Social media has found an ever-increasing role in the business sector by helping companies attract new customers, gain feedback on products and services, and build customer loyalty. However, to take full advantage of social media, it must be continuously monitored and regularly updated, taking up a lot of time. Fortunately, there are a number of tools for social media managers available that can help decrease the workload and increase efficiency.
Understanding Workflow and the Tools for Social Media Managers
Before we discuss social media tools, it’s important to understand the social media workflow. The social media workflow consists of two primary phases and four overall steps, and these steps are crucial in managing a successful campaign. The first phase of the social media workflow includes content curation and publishing.
Content Curation
Maintaining a continuous stream of fresh and relevant ideas is one of the top ways to keep current users engaged in your business’s social media content. Not only this, but fresh content is also more likely to attract the attention of new followers. There are several forms of content to consider during the curation process, such as blog posts, infographics, videos, and social media posts.
Content Publishing
After the content is curated, the next step is to share it with your customers and followers. For this, you’ll need to decide how and when to publish the content. One of the most effective ways to ensure that publishing goes off without a hitch is to develop a publishing schedule. A publishing schedule helps create structure and reduces the chances of the content getting posted late.
The Analysis Phase of the Social Media Workflow
The second phase of the social media workflow is what we refer to as the analysis phase. This phase is essential because it provides businesses with qualitative and quantitative feedback regarding the customers’ experiences. The second phase of the social media workflow includes:
Listening & Responding
As we mentioned, producing high-quality content is a sure way to spark conversation with your audience. Not only does this keep them engaged, but it’s also a great way to gain feedback. This feedback will help in creating relevant and engaging content.
Analyzing & Comparing
Analytics is perhaps the most reliable means of determining how your audience or customers are reacting to your curated content. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of various data points that can be analyzed, such as the bounce rate, conversion rate, and user engagement ratio. There are several analytical tools on the market specifically designed to measure the performance of your social media efforts.
Employing Multiple Social Media Tools
Social media management is a highly-involved process and successfully running a campaign often requires the assistance of multiple social media tools. If this is the case, you’ll want to make sure that they are all compatible with each other. Generally speaking, there are three different types of social media tools: listening platforms, publishing platforms, and competitive analysis platforms, and each one has a specialized purpose. However, when used together, they can be incredibly helpful!
Listening Platforms
Listening platforms are an absolute must-have for your social media tool kit, as they are great for learning what others are saying about your company. These platforms essentially monitor the World Wide Web for any mention of your brand name, and they can be programmed to send an alert when new mentions occur. Whether someone includes your brand’s name in a review, blog post, media post, or anywhere else on the internet, listening platforms will detect it.
The benefits of using a listening platform go far beyond simply knowing if your brand is being talked about online. Listening platforms are handy because they can help keep you up-to-date on industry-related events. Additionally, they can help you hone in on the topics that are relevant to your target audience, and this information is very useful when creating new content.
Publishing Platforms
Believe it or not, publishing content online is an inefficient process, and if you are posting numerous pieces weekly, the process can turn into a full-time job. Publishing platforms streamline the publishing process by automating many of its steps, saving you tons of time.
And while the foremost benefit of using publishing platforms is undoubtedly their ability to increase publishing efficiency, they also make it super easy to share content, schedule posts, and publish on multiple social media platforms. If you’re looking to take the hassle out of publishing, then a publishing platform is a must.
Competitive Analysis Platforms
If you’ve been wondering what social media tactics are having the most success in your industry, or you would like to be able to analyze the content that the competition posts, then competitive analysis platforms have what you need. These incredibly intuitive platforms track various metrics and use the data derived from these metrics to provide an in-depth analysis of content, timing, visitor actions, and countless other facets of social media marketing.
While it’s no surprise that competitive analysis platforms focus on analytics, many also come with non-analytical bonus features, such as enhanced content curation tools and topic generators. When choosing a competitive analysis platform, you’ll want to verify that it tracks and analyzes the most important metrics to your company.
Free Social Media Tools
There is no doubt that the effectiveness of a social media tool is directly correlated with its price. However, this does not mean free social media tools and platforms are not worth your time. In fact, if you’re new to social media management, these free platforms are perfect for cutting your teeth as they typically function the same way as more expensive platforms but with limited capabilities.
It usually doesn’t take long to become familiar with the different free social media tools and how they function, so you’ll soon be ready to upgrade to more capable platforms. Of course, it’s entirely possible to use only tools that are free for managing social media, but their lack of helpful features and capabilities means that you will be severely restricting your abilities as a social media manager.
Automated Social Media Tools
Not all businesses have the resources for an in-house social media manager, but thanks to the advent of automated social media tools, they don’t have to worry. Automated social media tools are designed to help companies save time and money and maintain a social media presence, without all of the other headaches that come with social media management.
These automated tools typically integrate with all of the popular social media platforms, so you don’t have to worry about which platforms you’re currently using. They have all sorts of features, including automatic content creation and distribution, and an analytics dashboard. Automating social media is a great option for small businesses because it allows them to focus on other aspects of company growth.
There are all sorts of powerful tools for social media managers, which are designed to help attract new customers, increase user engagement, and streamline business operations. Unfortunately, these tools are expensive and difficult to employ, making them unsuitable for small businesses. So, if you’re a small business owner looking for an affordable social media solution, visit Automate My Social today and ask about our automated social media software.
