Best Practices for Managing Your Company’s Social Media Accounts
In today’s world, almost every business needs a social media strategy. That strategy will look different for every company, but there are some basic best practices that work in any industry. To ring in the new year, here are some of SC Digital’s top tips for managing your social media accounts:
Get the Basics in Order
First and foremost, you need to have an idea of your brand standards before you start. This should include what type of language is allowed in your posts, what kinds of images are allowed, and what type of engagement you want your account to have with its followers. The person or team managing your social media should understand these brand standards in and out.
In the beginning, a high-ranking member of management should approve all posts to ensure the brand is protected, especially if the posts are being done by a newer employee or someone who is not as familiar with the brand.
Next, be active on multiple platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google Business Profile. Your target audience is likely using all of these platforms in some way, shape or form and it pays to have a plan for all of them.
Plan to Manage Many Different Social Media Accounts
In order to manage all these accounts, you can use a software like Buffer, Loomly, Hootsuite, or Sprout Social. When you link your social media accounts to these sites, they allow you to easily keep tabs on different networks and post to all of them simultaneously. Additionally, they allow you to modify each your posts based on the platform to which you’re sending them. Each of these sites has pros and cons, so make sure you know exactly what you want out of a management tool.
Whether or not you use a social-media management software, it is vital that the owner or a high-ranking company manager has access to every social media account the company controls. On Facebook, this person should also be an “Administrator” on the company’s page. In the event that your accounts are hacked or an employee makes a mistake, the owner having access to the accounts can help quickly mitigate any damage.
Should any of your social media passwords ever change, those officials need to be made aware and given immediate access. You do not want to be in a fight with Meta to try and recover access to your Instagram account because the credentials were lost 6 months ago and nobody knows where they are. Keep a close eye on this.
How to Create Social Media Content That Resonates With Your Target Audience
Turning toward the content itself, make sure to publish different content for each platform. Even if the concept for a post is the same from platform to platform, it’s best practice to modify the post depending on the platform and audience. For instance, if you are an electrical company, you might want to talk about the importance of standby generators. But you likely would not post the same exact picture/video/content to LinkedIn as to, say, TikTok. Although the audience might be the same, the way the audience consumes information on these two platforms is very different and, therefore, the content needs to be formatted and communicated differently.
Even within the same site, it is best to post different kinds of content. A good rule of thumb for most businesses is to come up with percentages for educational, engagement, and promotional content. For instance, we recommend that 60–70% of your social media content be educational, 20% be engagement, and 10% be plainly promotional. This is not a hard and fast rule, but it is a guideline to get you started.
Whatever you are posting, always remember to post with your audience in mind. Post the type of content your followers want to see. If you post too much outwardly promotional content to your followers, they’ll likely be tuned out because, for the most part, people don’t like to be sold to — especially on social media. On the other hand, if you only post educational content to your followers without ever having a call to action, you’ll likely miss multiple sales opportunities.
Participate in the Conversation Already Happening In Your Ideal Customer’s Mind
Don’t think you have to start every conversation. One of the best things about social media is that you can hop into existing conversations and drive engagement by answering questions people are already asking. A few ways to find existing conversations include:
- Surfing sites like Google Trends and Quora to get an idea for what people want to know.
- Answer frequently asked questions customers often have, but be sure to offer opinions (don’t just give people information they can look up on Google… that’s boring.). Quora can be a great resource to find questions that are nagging at your target audience.
- Use Instagram Reels to get ideas for your content – there’s a good chance that if you surf Instagram Reels for 5–10 minutes, you’ll find a lot of trending audios that make you go, “Wow! We could totally apply that to our business!” TikTok can be used for the same purpose.
Don’t be afraid to post about things that are actually happening in your business. (Think work anniversaries, awards, notable employees, someone bringing their dog to work, etc.) Ideally, your followers will be invested not just in the products you create, but in the team of people who work to make it all happen. Don’t be afraid to shine a spotlight on the talented, hard-working people behind the scenes.
Get Some Help If You’re Stuck
Depending on your comfort level, experiment with social media advertising tools to create new customer interest. Or, hook up with a social media advertising agency that can help walk you through this. Some of the platforms are pretty easy to operate, but the creative/strategy part is what trips most businesses up. For instance, you might be able to find your way around TikTok’s advertising platform pretty easily, but a TikTok ad agency will be able to help you set up conversion tracking on your website and set up ads that will generate real sales for your business.
At the risk of self-promotion, it is often a very good idea to work with a digital marketing agency, if even just for an initial consultation. There are many of us in the NH area, including The Social HQ, Centrus Digital, Vital Design and many others. Most agencies spend time in dozens of different industries and can get you on the right path so that your in-house people can either take over entirely or continue working with the agency on an ongoing basis. But your best bet is definitely to benefit from an agency’s decades of experience instead of trying to go it alone.
About the Author
Brad Solomon is the CEO of SC Digital, a NH SEO and Digital Marketing Agency based in Portsmouth, NH. A Manchester native and graduate of Central High School, Brad and
his team absolutely love helping businesses get the most out of their digital marketing presence. They build awesome websites, handle social media ads, run paid search campaigns and a lot more for businesses all over New England and beyond!
