Behind Our Social Media Management Process

With Facebook generating over two billion monthly active users and Instagram following with one billion, it’s no secret that social media has become an integral part of society. Furthermore, these staggering statistics show that social media is an imperative part of every business’s marketing plan. However, for brands, having a social media presence goes beyond posting a photo every now and then. With today’s crowded and competitive platforms, the only way to be recognized, followed (in a good way) and trusted by your desired audience is through careful research, strategy, content creation, engagement and analysis of your channels. If this sounds like a lot of work, it’s because it is! Check out the graphic below to get a peek at what our social media team does on a daily basis, and read on for details of the entire process.

Research & Strategy

The success of any social media effort boils down to strategy. First, we’ll meet with you to discuss your challenges as well as identify your goals, whether you’re looking to increase brand awareness, create a loyal fanbase or generate higher quality sales leads. Then, we research everything from current trends to competitors’ strategies to your audience’s social media habits so we can develop a well-informed plan of action, outlining what we want to post, when we’ll post it, what platform we’ll utilize and how much of your budget we recommend spending to promote it. We take all of that information and present it to you in a monthly content calendar to ensure we’re all on the same page and to make sure our plan seamlessly integrates with all of your other marketing efforts.

Content Creation

Once we’ve got a strategy, we go all-in on creating the content for it. Content is the pride and joy of social media - the heart, if you will. We put ourselves in the shoes of the consumer and create engaging posts based on our research that will resonate with them, whether it’s sharing trends, teaching them how to make their lives simpler or by offering them a great deal. Because 46% of social media users say they’ll unfollow a brand if it’s too pushy, we like to use a rule of thirds, dividing our types of content between promotional, inspirational and educational categories to keep our feeds fresh! We also focus on sharing a mix of staged photography, organic shots and user-generated images to keep a balance of professional and relatable.

Designer Hand-Off

With content locked down, we then hand off materials to our graphic designers to bring our ideas to life. With professional designers on our side, we ensure a unified, on-brand look and feel in everything that has your company’s name on it. With capabilities ranging from selecting photography to custom illustrations to video animation, the intentional design our team brings to the table guarantees that your brand appears trustworthy and polished. Catching your audience’s eye in an oversaturated marketplace is our job; we help engage your users and entice them to join your community.

Scheduling/Ad Placement

After everything is created, proofed by our grammar guru and approved by the client, we go about scheduling everything out so that each post is seen by the right people at the right time in the right place for peak engagement opportunities. This sweet spot of platform selection and timing applies to both organic, everyday posts as well as paid, sponsored content. An integral part of growing a social media following is through the use of promoting posts, whether as one ad or as a part of a full-blown campaign. We make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck by targeting all sponsored posts to those who are most likely to engage with it using criteria like geography, gender, age, interests, job titles, etc. You wouldn’t want to promote a post on Snapchat at 11 PM targeting senior citizens, would you?

Reputation Management

When it comes to building a following, you can’t just set and forget all of your efforts once your posts are scheduled out. It’s about developing an interactive community with your audience. Part of what we do every day is build relationships, which positively increases your brand’s reputation. From reaching out to influencers or potential partners to answering reviews, messages and comments, we take on your reputation as if it were our own. By doing this, we build trust and loyalty with your audience so they’ll turn to you whenever they need something. This leg up on the competition will ultimately translate into an increase in sales, which, at the end of the day, is typically the ultimate goal.

Analytics/Reporting

Social media can’t truly be deemed successful without the data to prove it. That’s why analytics and reporting play a huge part in our overall process. By producing monthly and quarterly reports, we are able to track a variety of actions from likes to shares to clicks to purchases and everything in between. We also take it a step further than just providing facts and figures. We take the time to analyze what’s working, what isn’t and how we can better use our time and your money to reach your goals. Just as no two audiences are the same, no two strategies can be the same either. It’s about fine-tuning our efforts to match your specific needs.

The biggest thing to keep in mind when starting up a new social media strategy? It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You won’t go viral overnight, and it can take a period of trial and error before your efforts really take off. And, believe it or not, what we’ve touched on above really is only scratching the surface of all that goes on behind the scenes of each and every one of our posts. Feeling overwhelmed? We can help!