Upgrade your time management on social media effectively with these 7 tips

Managing a social media account means having a sharp skillset to create killer copy and eye-catching visuals. The content will resonate with the audience! You’ll grow a brand to complete stardom across ALL industries! Yep, that’s it. Create some great posts, post ‘em to whichever platforms you choose, and reap the benefits. It’s all rainbows and companies will be lining up to high five you for your social media management skills.

Only that literally never happens.

Social Media Managers typically play many roles and juggle various skills and tasks simultaneously and without boundaries. There’s the content creation, of course, but on top of that there’s a need for community management, advertising campaigns, reporting/analysis, and general social awareness. Plus, there’s an entire social plan of strategy and tactics behind the scenes to ensure success, from understanding the audience to knowing where to place ad dollars. Completing these activities effectively and without a hiccup can be a challenge for even the tour de force of social account managers.

Keep you and your brand focused, organized, and less likely to wake up in a panic to a push notification:

Establish a plan.

The plan should include a strategy with corresponding goals that have measurable action items. Why are you doing this and who do you want to reach? As you define the purpose of your plan, keep goals specific and determine their attainability, relevancy, and measurement. By defining your goals this way, you’ll already be a step closer to focusing on activities and actions that matter rather than haphazardly moving through tasks like you’re blind-folded and chaotically swinging at an elusive piñata.

Place focus on the best platforms with ROI.

If a platform isn’t performing well for your brand, you may need to consider abandoning it or pinpoint why it’s not so hot. You can determine which platform is best for your business by understanding your audience and the active users in particular platforms. If you’re already using multiple platforms, analyze which ones receive the best return for you. This will help you put valuable time and efforts toward platforms with the capabilities to help reach your goals.

Use an editorial or content calendar. Or both.

Now that you have a plan and know where you’ll be active, do yourself a favor and plan out your content ahead of time. Not only will this help you get a big picture of the profile’s landscape, but you’ll have one less thing to worry about if your posts are completed ahead of time. We recommend doing this at least weekly, although monthly or even quarterly can be beneficial depending on the strategy.

Stay relevant and educated.

When managing social, you should stay up to date on the newest algorithms, trends, developments, tools, and news. There’s always something new in digital marketing, so start off by subscribing to newsletters, favorite some blogs, and check out some demos on YouTube. Do this and you’ll have a curated supply of content to include in your posting calendar, stay informed about updates to keep your campaign running smoothly, and complete tasks more efficiently.

Choose a social media tool(s).

Simply the entire process. If you have a budget there’s tons of multi-function social media tools for tracking, reporting, community management, scheduling posts, and more, many of which generate at the click of a button or can be completely automated. Boom, you just freed up time! Most paid services offer free trials to help you decide which may be the best fit for you. If you don’t want to crack open the wallet just yet, you can find analytics and insights for your profiles directly in the platform. There are also free tools for scheduling, network notification settings, and general productivity apps such as to-do lists and reminders. Whatever your budget may be (or lack), you have options to make executing your strategy seamless. Find what works for you.

Track and report on social media metrics that matter.

Consider your goals here. What are you looking for? Are you wanting to grow your audience? Focus on your reach and new followers. If your tools allow you, see where this growth came from or did not occur. Are you looking to drive users to your website? Check your clicks! If you have a pixel installed and/or you’re using tracking links, even better. Going through metrics can be overwhelming at first, but if you know what you’re looking for, you’ll spend less time combing through your post likes when you’re really your goal is to increase sales on your site.

At the end of the day, don’t sweat it.

Managing social accounts can be mentally demanding. There’s going to be a post that could’ve had a better caption, you’ll receive negative sentiment from users, your tools may break, your latest ad turned out to be a total flop. Digital moves fast. What works today may not work tomorrow, and whether you’re new or a novice, there will always be an event that requires you to learn and move on. We’re not perfect and there’s no use dwelling on something you can grow from and learn to build off.

This list should serve as a starting point for getting your productivity in check for social media management. By no means is this list comprehensive. You may also find that some sections don’t apply to you. That’s okay. Everyone works differently. However, if you’re just getting started or if you’re deep in the weeds and feel like you’re certainly drowning, take it one step at a time and master some of these basics. In time you’ll seamlessly adapt to the unpredictable landscape and stay on top of your strategy effectively.