Full Service Social Media Marketing

You already know how to manage your social media efforts, (click here to access our useful checklists), but how do you manage your own time while doing this job?

Social media is 24/7, but if you work 24/7, you're going to go crazy. How do you find a balance in this type of role? Here are some ways to help.

Scheduling

The best way to run social media is to keep content going out at various time during the day. Now, this doesn't mean you necessarily have to check into your computer each time you want to post something. You can utilize a scheduling tool to help you! We use Hootsuite to schedule content/posts at peak times when you know your target market is online (there are lots of analytics tools that will help you determine what these times are). With tools like these employed, you can go about your day, as your content is continuously shared.

Automation

Automation can be your friend. Use a tool like SocialBro to automate some of your responses (like thanking people for RTs in or adding people to lists. etc.) Be careful though, if social media is overly automated it can start to take way from the authenticity and lose its purpose. You have to find the right balance.

Shift Work

Even with the tools mentioned above, you still need to have someone monitoring your accounts at all time. When people engage with a brand on social media, they expect a timely response (we recommend within one hour). We suggest you divide your shifts of "managing/monitoring accounts" between a few people on your team. This will ensure responses are timely but you don't have to be personally watching these accounts from dusk until dawn. Let's face it--you need eight hours of sleep per night and some time for your social life, exercise, wine, etc, so splitting up the time is important to ensure you can still having a life. How do you schedule these shifts? Overnight you can usually get away with less activity (depending on your brand), but watch timezones and be sure to be present when your target market is most likely to be online.

Notifications

If you turn notifications "on" on various social networks you manage, they will ping your mobile device when a new message or comment is received. This way, you don’t have to sit and watch your screen all day long, refreshing over and over. This ensures you will automatically be notified of any activity across your accounts and won’t miss a beat, even while you're out and about!

What else do you do to manage your time running social media?

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