Working with a Social Media Manager
Getting started with a social media manager is a great first step to increasing your brand’s exposure. But first, what is a social media manager? Social media managers are the content creators behind a brand’s social media presence. We create graphics, write captions, create hashtag groups, design social feeds, research trends/topics, schedule content for social platforms, monitor social media analytics, create reports… The list goes on. Usually, we work from our own offices & set systems in place to gather content to use for your business's social media. This makes it a collaborative effort between the social media manager & yourself (or whoever is the point of contact).
First of all, we do a lot more than just post a pretty picture & put the # symbol in front of a word. We monitor, listen, engage, research with all our clients to make sure every word, photo, & video is on-brand. When getting started with a social media manager here are the things you need to prepare for:
Have clear goals & objectives for your business. This doesn’t mean only tracking x amount of followers by y date. You should go a bit deeper than that to ask WHY you need those followers, it is increasing sales, recruiting, customer retention, etc. Starting with your goals is HUGE!! It helps us social media managers focus on creating a content strategy that will meet those goals. (use the contact us button above to get a copy of the Social Media Strategy for beginners workbook to help visualize what I mean here).
Prepare a branding standard. Having your logo, specific fonts, & brand colors (usually on your logo) ready to send over to the manager is very important. You want your brand to be cohesive with what YOU already started. If your retail location is dark, neon but your social media is bright & soft, there will be a disconnect with your audience. Should you not have a branding standard, Social Mirror Media can help you create a package.
Set expectations with your manager. How many times do you want to see content being put out? How often are sales, new products being spoken about? Who is in charge of the visual content? Most social media managers will either create a google folder or dropbox to share photos/videos for posts. You will drop photos of your product, customer, employees, or whatnot for the manager to use on social media. It usually isn't a social media manager's responsibility to take photos of your business for social media but depending on the contract it is a possibility.
Keep social media managers in the loop. It is imperative that you keep managers in the loop about any sales, updates, events, etc. in a timely fashion. This is not only for your social media manager’s timeframe but also your audience needs to know what's going on well in advance so that they are prepared.
Know what social media platforms you use, the username, & how to access them. You will need this information in order to allow the social media manager to be an admin or can share this information in a secure vault such as LastPass. The social media manager cannot see the password & will only have access for as long as you require.
Last but not least, be honest, open, & specific. We don’t all have the same visualization for content. Make sure both you & your social media manager are honest about where they see the business’ social platform going.
Besides keeping the photo/video folder up-to-date, the task of social media is off your hands. If you request, a social media report can be given every month, bi-monthly, quarterly, or yearly to your liking for you to check on the progress. You will feel relieved that you no longer have the added pressure of posting on social media.