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Tag: social media for small business

What social media managers need to know about monitoring

A social media managers’ job is not done once posts are created and scheduled. In a previous article in this series, we dove into exactly what it takes to craft the perfect social media post.

However, to run a successful social media program, social media managers must regularly monitor all active accounts for mentions, messages, comments and more. For larger brands, there could be dozens of social media managers whose job it is to track all incoming notifications and respond to them as necessary. This task is even more challenging, but just as important, for small social media teams.

At Catapult PR, we know what it takes to monitor notifications on social media efficiently and effectively to elevate our clients’ brand. Let’s take a look at some tips social media managers who lead smaller teams can follow to tackle social media monitoring.

Social Media Monitoring for Small Teams

So, published social media posts rack up impressions and engagements. Notifications start to fly in–comments, shares, reTweets, messages and mentions. When managing multiple accounts (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.) that overwhelmed feeling quickly sets in.

Here are some tips for monitoring and managing social media notifications:

  • Where to Monitor Notifications: most social media management platforms allow for notification monitoring and responding within the platform. This can be helpful when managing large teams or dozens of social media accounts. However, for social media managers with small teams managing around 10-20 accounts, it can sometimes be easier to login to each social media channel natively on either desktop or mobile. It’s especially easy to switch between accounts on mobile for Twitter and Instagram. LinkedIn and Facebook interfaces look different on mobile vs. desktop, but the ability to seamlessly jump between business accounts and check on notifications is the same.
  • Frequent Check-ins: if possible, check notifications across all accounts at least twice a day. Although not always feasible, logging in as often as possible makes checking off notifications more manageable. Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram (in this order) tend to rack up notifications the quickest, so make these platforms a priority.
  • Do a Keyword Search: not everyone who mentions a company or individual may know or remember to tag them. Social media managers should instruct their teams to do a keyword search by name and even by the headline of blog or article content that has been shared. This step ensures all mentions (tagged or not) are seen and engaged with.
  • Prioritize Notification Type:
    1. Always address direct messages first. It’s usually a signal of someone trying to reach an individual (if managing a personal account) or a representative from the company quickly. Notify the appropriate company contact of any messages that need special or expedited attention.
    2. Look at mentions intently. Prioritize mentions related to customer service related or that talk negatively about a product or person. There may be a canned response for these types of mentions; regardless, always let someone at the company know about questions or negative feedback on social media immediately. For positive mentions, always like the post, share and leave a quick comment (i.e. “Thanks for sharing!” or “Appreciate the support”) or a thank you GIF.
    3. Give special attention to comments as well. Like all positive comments and thank those that went the extra mile to write something authentic (i.e. commented more than just “Great post,” or “Cool”). As with mentions, keep a keen eye for any customer service questions or negative feedback and respond accordingly.
    4. Shares or reTweets should be looked at closely, but likely won’t need as close attention as comments or mentions. For most shares or reTweets, be sure to at least “like” the post. If someone with a larger following (at least 5K followers) shares a post, take the extra time to like, share and/or leave a comment of thanks.
    5. Likes are great but can mostly be skimmed over when reviewing notifications. However, keep an eye out for any influencers or brands that may have liked a post. Follow them and tag them in a comment on the post to thank them for liking.
    6. Skim over most follower notifications. However, pay close enough attention to capture any influencer or brand accounts that follow you and follow back.

Even with some “skimming” recommendations above, no notification should go unnoticed. It takes time to develop a flow when monitoring social media. Most social media platforms make it easy to visually compartmentalize notification types. Training the eye to prioritize mentions over followers ultimately speeds up the process.

Final Word on Monitoring for Social Media Managers

It’s easy for social media managers to feel overwhelmed by social media notifications and understanding how to engage with them (or not). Make monitoring just as important of a practice as creating and publishing social media posts. If multiple check-ins throughout the day are not possible, always address messages, mentions and comments first, then take a closer look at followers and likes in case additional action is needed. While these steps are tips learned from years of practice, everyone develops their own monitoring flow over time. Which best practices do you follow? Let us know in the comments below!

The next post in this series will focus on community engagement–a natural tie-in with monitoring–but a social media practice that also requires proactive strategy.

