The world of social media marketing can seem daunting, it’s a world with many moving parts and trying to keep up can make you feel like you’re treading water. It’s important to get a grasp of social media management because soon you will realise that your small business cannot survive without it. The good news is that there are very skilled individuals called social media managers who do get it, and they know how to maximise social media strategies for better business results.

Social media management is a broad term that encompasses managing all the tasks of your social media activities. It’s not just about creating and publishing content on your social media channels, it entails everything from creating a strategy that’s aligned to your business objectives and then executing the campaigns.

Whether you decide to manage the process yourself or outsource to a digital agency, it’s a good idea to upskill yourself because even if you’re just getting to grips with the basics, you’ll give yourself a good foundation of knowledge.

This knowledge will allow you to become less dependent on the experts and if something goes wrong you might be able to fix it yourself!

You will find that social media managers are highly qualified and are relatively inexpensive. If you decide to outsource, you will find that paying per hour gives you a lot of flexibility and allows you to minimise your costs. That’s because you don’t have to hire a full-time employee to do the work that they can quite successfully. What if you decide to take a vacation? You can feel confident that you’ll be leaving your business in good hands and that your brand is always on, getting the attention it deserves!

So what does the whole process entail? Here are some basics to get you better equipped:

Plan, plan and plan some more

Start by asking yourself what your goals are and what you hope to achieve? Try to be as specific as possible and also set target dates for each activity.

Research your audience as much as possible. What are their preferences? Once you get to understand them, figure out which social media platforms they’re more likely to use.

It’s also important to undertake competitor research because understanding your competitor’s strategies will also inform which social media platforms you choose. Once you’ve decided which platforms are most appropriate to deliver your message, it’s time to develop a content calendar. This will help you plan what content to post and when.

Develop a budget

A budget is simply a plan on what you’re going to spend. Do you aim to achieve purely organic results or do you have a paid campaign strategy in mind?

There’s no point in undertaking all the planning activities to find out that you’re spread too thin. Investigate the cost of all activities. Doing this will ensure that you’re not left short. Once you know the costs, you can allocate your resources to tools (for example tools that allow you to schedule posts) as well as paid advertising campaigns.

Content creation

You need to ensure you have a constant stream of content that’s ready to publish. Don’t worry, this is the fun part. Here’s where you decide if it will be mainly copy, or a mix of copy, images and video. You can also publish curated content which implies the sharing of information relevant to a particular topic or point of interest and then providing your opinion to give it your brand’s voice. You can also ask your followers for their input, allow them to contribute. This type of tactic allows you to engage your audience and create more fans!

Measure effectiveness and report feedback

Measurement is important so that you can determine what’s working or not. If you can understand what’s not working, you can fix it, or try a different strategy. Remember, social media effectiveness reporting can be very time consuming but you can streamline this process third-party social media tool.

As you can see, there’s a lot to think about and a lot to do. Social media management is time consuming but also a rewarding experience. Hiring a social media manager can help you navigate the journey to grow your social media presence. If you allow them to handle the intricacies, you can spend time on your core focus areas.