you to schedule content in advance, making sure that you stay on top of posting regularly.

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Here are simple steps to follow when planning your content: 

Conduct a content audit

Conducting a content audit will help you determine what types of content are resonating with your audience and drives engagement. Look at past content and see what has received the most likes, comments, shares, and clicks. This will give you an idea of what to continue creating and what to tweak or eliminate.

Develop a content plan

A content plan is an essential component of social media management. It's a calendar of when and what you'll post on each social media platform. When developing a content plan, it's essential to keep your goals in mind and create content that is optimized for engagement, shares, or traffic. Be sure to consider the timing of your posts, focusing on when your audience is most active.

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How to Find Your Best Times to Post to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter Using Iconosquare

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You will need a social media management platform to effectively plan and schedule your social media content. With Iconosqaure, you can schedule all of your social media content with ease. It even comes with a cross-posting feature that helps you to save time by allowing you to schedule the same content on different social media platforms. Try for free.

Choose your types of content

Social media content can encompass a variety of content types from images and videos to blog posts and infographics. But which types of content are best for you and align with your brand's message and goals? Analyze your audience and determine which content types will help you connect with them the most. You can do this easily by monitoring the types of content your audience engages with the most.

Leverage tools to help streamline the process

There are many tools available to help make social media content planning easier. Tools like Iconosquare provide scheduling and analytics capabilities that streamline the entire social media content planning process. 

3. Choose the Right Social Media Platforms 

Choosing the right social media platform(s) for your business is crucial to effectively reach and engage with your target audience. It's important to put serious thought into which social media platforms align with your business goals, target audience, and the types of content you'll be sharing. Here are some factors to consider when choosing the right social media platforms for your business.

Analyze your target audience

You know your target audience best, so make sure you understand which social media platforms they use most. Are they on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn? Do they prefer visual content or written content? Does your audience skew toward a specific age group or demographic? Answering these questions will help you determine which platform is the best fit for your business.

Understand each platform's strengths and weaknesses

Each social media platform has its own strengths and weaknesses that cater to a specific audience or purpose. For example, Instagram is a visual-focused platform that works well for businesses selling physical products, while Twitter caters to users who prefer short, concise messages. Make sure you understand the culture and purpose of each platform before dedicating resources and regularly posting content on them.

Look at what your competitors are doing

Research your competitors, review their social media platforms, and see which platforms they are active on. Analyze how often they post, what types of content they post, and the engagement they are receiving. Use this information to inform your social media strategy and identify opportunities that your competitors have not yet explored. 

Determine your available resources

Posting regularly on social media can be time-consuming. Consider the resources you have available – such as time or staff – so you can manage your presence on social media platforms effectively. If you're short on time, choosing one or two platforms might be the best option, as you'll be able to devote more effort to creating high-quality, engaging content.

4. Maintain a Consistent Posting Schedule 

Maintaining a consistent posting schedule on social media is crucial for businesses looking to engage with their audience and grow their online presence. However, keeping a constant flow of quality content can be a challenge, especially for those who are not well-versed in social media management. 

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To get started, decide which days and times of the week you will post on social media, considering your target audience's preferences and your available resources. Be consistent in your posting schedule, so that your audience knows when they can expect to see your updates. 

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You should also develop a content bank so that you have a stash of material to post even on days when you are busy or stuck. Then create a content calendar to keep yourself on track and to ensure that you have a mix of content types, including text posts, images, videos, and links ready to post at any time.

5. Include user-generated content in your content plan 

User-Generated Content (UGC) is content that is created by individuals rather than brands. It can include photos, videos, blog posts, and social media posts. UGC is a powerful tool for brands because it can help promote authenticity, engagement, and word-of-mouth marketing. 

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Including UGC in your social content plan allows your audience to become active participants in your brand's messaging. When people see that others are using your product or talking about your brand in a positive way, it's more likely to influence their behavior and build trust in your brand.

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Using UGC can also help your brand cut through the noise on social media. With so many brands vying for attention, it can be tough to stand out. UGC, on the other hand, has a more personal and relatable feel, making it more appealing to consumers. 70 percent of brands that use UGC in their content even say that it helps them connect with their audience better. 

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Lastly, including UGC in your social content plan can save you time and resources. Instead of creating all your content from scratch, you can leverage the content your fans are already creating to reinforce your brand's messaging.

