Finding that social media is taking up too much of your time? No matter how powerful social can be, you probably don’t have hours to fiddle with aspect ratios or to craft perfect hashtags.
The good news is that you can make social speedier and simpler while still getting the results you need.
Here’s a look at our top five social media hacks – we wouldn’t do social without them:
1. Automate, automate, automate.
When you’re a small business, keeping up a regular social posting schedule can eat into your work day.
Automation is the answer – and it’s simpler than ever. The big social platforms have built-in automation tools that let you create content ahead of time and post on a set schedule. To get even smarter, use a third-party automation tool to set, schedule and manage posting across all your platforms.
2. Make it snappy.
As attention spans shrink, social users are increasingly keen on short content snips. Video has also seen a sharp increase in attention – it’s responsible for 82% of global internet traffic.
This means that short-form video is a shortcut to engagement. With 60% of internet users reporting that online video has helped them make a purchase decision, it’s worth stepping out of your social comfort zone.
RELATED: 5 simple tips for creating short form video content.
3. Learn, tweak, grow.
Analytics should be a key part of your social media strategy. The more you know about the performance of different social platforms, types of content and individual posts, the simpler it is to focus your energy where it counts. For example, if you see little engagement through Instagram, it could be worth stepping back. On the other hand, if video posts top your engagement list, you can put more energy into that area.
RELATED: eBook: How to choose the right social media platform for your business.
4. Consistency counts.
You can post different content on different channels, but keep your brand consistent. This means using the same profile picture, brand elements and tone of voice on every channel. That way, customers get a seamless experience wherever they see your brand.
One of the toughest parts about social media management is coming up with fresh content to share with audiences several times a week. But to simplify this task, don’t forget to repurpose and reuse existing content.
Here are a few ways to repurpose a simple blog:
- Turn quotable lines into shareable images
- Turn a how-to or listicle into a helpful short video
- Re-share old content with an updated headline
- Create mini infographics from blogs with interesting statistics
- Create a poll based on opinions in the blog.
This will help you to get more out of your original work, all without having to redo the work from scratch.
5. Make communication a must-do.
Talking to your customers through social channels shows you’re engaged and interested, and makes your audience feel heard. Generally, you’ll want to spend roughly an hour a day checking messages and replying to customers. Take communication even further by creating a Facebook Group for customers, use Instagram Live to spark discussions or chime in on comment threads.
A growing majority of social media users expect to be able to contact brands via social media, rather than more traditional methods such as calls and emails. One survey showed that 75% of Twitter users, 59% of Facebook users, and 34% of Instagram users had used these platforms to contact brands.
That’s a lot of time spent answering queries for social media marketers, and shows a genuine need for AI assistance.
Chatbot AI is well past its experimental stages and has become an invaluable tool for businesses on social media.
Set up an AI Chatbot to deal with basic inquiries, for anything from store opening hours to returns policies, contact information and other common questions.
This can free up huge amounts of time while still responding to all customers. And, even if you can’t spare the time to respond if the AI is unable to, you can get the AI to direct queries to channels that work best for you (such as email or calls).
Take the free Social Checkup.
Want to up your social media game? Our Social Checkup tool is a quick way to see how you’re doing and what needs to change. Take the Social Checkup today.