Olivia Heel Headshot Olivia Heel is a senior account executive at Catapult. She leads client accounts through PR strategy development, social media management, content development and handles media and analyst relations. Olivia is a graduate of the University of Denver where she received her B.A. in psychology.

Social media management tips for small teams

Social media management is officially a full-time job and serious career path. While this trend comes as no surprise, the COVID-19 pandemic and recent social justice movements have inspired even more people to sign up for social media accounts.

With new social platforms popping up and algorithms changing constantly, social media management is no small feat, for small and big teams alike. Social media managers are under pressure to drive leads, increase website traffic, build brand awareness and constantly prove the value of a social media program.

Big brands have dedicated social media teams designing, creating, producing, monitoring and analyzing all of the company’s active social channels (which could be in the dozens or more). But for smaller organizations, social media resources typically aren’t as vast and content streams are just as daunting.

At Catapult, we help tech companies articulate and tell compelling stories that build awareness, differentiation and market-leading positions. From traditional PR to content-driven, digitally savvy marketing that leverages all available tools and avenues, social media strategy is one way we help our clients establish themselves as thought leaders in the industry.

So, how can even the smallest of social media teams convert more value with less stress? In the first post of our social media management series, we dig into some practical and actionable tips for a successful social media program and what it takes to craft the ideal social media post.

Social Media Management Pro Tips

Simple, Repeatable Design First

If nothing else, social media thrives on good visual content. Static images, GIFs, videos, etc. are displayed across every social media platform and every brand is hoping to get users to pause their scroll on their content.

Considering this, before publishing content on social media, make sure all design elements are polished. Regardless if design skills are on-hand or not, keep a few things in mind for creating templates for branded images or video:

1. Keep It Simple: An image is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean a thousand words should be on an image. Every branded image should tell social media users key information about the content being shared—nothing superfluous. The typical key elements include:

    • Title or headline that stands out
    • Denote what the content is about (webinar, virtual event, whitepaper, etc.)
    • Headshots, if necessary (for speakers or authors)
    • Nondescript company logo
    • Call to action (“Register Now” or “Download Today”)

Check out this Tweet from Drift that has all the elements of simple, repeatable design above:

2. Keep it Consistent: Even a small company may have anywhere from three to five social media accounts to manage (not including any sub-brands or products that require separate accounts).

It’s important to keep branding as consistent as possible—think color scheme, font type and placement of image elements. This will make it easier for social media teams to rinse and repeat, and for social media users to immediately recognize the brand.

Check out these posts from IDG as an example of branded image consistency:

Don’t have design talent on-hand? Try using a free social media image generator like Canva, Adobe Spark or Pablo from Buffer to start. Once agreed upon templates are created, then social media post content can be crafted.

Posting by the Numbers

With social media buzz on high and content streams constantly flowing, it may seem like “volume” is the answer a successful social media strategy. Good news for smaller social media teams—it’s not.

Each social media platform has different (and statistically proven) best practices for frequency of posting and the amount of text within each post.

Let’s dig into the top three social media platforms to guide social media post content creation:

  • Twitter
    • Post Frequency Range: Optimal is 15-23 Tweets per day, but 3-6 Tweets per day shouldn’t hurt impression or engagement numbers too significantly
    • Post Character Length: 71-100 characters is ideal range for engagement (per SproutSocial)
    • Hashtag Max: Two hashtags max (Tweets with more than two hashtags show a 17% drop in engagement, per Buffer)
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
    • Post Frequency Range: max two posts per day (per, HubSpot)
    • Post Character Length: 40-80 characters is idea range for engagement (per SproutSocial)
    • Hashtag Max: 3-4 hashtags that are very relevant to the content/industry (per Peg Fitzpatrick of Canva)

The overall key here? Focus on fewer posts and more quality content directed to your target audience. Use tools like SproutSocial, Buffer or Hootsuite to make scheduling a breeze.

Simplicity paramount when it comes to creating a social media post. Simple design, simple content and fewer posts are the keys to driving more value. Social media management can be intimidating at first, but slowing down and ensuring quality over quantity will yield results.

