Does your business use social media? If it doesn’t, it’s a lost opportunity for you. In today’s society, people expect a business to have an online presence. People are looking for you online, whether it’s reading a review on Yelp, checking in on Foursquare, following you on Twitter or liking you on Facebook. Social media allows your business to make a touchpoint with your audience, build relationships, and give people a way to get to know you.
It also takes a lot to manage a social online strategy. That’s why companies hire a social media consultant. You might think this is a waste of money, but have you ever stopped to consider the day-to-day role a consultant plays?
Someone who is hired to do social media for your business isn’t just scrolling the news feed on Facebook or pinning to boards on Pinterest all day. They are doing a whole lot more, which means you don’t have to! If that’s not a good enough reason to hire a consultant, here are 5 more.
1. Monitor your social media accounts
A consultant will start the day with an at-a-glance overview of all your business’s social media accounts. You may have one account or 5 – it depends on your budget and your industry. If you’re in the tech industry, you might be on Twitter because it’s a more fast-paced environment with more influencers; whereas if you own a restaurant you might be on Facebook, relying less on content and more on posting photos of your daily specials.
A consultant knows there are more blogs about innovations and product reviews on Twitter, and more engagement with product photos on Facebook.
2. Become part of the conversation
If there are any social emergencies, such as a bad review, a consultant can appropriately respond. If an angry customer left a nasty comment somewhere the issue might not get resolved, but posting an appropriate response is providing good customer service and more importantly, showing others your business is involved and trying to make the situation better.
A social media consultant will also find out what’s trending and be an active member of the social community. This could be done by sharing and commenting on other’s posts. If there’s a hot topic in the news, such as the California drought, your business could post on the measures it's taking to conserve water.
A consultant knows that failing to interact and share other’s content, and instead using social media as an advertising outlet to talk about your business, is probably the worst thing you could do.
3. Publish relevant content
It’s important your business posts interesting content people want to see and read. Some examples are blog articles that answer questions your audience is asking, links to helpful eBooks, or how-to videos. It’s also okay to post something entertaining from time to time, like a funny meme, an inspirational quote, or an image of your staff celebrating.
How often you post depends on the social platforms. For example, if your business is using Facebook, posting once a day is sufficient – a few times a week is even fine. But on Twitter, you should post on average 3 to 5 times a day if possible because it’s such a fast-paced platform.
A consultant knows that one of the most critical things to pay attention to when posting is spelling and grammar. One mistake isn’t going to break you, but if it continues to happen over time, your business will start losing credibility.
4. Correctly use tools and automation
A social media consultant has the tools and knows how to use them to monitor and automate posts. This is what takes up a big chunk of a consultant’s time. Automation is important because it allows a consultant to focus their efforts on targeting different audiences and demographics at different times of the day. Some helpful tools include:
A consultant knows that most posts do better with an image attached. Canva is a simple resource to get an image at the right size to use on different social platforms and further streamline the automation process.
5. Measure your social success
It’s difficult to measure social ROI. Small business owners make the mistake of worrying about the amount of followers or likes they’re getting. Instead, impressions, engagement, conversions, and the click-through rate back to your website is what matters. You could have a million followers, but are they coming to your website, becoming customers, and helping your bottom line?
A successful social media strategy takes time and investment. Hiring a social media consultant to do the job correctly gives your business an online presence to build relationships with your audience, and ultimately turn them into customers.
