Get ahead of the game — or get left behind
As consumers, we have the expectation and demand for things in the now. We like our wifi at the fastest speed, our videos loaded right away, the newest updates on our devices and we hate waiting on anything. Little do we realize, all the thought and work that goes into the visuals and advertisements we see daily, was planned well in advance and does just happen on the fly.
Prior to engulfing this masters, I was extremely unaware of all the time and preparation. With each brand or company, comes a lot of twists and turns. As a team decides what will be posted they begin with their target audience. Knowing just who they are trying to reach. After deciding this, they then decide what type of content, breaking down their 80–20 etc.
Furthermore, the secret to success is in the social media management tools. These are important for several reasons. Having the ability to have social media posts, stories, IGTV etc planned ahead of time, makes deciding what is and isn’t posted, on which platforms its posted on and when a lot easier. Eclincher simply says it with, “By planning ahead you can ensure you post the type of content necessary to reach your goals and grow your business. A social media management tool will allow you to schedule social media posts ahead of time. This will make it much easier to visualize what you will be posting and align it with your goals.”
Not only does planning ahead make your job easier, there are other tools involved so that manual posting does not need to happen. Knowing what you want to post and when, makes you better at your job.
Two of my social media management tools are almost no brainers. I am a huge fan of planning ahead because when you plan ahead, you can always make adjustments and/or get ahead of complications (just in case).
The first social media management tool is a content calendar. This is a calendar designed specifically for when you are posting, which specific platform it will be posted on as well as what the content is. So what exactly is a content calendar? According to Backlinko, “A content calendar (also known as an “editorial calendar”) is a written schedule of when and where you plan to publish upcoming content. Content calendars typically include upcoming pieces, status updates, planned promotional activity, partnerships, and updates to existing content.” Content calendars are important. Staying organized is extremely important when growing your business is the goal.
- The content calendar makes sure that what you wish to post actually happens.
- Having a set calendar makes it easy to engage and update your partners and team
- Lastly, it allows you to see things as an overall overview of all things upcoming.
The next social media management tool is social media monitoring (also known as SMM). This can also be referred to as listening platforms. Ultimately, social media monitoring according to Hubspot is, “where most social media strategies begin — monitoring and tracking mentions of your brand, products, competitors and industry issues. SMM tools offer countless ways to analyze, measure, display and report findings…The features vary by vendor as does cost, so one typically selects one SMM solution or provider and supplements it with tools in other categories.” This allows media to be monitored across millions of social sites. How often the sites are “crawled” depends on the site itself.
Social media management tools help tremendously with your success as a brand. Zapier says it best, “Social media management tools enable you to automate, analyze, better control, and dive deeper into your social media accounts. These apps can post the same updates on all your social accounts, schedule future updates, and help you find the most appropriate and effective content to post and times to post it.”
In conclusion, it doesn’t hurt to use your resources. There are several social media management tools that can help your brand be more successful. Allowing the tools ensures that you are on schedule and communication is up to par!
