Ten years ago, job titles such as social media manager, digital brand manager, or social media strategist weren’t ones you would typically see on a company’s website — if they even had a functioning website that actively listed job openings. Now in 2016, if you search “social media jobs,” instantly more than 68,000 results pop up on job listing websites like CareerBuilder and Indeed. My, how times have changed.
Today, more than ever, C-level executives and key decision-makers are seeing the importance of hiring a full-time social media manager to diligently manage their company’s online reputation on today’s most popular social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.
Unfortunately, just because business owners are noticing the importance of their company engaging on social with potential customers, this does not mean that they know what important information they should be providing their digital marketing employees with prior to handing over the login information.
Here are 7 questions every social media manager needs to ask before getting started:
“What are the goals of your brand being on social media?”
Without specified goals from company leaders, social media managers cannot effectively use their time and tools to the best of their abilities. Examples of a company’s goal on social media can be driving traffic to the website or increasing awareness within a certain area about your brand or services. Identify clear goals and check in on them regularly with key decision makers. This will inspire collaboration and provide insight into who the brand’s audience is online.
“Who is the targeted audience?”
Many brands on social media today at the very least have their social media pages built, but that’s only taking the first step to success. Being new to the team, it’s important to understand who a company’s target audience is offline so that you can target this audience online via targeted social media advertising. Specific questions to ask can be: Who is the final decision maker in the buying process? What are they interested in? What sort of mile radius should be set for these targeted ads? Asking all of these questions to the sales manager or VP will provide necessary insight and immediately add value to the company.
“Does this brand really need a Snapchat account?”
Say this with me: Just because a new social media platform comes out does not mean every brand needs to join it. In fact, if company leaders are able to clearly identify their target market and those under the age of 34 aren’t listed, then Snapchat is not for this brand. Choose the brand’s platforms based on which ones its audience members are actually using.
“Someone reached out with a question. Now what?”
Simply because “customer service” isn’t in the official job description, it doesn’t mean that a large part of your job could be just that. According to Sprout Social, after a customer reaches out to a brand on social media, they expect an answer within 30 minutes. Although that’s not always attainable, it’s important to discuss expectations so that not only can the customer expect a response, but so you’re not up at 3 a.m. checking for any comments. Lastly, are you aware of whom to go to for specific inquiries? That’ll be necessary as well.
“What important dates, upcoming events, and times should I know about?”
Social media is about connecting with your audience and giving them a reason to connect with your brand. Many organizations are involved in numerous ways with the community — the public should know that! Is the company going to participate in a toy drive this year? Is there a company luncheon celebrating an employee’s work anniversary? Share it. These are great company culture moments that humanize a brand, and they deserve to be shared.
“What are the dos and don’ts when it comes to the brand’s style of posting on social media?”
How important is it to be perceived as professional on Twitter? How about on Facebook? Should there be a difference? If you follow Hurrdat on Facebook, you’ll notice that we lean a little more toward the personal side. We’re friendly and inviting. On Twitter, Hurrdat uses the platform to share industry news and updates, but still has fun with an occasional GIF or meme.
“How will my job as the social media manager add to the brand’s bottom line?”
After a three or four months of posting, check each platform’s analytics to measure which posts did well by getting more engagement (I.e. clicks, likes, retweets, etc.), who the audience is, and build an updated posting strategy based on these numbers. It’ll amaze you how much just nailing a brand’s voice can increase engagement on social.
To bring things full circle, let’s go back to point one. If there are clear, attainable goals and you understand who the company is looking to get in front of on social media, then it’s now your job to be strategic. In every post you make, encourage online engagement and regularly check analytics to measure success. By sharing these analytics with company leaders or the sales team, this will provide insight that they may not have. Asking the right questions will get you the right answers to help the company grow online — and as a whole.
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