Ask a seasoned entrepreneur where you should promote your company’s online profile, and the answer will likely be, “Everywhere!” From static web pages to social media accounts, putting your best face forward for any customer can be the difference between a hearty profit and a slow fade to insolvency.
If you find that most of your target audience is tuning in to your social media platforms , you might want to invest in social media management, which can help you capitalize on your social media traffic and turn a casually scrolling visitor into a paying customer.
What is social media management?
Social media management is the practice of managing a company’s social media efforts, which include posting content, engaging with users, and analyzing the results of these efforts. Some companies handle this informally, with employees posting to social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram when inspired.
Others have a social media manager on staff, whose duties include creating social media posts and managing social media profiles across various websites and apps. Or, companies go outside the organization, and hire social media management companies that offer social media marketing as a signature service. Whether they’re staff employees or outside contractors, social media managers oversee all aspects of social media strategy, from brainstorming to scheduling to posting the content that appears on the company’s social platforms.
Social media content management is an important part of a business’s overall marketing strategy.
What are the benefits to social media management?
As a small business owner, you stand to gain by engaging social media management services. When your team (or a hired contractor) coordinates campaigns across social media networks, you benefit in three key ways:
You reach consumers where they spend the most time
As of 2022, the average global internet user spends 147 minutes per day on social media platforms, according to Statista. This far exceeds the time they spend on corporate websites or online marketplaces. Based on these findings, you’ll reach more customers when you engage users on social media channels, because that’s where they spend most of their time.You teach curious people about your products
A 2021 digital marketing survey found 51% of consumers consult social media when researching a product and 65% of consumers have made a purchase directly through a social media platform. Some of these consumers might not bother going to your official website to learn about your company, so you can benefit from educating them while you have their attention on social media.You learn what the public is thinking
Social media managers don’t just post content online. They also monitor user-generated content from their target audience to learn about market trends. They can also monitor responses to their own social media campaigns to see what the public thinks about their products and services. This is called social listening, and uses social media monitoring tools like Hootsuite and Hashtagify to help tap into public sentiment.Elements of social media management
- Brainstorming social media campaigns
- Creating a schedule
- Launching campaigns
- Analyzing results
There’s a lot more to social media management than posting photos and text, although that’s certainly a part of the job. The full slate of social media management services includes:
Brainstorming social media campaigns
Social media managers plot the content and scope of social media campaigns. They may do this on their own or in consultation with key company leaders.Creating a schedule
Many effective social media campaigns roll out over the course of several days, instead of a single drop. A social media manager may time a campaign to align with key dates, like a holiday or product launch. Or, pre-schedule posts to roll out at designated times. All of this is managed with a content calendar that charts the scope of each campaign.Launching campaigns
Of course, a social media manager posts the content they’ve created—either directly onto the various platforms individually or utilizing social media management software that lets you post on multiple platforms simultaneously.Analyzing results
Social media managers use hard data such as click-through rates and return on investment (ROI) to determine whether their campaigns are generating leads and converting new customers. Many will present social media reports to their clients or colleagues, breaking down each post and its levels of customer engagement. If the post was part of a paid advertising campaign, the social media report can feature a total cost breakdown.Six popular social media management tools for your business
- Facebook & Instagram Shopping by CedCommerce
- Socialpublish by OneCommerce
- Marsello: Instagram, Email/SMS
- Messenger Channel
- Sprout Social
- Hootsuite
You’re not alone in your social media management endeavors. The marketplace is filled with social media management tools that can streamline workflow and make your efforts more effective. Here are some tools worth particular attention, with many found in the Shopify App Store.
Facebook & Instagram Shopping by CedCommerce
This app lets you smoothly run paid promotions on Facebook and Instagram, the two commerce-centered services within Meta Platforms. It features the new Facebook Business Extension, which makes it easy to sell directly to consumers on these platforms.Socialpublish by OneCommerce
This social media tool is designed for posting on Facebook and Twitter, and is largely automated. It posts about your new products and promotions, but it also automatically reposts content from your archives, as well as customer reviews, to keep your feed active and your customers informed.Marsello: Instagram, Email/SMS
Marsello lets you publish to social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, but it also lets you draft content for email and SMS campaigns. The tool organizes all of these platforms under one roof, so to speak, and it’s great for popular Shopify ecommerce categories like clothing, beauty, and home goods.Messenger Channel
This social media tool, which is built by Shopify, lets you engage with users on Facebook Messenger and Instagram without ever leaving your Shopify Inbox. You don’t have to toggle back and forth between platforms because everything is presented to you in a single feed.Sprout Social
Sprout Social is an all-in-one social media management platform that is used by big brands and small businesses alike. It helps you create and publish posts across all major platforms (including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok), but it also provides a robust suite of analytics tools to help you monitor whether your campaigns are performing as expected.Hootsuite
Hootsuite functions similarly to Sprout Social, but focuses less on ecommerce stores and more on general purpose social media posts. It tends to be a good solution for teams that handle their social media management in-house, but may have more than one person managing the posts.Read more
Social Media Management Tools FAQ
What is a social media management tool?
Which tool is best for social media management?
What are the four main types of social media tools?
- Social Networking Sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.)
- Content Sharing Sites (YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr, etc.)
- Discussion Forums (Reddit, Quora, etc.)
- Messaging Apps (WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, etc.)
What are key social media tools?
- Hootsuite
- Sprout Social
- Buffer
- TweetDeck
- Social Mention
- Klout
- Canva
- Bitly
