WHY GETTING SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT RIGHT IS SO IMPORTANT

By Olivia Djuradeli, Social Media Manager

Given the ever-expanding inter-web of opportunities, it’s now vitally important for any business to have a social media presence online. Many businesses, particularly small outfits, try to manage their own platforms themselves – often with rather mixed results!

Outsourcing this important part of marketing to an agency can really relieve the existing pressures businesses are already under, but it’s only fair to question whether it’s worth it – and rightly so.

Understanding the ins and outs of social media can be confusing for business owners, particularly if they are not into social media themselves, so here’s some insight to help demystify things.

What is social media management anyway?

Firstly, ‘management’ is a very broad and undefined term in the social media-sphere. If you are going to employ someone to manage your accounts, you both need to be on the same page. Will your new team player be creating the content for your Facebook, Instagram, Website and Twitter pages? Will they advise on strategy when it comes to posting? Will they be monitoring the pages, answering direct messages, replying to comments, and engaging with potential customers? There are a lot of ifs, ands and buts when it comes to what really happens behind the scenes. Here are The Connect Agency my role as Social Media Manager includes general management and all of the above. One of my key tasks is to tailor each communication strategy to a client’s individual needs. Be aware that not all social media managers roles in varying agencies may be the same. So it’s worth quizzing exactly what the scope of a person’s day to day job actually entails. Below are the fundamental strategic steps that The Connect Agency follows for social media management which should give you a little insight into what you should expect from a full-service agency to ensure you get the bang for your buck, and the results to prove it.

1 | Identify your target audience

We aren’t setting the marketing world alight when we tell clients to identify who their audience is. If you’re already looking into social media management you probably already know who they are, but perhaps you’re not understanding why they aren’t seeing you!

It’s important to understand how your market communicates online. We always research a client’s target audience to understand what brands they listen to, what they’re looking at and, most importantly, how they engage with each other.

Understanding an audience’s tone, terminology and interests gives your brand a voice that blends in as conversational and relevant without the ‘sales-y’ shtick, that most audiences recognise … and run miles away from!

2 | Understand what your audience is interested in

This goes a little deeper into your audience’s psyche. Apart from knowing who you are talking to, you also need to understand what they are doing. We get to grips with their social media behaviours and ask ourselves, what does your target audience’s daily habits look like? Where are the pockets of time throughout their day where a business can grab their attention online?

Understanding timings is important as mums who do the school run will be on a totally different browsing schedule and needs compared to a retiree whose priority may be doing up their garden.

This is key to penetrating your market, especially in oversaturated social media platforms - timing is everything! Different patterns will reflect different approaches needed to get results.

3 | Understand your own business voice

You’d be surprised at how often businesses don’t understand their own appeal and how their product or service actually impacts a customer’s life.

It’s so important to really get to grips with what your business is really about including your profile and your business’s branded voice. This message needs to be crafted and delivered in a tone adapted to your market.

Think about standing next to your target market in an elevator. How you’d introduce yourself, the pace of your pitch and language used would be completely different if you were talking to a friendly tradie carpenter compared to a busy Millennial rushing out to do a spot of shopping before a big night out. Your business speaks for you. We make sure your business voice is seamless throughout all your social media channels (which should be different per platform, by the way!), right down to the terminology, slang, humour, enthusiasm and the emojis used - yes, you heard that right! The humble emoji has never held so much power as it does in today’s business world! Knowing what you have to say and knowing the right way to say it is vital.

#content #marketing #influencermarketing #socialmediamarketing #advertising #planning #theconnectagency #branding #contentcreation #pr #events #socialmedia #Influencer #instagram #socialmediatips #socialmediagrowth #growthhacks #socialmediastrategy #socialmediamanagement