6. Recycle old content

Recycling old content that has a lot of engagement is a great way to generate new content ideas when you are too busy or encounter a creative roadblock. Here are some ways to recycle old content: 

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• Repurpose content: Turn old blog posts or videos into new social media posts or vice versa. You can also update older content with new information or statistics to make it fresh and interesting to your audience.
• Use different formats: Mix up the formats of your content to keep things fresh. Instead of always sharing images, try sharing videos, infographics, or slideshows.
• Share updated versions: If you've shared a post in the past and gotten a lot of engagement, try updating it and sharing it again. This time around, it may get even more engagement and attention.
• Post on different platforms: Consider sharing old content on a different social media platform. Content that performed well on Facebook may also perform well on Instagram or Twitter.

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Remember, recycling or repurposing old content does not mean being repetitive or boring. It's about finding new ways to share valuable information with your audience. 

7. Use social listening

There are many ways brands can use social media listening to increase productivity. Here are the key ways: 

Customer Analysis

Brands can leverage social listening to understand what their customers say about them. These insights can be used to identify pain points, understand customer expectations, and develop messaging or products that align with their needs and wants.

Competitive Analysis

Social listening can provide brands with information about their competitors. By tracking conversations about competitors, brands can learn about their strengths and weaknesses, identify opportunities for differentiation, and discover marketing gaps that their competitors have not filled.

Influencer Marketing

Social listening can help brands find and engage with influencers or brand champions. By monitoring conversations around specific topics and hashtags, brands can identify people who are passionate about their brand or products.

Crisis management

Social media is often the first place customers go when they have a problem with a brand. Social listening can help brands identify negative sentiments and respond quickly and effectively.

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Brand reputation management

Social listening helps brands track their online reputation, monitor for brand mentions and protect themselves against information that may be false or damaging.

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Social media listening is a valuable tool that should be part of every brand's social media strategy. Use Iconosquare’s listening feature to monitor new trends and learn where you stand in the market when compared to your competitors.

8. Set Up Social Media Automation 

Social media automation can be beneficial in many ways. It can allow businesses and social media marketers to: 

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• Save time: By automating your social media posts, you can save a lot of time that would have been spent manually posting content. This allows you to focus on other tasks and responsibilities.
• Ensure consistency: Automated posts can help ensure that you maintain a consistent social media presence, even when you're unable to post manually.
• Increase reach: Automation allows you to schedule posts at optimal times when your audience is most likely to be active online, which can increase your reach and engagement rates.
• Repurpose content: Automated posts make it easy for you to repurpose your content on different platforms or at different times, which can help maximize your content's reach and engagement rates.
• Provide 24/7 coverage: Automated posts can make your brand's social media presence active 24/7, even when your team is not working.

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Examples of social media automation include scheduling posts in advance across various platforms, setting up chatbots to handle customer queries, and using AI-powered tools to curate and schedule content for better engagement.

9. Automate Your Social Media Analytics and Reporting

Automating your analytics and reporting process can streamline your workload and help you save time and resources.

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By automating social media analysis, brands can track their competitors' performance in real-time and also get access to real-time analytics. It will also make it easy for social media managers to detect patterns, trends, and anomalies that might be missed by manual analysis. Automated reporting systems will also notify brands of significant spikes or drops in metrics, which can help identify commercial opportunities or potential risks. 

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And with these insights, brands can make data-driven decisions. 

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Iconosquare has an analytics dashboard that will help you monitor your social media management strategy. It also comes with over 100 metrics you can track. Try for free.

10. Batch Your Tasks

Here are steps on how to batch your social media tasks:

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• Identify your tasks: Start by listing all the tasks that you perform regularly, such as content creation, scheduling posts, responding to messages, or analyzing analytics.
• Set priorities: Determine which tasks are most important to your social media strategy, and prioritize these tasks accordingly.
• Allocate specific time slots: Allocate specific time slots to your tasks. For instance, you can dedicate 1-2 hours each day to batch content creation activities.
• Schedule your tasks: Use scheduling apps like Asana or Trello that allow you to schedule your tasks ahead of time. Having your tasks scheduled helps to ensure that you stay on task and don't get sidetracked.
• Monitor Performance: Analyze the results of tasks completed, see which tasks take more time than others, and make adjustments if needed. Continuously analyzing what works and what does not can improve accuracy and efficiency.
• Streamline Activities: Leverage automation tools to streamline repetitive or time-consuming tasks like scheduling posts or responding to messages.

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By batching your social media tasks, you can work more efficiently.

Ready to get started? 

In this article, we have seen 10 social media management tips to help you increase productivity. 

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By following the tips discussed above, you can take control of your social media platforms, use them to build your brand, and increase productivity. Remember, social media isn't just about posting content, it's also about engaging and building relationships with your audience. So, take your time, be strategic, and most importantly, have fun! You got this.

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