Not all social media managers have beards

Working with a Social Media Manager can be the best investment you make in your business

And I use the word INVESTMENT with 2 things in mind

– Marketing is an investment not a cost
– You can have different levels of return on that investment

If you’re thinking of outsourcing your social media to business such as Altrincham HQ or you’re employing a full time social media manager inhouse, here is a guide on How To Get The Most Out Of Your Social Media Manager (and get more for your money)

Please do let me know if this helps improve what you’re doing

1. Approach Social Media Management As A Partnership
Social Media Management is a partnership – it works best when you view it as that

In fact we always say we’re working with a client than working for a client

We touched on this with our blog Outsourcing Your Marketing Does Not Mean Dereliction Of Duty

If you put in 10% and we put in 100% than the average of that is 55%

If you put in 100% and we put in 100% than the average of that is 100%

Marketing only works when both parties are fully on board

Work together to achieve the best possible ROI you can

2. Listen Carefully at the initial meeting

Whenever we start working with a Social Media Management client we have an onboarding meeting

That’s where we talk through ideas about how we see the campaigns working and what content we’ll need from yourself

We always then follow up that meeting with a full brief on email of what we’ll need immediately and what we’ll need on a regular basis

But listen carefully in the meeting – you’re getting years and years of marketing experience and the theory behind why we need XYZ and how it will play out for the business

It’s the perfect time to ask questions and get things right before a single post has even been made

3. Act On The Initial To Do List
We’ve managed businesses social media for over a decade now and there’s one thing that always rings true

How businesses act on the initial to do list defines how they will act for the duration of the working relationship

A business that is keen from the start with content and assets for a campaign will generally keep this up and achieve huge success with social

A business that only sends part of what is needed for a campaign (or delays and delays with content) will generally carry on like that and only achieve partial success with social media

Success is your duty and just as you have key ingredients for your business (a chef needs herbs and spices, a hairdresser needs scissors, a painter needs a brush etc) a social media company will need content from yourself to do their job

Don’t expect results without essentials

4. Brief In ALL Staff members
Staff members have to understand how important social media is for the business

Often it’s staff members that will be helping with content and stories for social and if they’re on board from the start it’s a massive help

If they understand that social media gives them job stability, increased customers (and therefore increased tips / commission), more opportunities once the business expands they are likely get on board

The biggest problem with Social Media is 95% of employees simply don’t understand it … and that’s often because they’ve never been explained why it’s important

Set up a whatsapp group specifically for social media and selecting a number of digital champions to help showcase all areas of the business really helps the flow of content

5. Over Deliver On What Is Asked For
Over deliver on what is asked for and the social media manager will be able to over deliver on results

Think of your social media input vs social media output

The more effort you put in, the better the results

The social media manager will thank you for it and there will come a time when for circumstances out of your control there is a content drought. If there’s content in the bank ready to go then there will be no gaps in the output

So if your social media manager asks for 1 photo – offer 2

6. Have Social Media On The Weekly Meetings Agenda

I can’t overstate how much adding Social Media to the weekly team briefings or meeting agenda really helps instil a positive culture around social media

Here are 5 things you can talk about in the weekly meetings

– Everyone gets involved in Social Media from the top to the bottom

– Once a week write down a list of the positive social media highlights and share them across the organisation in weekly meetings

– Hero members of staff who have had their moment in the spotlight

– Acknowledge negatives – but only to accentuate how much of a positive the changes will make

– Show the impact of how social media impacts the organisation & ask members of staff how you would improve the social media for the business

7. Keep In Touch
OK – the social media manager doesn’t expect 20 phone calls a day

But don’t be a stranger. Don’t be the client that doesn’t reply to emails at all or takes 5 days to reply to a whatsapp message

Keep the communication channels open and exchange ideas, successes and things that can be improve

Ask how things are going? Ask if there’s anything you can do to help the social media manager?

NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?
Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation

We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you

Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services

We offer Social Media Training on
* Twitter
* Facebook
* LinkedIn
* Instagram
* Blogging

We can do this
* 121
* Corporate Workshops
* Group Workshops
* Face to Face or Via Skype

Or Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

Alex

Alex McCann is owner of Altrincham HQ – a social media management and training company based in Altrincham, Cheshire that has worked with 100s of local business developing their social media strategy. Alex has 500+ LinkedIn testimonials and is Ranked Number 1 for Social Media Marketing in the UK via independent customer reviews on Freeindex.