Social media is like a Swiss Army Knife of companies within the twenty first (21st) century. We tend to use social media to drive our labeling efforts, connect with customers, generate new leads, gain insights into shopping for habits, manage name, and bolster our digital footprint.

But, whereas social media is a vital part of fashionable business, several firms still aren’t obtaining the total potential from their digital efforts. As Social Media Examiner’s 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report reveals:

• 92% of marketers don’t understand that social media management ways are best.
• 90% of marketers don’t understand the simplest techniques in connecting with customers.
• 86% of marketers don’t know how  to check the ROI from their social media marketing.
• 86% of marketers don’t have any knowledge about using social media to seek out their target market.
• 86% of marketers don’t have any knowledge what tools can facilitate them manage social media.

So what’s the problem? Obviously, most B2B and B2C businesses lack an efficient strategy for social media management.

In this post, I’m aiming to walk you thru the foremost necessary social media marketing “Dos” and “Don’ts”.

Do...

1) Have a system

The single most significant part of social media management happens long before you ever sign on for Facebook or publish your initial Tweet. Every social media marketing campaign ought to begin with clearly printed goals and a plan of action which will assist you bring home the bacon for those goals. Here’s the key of a decent strategy: for a system to be effective, it should be as specific as probable.

For example, SEJ’s Social Media Strategy breaks down ways for handling seven of the foremost well-liked platforms, and every one is restricted in its aims (e.g. increasing Facebook followers by 100 percent (%)  monthly, increasing Twitter followers by 5 percent (%) monthly, etc). They refine their methods additional by listing tone/style tips, posting methods, engagement methods and techniques to seek out new followers.

Typical start-up social media management methods can look a bit totally different. These methods revolve around assessing your strengths and weaknesses as an organization, and finding opportunities to turn your early customers into complete evangelists. Of course, your good strategy won’t be a copy of another company’s goals. When building your social media management strategy make certain you set realistic goals which will have an important impact on your business.

2) Opt for the top Platforms

How’s your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ launch going? Do you have a YouTube Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr account? And don’t forget, Reddit.

With such a lot of social media platforms to consider, it’s really overwhelming if you don’t organize your strategy. The worst part is that you might miss one platform that would possibly mean mishandling on an enormous potential market.

According to Christina Baldassarre’s analysis, the simplest platforms for engagement presently are Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube—but you must conjointly think about alternative platforms wherever your audience might reside.

3) Use the proper Tools

Keeping up with social media is a difficult responsibility to manage. Luckily, there’s some handy software system choices to assist you manage and monitor all of your social media accounts from one central hub. Here are a number of the simplest options:

• BuzzBundle: (disclaimer: my software) We considered BuzzBundle to be one of the best social media management tools. Not solely will it connect with all the largest social media platforms, however it helps you monitor blogs, forums, and Q&A sites, too. On top of that, BuzzBundle analytics provide you with the insight you wish to succeed in new customers, boost your SEO campaign, and notice key influencers in your business.
• Hootsuite: Hootsuite connects you to over thirty five (35) social networks. Like BuzzBundle, Hootsuite enables you to resolve what are your customers feedback and simply modify your outreach because of a central hub for all of your social media management.
• Buffer: Social media is Buffer’s specialty. Buffer enables you to post photos, videos, and posts to the foremost well-liked social media sites. It conjointly enables you to craft posts beforehand and publishes them later for optimum exposure.
• Sprout Social: Sprout Social’s platform enables you to manage your social messages through a single-stream inbox. You'll be able to schedule, publish, and post content to your favorite social media sites then get valuable insights on how audiences have interaction together with your content.
• Social Studio: Salesforce’s offering helps you interact together with your customers by keeping you connected to over 650 million totally different sources. With this software system, you'll be able to listen in on conversations encompassing your brand, have interaction together with your audience and post to all or any necessary platforms.

4) Track the Metrics That Matter

If you don’t understand whether or not your social media campaign is impacting your business, then what’s the point? Once you’ve outlined a goal for your social media campaign, the only method to tell if it succeeded is to assemble corresponding metrics.

Here are some metrics which may indicate success:

• If your intention was to be able to expand your reach, measure engagement and new followers.
• If your goal was to grow brand awareness, evaluate the shares and influencers mentioning your name.
• If your goal was to improve sales, evaluate referrals, CTR, and conversions.

The tools listed on top can provide you a great deal of insight into the metrics you require to measure the success of your campaign.

5) Have Interaction and Post Often

Last but not least, the purpose of a social network is to socialize. Share nice content often to give your followers something to share and become excited or have a topic to talk about. Don’t forget to interact with their content too—follow the business leaders in your niche and think about how you can get back to them in a positive way

To assure that you cope up with social media, think about setting a schedule for yourself. Even 10 minutes spent sharing and engaging on a daily basis goes an extended means toward boosting your net presence.

Don’t…

1) Try and Please Everybody

One of the foremost necessary elements of your strategy is to know your audience. If you are attempting to please everybody, you’ll end up providing nothing distinctive, and no-one is going to be happy.

On the other hand, if you recognize your audience and perceive their pain points, you'll be able to tailor your services to unravel their specific issues. Do this higher than any of your competitors and you’ll have a loyal following in no time.

2) Delete Negative Reviews

When you recognize every advertisement of your brand, it is often tempting to purge negative experiences from the online. Resist that urge. Instead, reach out on those that leave a negative review—ask how you'll be able to improve their experience and push to regain their trust. Doing this might not solely salvage a bitter situation, but it'll conjointly show alternative potential leads how you’re willing to go above and beyond for your customers.

3) Lose Your Personal Touch

Automation could also be a technique to keep up to all active social spheres, however that’s no excuse to lose the human part in your brand. Meaning posting new content for each demographic, notwithstanding wherever they fall in your sales funnel. Keep your electronic communication personal, targeted, and exploding together with your brand’s distinctive character.On this note, make certain that your campaign invariably feels organic. Don’t create the error of befriending each follower and spamming vacuous posts. On the flip aspect, don’t be a recluse who solely posts and promotes their own content. Instead, share content you actually love and connect with individuals whose insights you value.

4) Become Self-satisfied

Finding your audience on all your social media accounts and observing their responses on your every posts isn’t enough. Most of the best social media strategists arrange and plan everything ahead - and they are always inventing and experimenting.

The truth is that social media management is rarely done. There will always be a new and better process to reach your target market, a brand new platform waiting to be discovered, and a lot of avenues for you to interact with your customers. Stay ahead of the curve and don’t be satisfied with your current strategy because there will always be something much better.

5) Neglect Your Audience

One of the worst social media sins is Disengaging. Don’t neglect one network in favor of another or leave comments and queries from a genuinely attached audience unanswered. If you are going to go on hiatus for some reason, always inform your followers - they will appreciate the communication.

Final Thoughts

The days of long client support calls and never ending of waiting on hold are mostly over. These days, customers depends on the internet to know more about your business and to connect with you. So don’t let this chance slip away - know more about your audience and what they are saying about your brand.