As I prepare to do another social media audit I have to pause and wonder; what is it about social media management that is difficult?
Why do business owners shy away from creating a social media presence? Especially when we know fresh content drives traffic (which we discussed here). Well I’ve been there, and I’m going to share with you the mistakes I made and what you can hopefully learn from and succeed more quickly.
Content Creation
It requires heart, thought, some humour, humility, and a bit of a gift. They don’t refer to content creators as “wordsmiths” just for fun. Individuals who do content creation full time are being paid a $65k-$95k salaries from the big names. The words we use (or don’t use) can evoke a positive emotion, or leave our reader feeling less than impressed. Good content creation for your social media will be engaging, speak to your brand, carry your tone and message, and contain your key words occurring naturally for SEO. Not a small task.
Anyone can create content. However, creating powerful, driven content that will lead your clients to buy in, can be a challenge and if it doesn’t come naturally to you, it might painfully eat up your time. Which brings us to our next obstacle with social media management – time.
Time Management
We’re short on time. It takes too much time. It’s a waste of time.
I’ve heard it all, and I have to say there are solutions for these problems. When you decide to make your social media presence a priority for your business you will find the time. When you cut out the glitter and the distracting shiny objects and focus on your content, and stay on task, it takes literally seconds to tweet or post a pic to Instagram. Seconds. Seconds that can turn into followers, who can turn into leads, who ultimately turn in to profit. Can you really afford not to spare a few seconds here or there?
Are Facebook and blog posts more in depth? Yes. they require in depth thought, and definitely require more than a few seconds. If the written word eludes you you may consider outsourcing this type of work for it to have high value content. However it is accomplisged, the value they will add to your business will be well worth it.
Priorities
When we’re running a business, whether it’s a Fortune500, or a start-up, we have all kinds of priorities that eat up our time (see previous paragraph). When you have client meetings, orders to fill, and other important tasks to fulfill, it’s easy to let social media management slide to the bottom of that priorities list – but it shouldn’t. With most platforms taking the smallest piece of effort or time on your part to allow your clients to feel connected to you and your brand, it really should be your number one priority.
So how do we solve these problems?
- Creating awesome content may not come naturally to you and that’s okay. A blog post 1-2 times a month will create enough fresh content to at least keep your presence viable. Write about anything that is relevant to your client and that you have something to say about. Don’t try to write about something you don’t know about. Don’t try to be someone you aren’t in your writing. Be you. Write about what you know.
- I cannot create more hours in your day (trust me, some days my days could use more hours too) but I can help you prioritize and manage your time better. Social media management takes time. It does. So schedule it in to your day. 6am – Yoga, 7am – Check Facebook notifications, 8am – client meeting, etc. Have a blog post ready go every second Wednesday. If you are expecting it, and make purposeful time to work on your social media management it will eat up less of your time. How often have you thought “I just meant to reply to that one message, how did Facebook eat an hour of my time?!” Uh huh. Stay on track. Stay focused. Complete the business related task and then leave! You can do it!
- If you really just cannot fathom being effective at social media management outsource the work to a virtual assistant. We specialize in keeping you message and brand intact on on track on your social media and then you can est easy with one more to-do checked off your list.
I think social media has gotten a bad rep. It can seem complicated, unnecessary, and a time sucker. In reality it can be simple, it’s very necessary for today’s businesses, and can be productive when managed appropriately. Social media is a fantastic platform for you to engage with your clients, and it’s unparalleled in its reach to clients for FREE.
If you have questions about social media management or content creation; connect with us here or via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and we’ll do our best to guide you through the landmines and find something that works for you.
Keep the conversation going and tweet:
to tell me what you think the challenges of social media are, or how you’ve overcome your own social media management challenges.