According to Social Media Examiner, there is a direct correlation between the time a company puts into their social media and the return they get for their efforts. Most companies spend at least six hours a week on social media.
What is the best way to keep up with your social media? Have a plan! In this blog, I will share with you the key components of an effective social media plan.
Create a calendar
Before you start writing, develop a calendar of when you will post and what you will write about in these posts.
Your topic titles will not be the titles of your post; rather they are placeholders for you to know what topic you need to write about for which date.
Having a calendar gives you a broader view of your posts so you don’t repeat ideas too often and allows you to be consistent with any specific marketing campaigns you have running.
A calendar also allows you to make room for any holiday posts, posts about events or sales you are holding, new employees and product launches.
Write your posts
Take time to research and write quality content. This will make your readers want to come back for more.
How many words should you use? Well, for Twitter, you’re limited to 140 characters. For Facebook, you can post a few sentences, a couple of paragraphs, or even share your blog post. For a blog that you’ll post on your website, LinkedIn, and Facebook, keep to 500 words. Much more than that and your audience will be turned off by too much text.
If you find a post is getting really long, consider making it a “Part 1” and “Part 2,” so you can still use it and provide all the information you want to share.
Include images
Include photos with all your posts. Remember, the photo must have something to do with the post. It can’t just be a picture you like.
It is best to include your own photos because you can showcase your products, employees or clients.
If you don’t have an image, look to some free resources that allow you to use their stock photos without worry about copyright infringement. Some of these sites are Gratisography (http://www.gratisography.com/), Death to Stock Photo (http://deathtothestockphoto.com/), and Stokpic (http://stokpic.com/).
Schedule your posts
You have your posts written and your images chosen; now it’s time to schedule your posts. Some social media networks (like Facebook) allow you to schedule directly in their platform.
If you are posting to more platforms than just Facebook, look to a scheduling software like Hootsuite (https://hootsuite.com/) which will allow you to post to four different platforms in their free version.
When you schedule your posts you don’t have to worry about rushing back to the office to post that day’s post.
Be social
Your posts are live and people are commenting. Now is the time to be social! The value of social media to your business is the ability to communicate with your fans.
Your company should also be looking at other ways to participate on social media. Is there a guru in your industry on Twitter that you should follow? Is there a Twitter Chat that is relevant to your industry that you can join? Keep an eye out to increase your visibility online.
Do you want to know if what you’re doing on social media is working? Check your analytics.
On Facebook, Insights is their analytics tool that can tell you what time people read your post, how many views you received, which posts are receiving the most engagement, and much more. You can also use Google Analytics to check your blog’s performance on your website.
Analytics will help you improve your social efforts so you are posting at the right times and posting content that your readers want to see.