Do you find it exhausting managing multiple social media accounts daily? Are you praying for an easy way to focus your energy into an all-encompassing solution?
It's no secret among social media leaders that jumping between different tools and accounts can be draining. It's common for social media staff to end up managing several accounts based on different branches of your company, and all of them on different platforms. Some accounts could be dedicated to sales while others are used for customer service or digital marketing.
Despite the monumental amount of exertion it requires at times, managing multiple accounts on different social networks might be necessary and a boon for your business. It's all about how you consolidate your efforts.
Read on to find out how to boost sales by effectively manage multiple social media accounts.
Pros and Cons of Managing Multiple Social Media Accounts
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of social media management, it's important to understand the reasons for and against creating multiple accounts for single brands.
Pros
Establishing many accounts means you can talk to different audiences. Segmenting followers allows specific accounts to focus on certain topics as opposed to trying to engage everybody at once. This is particularly helpful if your business serves both consumers and other companies.
If your business has multiple locations across the state or country, having a separate account for each could help you serve the unique needs of customers in the area. They will feel as though they're being catered to, which can increase engagement significantly.
Multiple accounts also give users a choice in the type of content they wish to consume. Even if you have one umbrella account, you may want to branch out with specialty ones. If you wish, all of this content can feed into the umbrella account, but if people find they only want one thing from you, they can find it easily.
Cons
On the flip side, owning multiple accounts can cause confusion among your audience. They may not understand the purpose or value of each account. Should they follow all of them or just the ones with the information they need? People might believe they will miss something important if your content is posted across different accounts. You also run the risk of dividing up the people you want to reach.
Having more than one account, of course, means more work for Social Media Managers. Time management may become difficult, not to mention staff may also get exhausted. If your social media team doesn't have the resources to run multiple accounts, it's time to reconsider your strategy.
Brand management may also suffer through the use of multiple accounts, especially if different departments are left to run their own social media channels. It's more difficult to ensure everything stays on message if social media duties are spread around. This is a situation where a social media policy comes in handy.
Signs You Need Multiple Social Media Accounts
Are you certain you need multiple social media accounts? If you’re a single brand, there are a few things to consider.
Complaints Occupy Most of Your Feed
More people are using social media to get in the ear of companies. In fact, research has shown 47% of consumers have taken to social media to complain to brands, which ranks only second to in-person complaints.
If your social media team finds that addressing complaints makes up a majority of their posts on a general account, it may be beneficial to start a separate account for dealing with support problems. It gives customers an easily identifiable avenue for complaints and sends a clear message to them you care about solving their issues.
Separate accounts for complaints can also function differently if you implement an efficient protocol for addressing the needs of customers, such as a support ticket system.
You Have Several Departments or Locations
If your business has a handful of departments with wildly different target audiences, it pays for each one to have its own social media account. The voice a company uses for marketing between departments will likely be different for each one, and it should be the same for your social media content. Customers can follow the account, which promotes only products or services as it related to their industry rather than be forced to consume everything at once.
Same goes for companies with multiple bureaus or franchise locations. Separate accounts allow customers to find the information they need much faster. It's okay if these accounts share identical content that's relevant, but also be sure you can address the unique needs of customers in your area.
You Have Varying Products or Services
Larger companies tend to sell different types of products and services, which address different problems and are only relevant to completely different audiences. If you're known for selling both sports products and technology services, for example, there's likely very little crossover among consumers.
Maintaining social media accounts for different products and services can help avoid confusion and streamline the buying cycle. Everybody knows exactly what they're getting into, and you can cater to the changing needs of separate audiences.
Steps to Managing Social Media Accounts
Now that you have a good idea of whether or not you need multiple social media accounts, we can finally get into managing them. Here are 5 steps you can follow to help run every one of your accounts.
1. Document Your Social Media Strategy
If you have a team of people running multiple accounts, it can be difficult to get everybody to stay on brand. By drafting a social media strategy, which includes policies, procedures, and a style guide, you can give every contributor something to follow at all times.
Even if every account has different goals, a documented strategy can help everybody stay in sync and not stray away from your company's message.
2. Use Social Media Management Software
It can take too much time to copy and paste the same content to multiple accounts on different social media platforms. Invest in social media management software such as Buffer that will help you manage publishing and engagement all in one place.
These programs can help you post similar or identical content to different accounts on different networks simultaneously with the click of a button.
3. Create an Editorial Calendar
Editorial calendars are useful for providing direction and making sure you're on track with your social media strategy. This can be done through social media management software or even by sharing a simple document with your social team.
It puts everything in one place and provides a reference for social media managers. Also, it can be helpful for spotting gaps or missed opportunities in your posting schedule.
4. Monitor Activity and Engage
Keeping track of mentions and keywords is very important, especially if you set up a support-related account. You want to know if a customer needs your help, or if you can jump on a trending topic related to your business. Just as importantly, you don't want to overlap with any of your co-workers.
Social media management software should be able to help with monitoring while providing a space for collaboration within your team. It's a bad look if a brand replies either to a years-old post or if an inquiry receives two replies.
5. Analyse Your Own Strategy
It's important to analyse the results of your own social media strategy. Are some accounts doing better than others? How can you help ones who are lagging behind? Does every account contribute to your brand?
You won't know without looking at the analytics. Employing your strategy and reading the results is the only way for you to fine-tune your approach to social media.
Stay on Top of Your Social Media Game
There might be many reasons for your company to consider running multiple social media accounts, but before you go ahead and start creating accounts, you should be sure you're making them for the right reasons.
Don't do it because your competitor has done it or you think more accounts projects the illusion you're a big-time player. Every company has a finite amount of resources, and you should use yours wisely to get the most out of social media.
Once you've written up a social media strategy and made the decision to open multiple accounts across different social networks, it's important to find the right software tools to help you manage everything. This can help consolidate the efforts of everybody on your social media team and give them the opportunity to collaborate with one another.
These programs should also give you the ability to analyse your social strategy to see if it needs to be altered or figure out what type of content resonates best with your target audiences.
Through good strategy, intelligent investment and enthusiasm on the part of your social media team, the opportunity for success is always within grasp. Want to increase your chance of running social media platforms smoothly and successfully in Hong Kong? Join our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts to know more how-tos!
Source: Digital Marketing Institute