Social networks are a way of get closer to your clients. This tool performs two functions. On the one hand, it serves as communication channel with your audience. On the other hand, as promotion channel of your brand and your offer in the market.
Today, all brands, regardless of their sector, must be active on social networks. To stand out from the competition and position yourself in the market, it is essential to make good use of them. For many companies, this point in the marketing plan is difficult.
You may have previously used social networks and think you have some control over their management. However, managing social networks for a company is a complex work and completely different from what you have been doing until now. Sometimes we focus on a couple of social networks. In others, companies intend to be active in all existing ones. At this point, in which there are more and more social networks, this practice seems unfeasible and, in fact, it is.
Do you want to know more about how to manage social networks for a company? Keep reading to get the most out of this powerful communication and promotion tool.
What does managing social networks mean for a company?
Social media management involves a organization work in which the activity that the brand will have on the previously selected social networks is planned according to some previously set objectives. This is a daily order task in which the company determines Which social networks do you want to be present on? and what type of content you should offer to achieve your business goals, according to the profile of your buyer persona.
The importance of managing social networks for a company
As we have said from the beginning of this article, social networks today fulfill a key function of approach to clients. It's about a showcase in which the company is shown, managing to be attractive to its target audience.
Just as in a physical business it is crucial to take care of that window to invite the customer to come in, the presence of the brand on social networks must be a lot of work. study, research and maintenance. Sometimes, companies fall into a very common mistake, which is nothing more than adopting a narcissistic attitude about the brand. This means that the company dedicates its profile on networks to talking only about itself, its products and its services. However, this is a mistaken position. Your audience doesn't want to hear about you constantly, they want you to offer them valuable content. Therefore, it is important to establish the balance of 20/80: a 20% of exclusive content about the brand and its offer and an 80% of valuable content for customers.
This way, the brand is humanized. The client does not see a name linked to a logo and a series of products or services, the client feels the brand as a set of beliefs, values and interests that agree with yours. Thus, it manages to empathize, obtaining added value for the company.
Furthermore, social networks not only allow you to strengthen your relationship with those people who had already heard about your business, but they also make it possible for new people to get to know you. Thus, this tool serves not only to build customer loyalty but also to expand your portfolio.
As you can see, being active on social networks has all advantages. However, now you are probably wondering how to create a good showcase on each of your company's social networks. This is precisely what social media management is for a company, to facilitate this task and ensure that Everything you do on networks contributes to the pursuit of your goals.
How to manage social networks for a company?
We have already understood the importance of correctly managing our presence on networks. Now it's time to get to work.
Define objectives
Before starting with the strategy you will have to define the objectives you want to achieve with it. It seems obvious, but it is very common to find companies that upload content to social networks with the sole criterion of whether it is aesthetically beautiful or not.
exist different goals when it comes to being present on networks. For example, in your case you may be looking to promote the brand, create a close communication channel with customers, increase sales, create a community of fans of your brand or educate your audience with your content.
Whatever it is, it is crucial that this goal is realistic and in harmony with the current situation of the company. For example, you may be interested in creating a community of fans, but if your brand is little known your objective should be more focused on promoting your brand. After you have reached this goal, you can now focus on increasing sales and gaining fans of your brand.
In relation to the latter, the objectives of the social media strategy must be changing as they are fulfilled. When this happens, the strategy will have to change, since the type of presence you were carrying was useful for that objective, but surely not for the next.
Know your target
This point is essential when it comes to clarifying all your ideas and facilitating the way in the strategy. In order to meet your goals, you must know who is your target audience. If you are following a marketing plan, you are most likely already clear about this point.
Still, the time has come study it in depth to know what your presence will be like on social networks. You will have to have in your hand all possible data about your target: how old are you, what are your interests, what is your socioeconomic level, what lifestyle do you lead, what devices do you use, what are your schedules, what shopping habits do you have... Once you have all this data, you will be able to develop with ease in your network management strategy.
Choose the brand's social networks
Depending on your target, you will have to choose certain social networks. In general, your target audience will be present in several, although this does not mean that I pay the same attention to all of them. For example in Facebook The age of the users ranges from 15 to 55 years old, with a greater presence of the public aged 31-39 years. On the other hand, in instagram The audience ranges between 16 and 45 years old and in Linkedin Users are usually over 35. In addition to the age range, each social network has a weekly average of the time in which users are active.
What content to publish on social networks?
The content to publish will depend on three factors: the objective of the company, the target and the social network in question. When one of these three axes changes, the content does too. For example, it is very common to find companies that use the same content for several social networks, being carbon copies of each other.
Nevertheless, In each social network, a type of content is appropriate. To illustrate, product ads and links to blog articles are recommended on Facebook. Instead, On Instagram, valuable content is more important than promotional and the use of stories is usually more effective.
When to post on social networks?
This question hides two more. On the one hand, it is important to define the frequency of publications on networks. On the other hand, we must not neglect the time it is published. Depending on each of the 3 factors we talked about in the previous point, the answer to these two questions will change.
Thus, the frequency and timing of publications varies according to each case. The fundamental thing is to follow a editorial calendar in which network activity is planned. In this calendar, Mark the days and hours for each social network.
It is important that the activity be, at a minimum, weekly and let it be constant. That is, you may initially have an attitude that is more ambitious than realistic and that you want to publish content daily. However, as time goes by, this task becomes unfeasible and you begin to neglect the networks, leaving the publications in the hands of the free time you have left over from other tasks. This is a mistake, you have to be disciplined and constant with the frequency in the publications. Therefore, we advise you to start with a realistic and not very demanding objective.
Furthermore, another very valuable tip is that schedule your posts. It is very useful, especially for those who work alone or who do not have a large team. By scheduling the week's posts, you will be able advance the work of the whole week and concentrate it on a single day. Some last-minute unforeseen event may always occur that affects your sector and with which you must be active, but without a doubt this type of work It will save you a lot of time.
How do you have to interact with your audience?
First of all, you must Take care of your language when interacting with your audience. Depending on the age of your target, their interests, their socioeconomic level and other factors, you will have to choose the registration to follow on each of the social networks. Likewise, it is essential that you maintain a consistency in communication across all your channels. Of course, the way you communicate will vary to suit the channel, just as a person does when they are at work or when they are with friends. However, your personality is always the same and that is what the brand should make you see.
As we mentioned above, social networks are a communication channel. It is not just about uploading content, you have to interact with your followers. This shows interest on the part of the company to its customers. Thus, it is advisable to pay attention to the post comments. Try to react to as many as possible, as long as you have an account that does not have too much reach.
Furthermore, it is also important that respond to negative comments. Of course, don't do it with a neutral and impersonal message. Investigate what has happened to the client and show him that you care about his case. When answering, avoid falling into justifications and focus on offer solutions to alleviate the company's possible error. With all this, followers feel truly listened to by the brand and this will mark your decision when purchasing.
What tools to use to manage social networks?
The tools to manage social networks are not completely necessary, although they are provide great help. For example, with this type of tools you can automate the publication of content as we mentioned above. So, for example, you will not have to work on Sundays or holidays, times when you will have to be present on your social networks, since your audience will be more active.
Additionally, you can make a monitoring your profiles, being able to see your mentions on different networks, competitor accounts or the times a hashtag has been used. Likewise, there are tools with which you can be aware of the most popular content in your sector, to be able to stay up to date and have ideas to upload new posts. As you have seen, managing social networks for a company consists of research and plan. Good management must have an organization and a prior study, which It will answer all the questions you are asking yourself.