The next post in this series will dive into tips for mastering monitoring and community engagement—two factors also critical for creating a strong social media program.

Olivia Heel Headshot Olivia Heel is a senior account executive at Catapult. She leads client accounts through PR strategy development, social media management, content development and handles media and analyst relations. Olivia is a graduate of the University of Denver where she received her B.A. in psychology.

Social media pandemic growth solutions for small businesses

Small businesses are currently taking a huge hit as the coronavirus pandemic continues, and if they want to stay afloat they must adapt. During this unpredictable time, a fear has been instilled in many individuals to decrease consumer spending. It’s smart for entrepreneurs and small business owners to focus more of their time online. Some businesses may not be sure of how to react, respond, or handle this “new way” of doing things. Here are some surefire, helpful tips for your small business to have social media guide you through these unprecedented coronavirus waters.

Utilize chatbot messaging to provide one-on-one support

To make up for the social media shift, businesses have been using Facebook Messenger campaigns through chatbots to build up their email/client lists Iike Manychat. Their user-friendly site only takes a few clicks to set up your ad, link it to the chatbot, and once someone initiates with the chatbot, their contact information is gathered. This gives you a new potential client to pursue and communicate with. From these connections, you can use the email list with an incentive to sign up by offering promos and/or deals. Retail businesses and restaurants could give out discounts and meal specials and promote their clients and customers with gift cards or prepay services so they can give yours, and other businesses, a lifeline.

Create personal video connections

Focus on reaching the largest audiences, not the fastest growing; this means Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. In March of 2020, SensorTower reported TikTok to have the “most downloaded non-game app worldwide with more than 115.2 million installs.” Tie your business with videos via TikTok, then distribute that video through other social media outlets. Make Instagram stories for your friends or do Instagram takeovers on other accounts you can help. According to Facebook, the U.S. alone has seen a 70% increase in Instagram Live usage during the pandemic. Build that support traction by posting updates, direct messages, likes, videos, pictures, specials, bingo board games, whatever you think will give the best traction.

Implement trending hashtags and campaigns

Instagram influencers make do with the thirty hashtag limit the app offers, and to reach new audience members they sometimes include hashtags that have nothing to do with their content/product. Also, focus on hashtags that are around 50,000 to target more niche categories and create co-branded hashtags with other small business partners. Business owners should utilize topical hashtag trends to stay relevant.

Be transparent and in more communication with current customers

According to SproutSocial, 86% of consumers believe transparency is more important than ever, 85% are more likely to stick with a brand through a crisis if those brands are transparent, and 78% want brands that use social media to connect people with each other. If you were on the fence about pivoting your business more toward social media, now is the perfect time to build relationships with your followers. Conversations and clicks must be considered before sales and conversions. Try to connect with people in real time. Whether it’s live streams on YouTube, group Q&As, webinars, live virtual tours, and/or posting and commenting in real time, stay in touch. Be there for them. Flesh out your relationships. Become more of a friend than a business.

Monitor Google Trends keyword spikes for opportunities

E-commerce will continue to explode as consumers eschew physical stores and crowded gatherings—but this can create logistical challenges. Delivery services across the board are seeing an onslaught of new customers as consumers continue avoiding public places. More of their demands will come from digital services that fulfill everyday needs beyond retail, including the delivery of food and goods via Grubhub, Postmates, DoorDash, as well as online grocers like Instacart and FreshDirect. Concentrate on what you can do and communicate that message to your guests. Many restaurants are pivoting away from “making reservations” to “let us deliver or come pick up.”

Create partnerships and give back to communities

Choose a social media marketing agency from Clutch.com or hire a freelancer from LinkedIn ProFinder where you can find true social media experts with credible reviews to have breakthrough results for expanding rapidly on social media that are affordable. If you’re able, use social media to let your followers/customers know you can contribute any extra supplies to area food banks or assist the elderly with grocery shopping. Promote your good deeds with social media marketing to help build your brand.

People feel the need to connect more due to daily changes in lifestyle, whether those changes are drastic or casual. We’re all in this together, so let’s make the best of it. Don’t forget, we might be social distancing, but we still have social media.