Who should manage your social media?

I was recently at a retail conference in Michigan and I was asked the same question by several retailers, which was…

“Can you just do social media for me? I don’t have the time to do it/I don’t really understand how it can work for my store/I don’t have a young person to do this/I don’t want to learn it/etc. Will you just do it for me?”

Can you relate?

Well here’s my answer and some suggests to help.

This week’s focus – deciding who should manage your social media efforts.

First and most importantly, social media works best when it’s authentic meaning the posts you publish, questions you ask and how you respond to comments sounds like you and like your business.

Ideally, someone in your store would manage your social media. It’s easier for them to get photos, ask you questions and get answers quicker, and they’ll know your products and local area better than someone who doesn’t work there.

You’re the expert in what you do and can best communicate this online, but get someone in store to help you.

Social media marketing can be taught so if you don’t know enough to train someone new, send them through Social Edge so the can learn the best practices, time saving tools, posts that bring people in and learn what works for retailer’s when it comes to marketing online. Learn more about Social Edge here.

Plus, there are a lot of time saving tools and strategies when it comes to marketing online, so you might think it takes a lot longer than it actually does.

Social Edge teaches these strategies and tools and is your direct source to exactly what you need to know when marketing your store, which saves you time trying to figure it all out.

If you decide to outsource your social media efforts, make sure the person really understands your tone.

I used to manage social media profiles for businesses across the country and I’d have hour-long meetings each week to make sure I knew everything that happened the previous week and what’s coming up this week.

If my client said, ‘ya’ll’ instead of ‘you all’ or ‘everyone’ then I typed, ‘ya’ll’ so I could represent them the best I could online. In the beginning, you might need to edit their posts or approve them before they’re published.

But if possible, I suggest keeping this in-house and assigning someone in store to manage your social media.

If you decide to outsource or hire someone new to manage your social media, watch this video: 5 Things to Know Before Hiring a Social Media Pro.

This video is from Crystal Media TV and I give you 5 questions to ask plus a tip at 6:49 that will help hire the right person.

Whether someone in-house or out is managing, I strongly suggest setting up goals and ask for the person to send recaps and/or reports of their efforts online, so you can manage them easier and you know how they’re spending their time.

To recap:

• Keep it in-house by assigning social media management to someone on staff, or hire someone new and have that person/people get trained by Social Edge.
• Watch ‘5 Things to Know Before Hiring a Social Media Pro’ before hiring or outsourcing.
• If you outsource, make sure they can represent you and your business and are as authentic as possible.
• If you outsource, set up consistent calls and make sure the person or business is always in the loop on everything going on in-store.
• Set up a tracking process where each week or month you’re getting a report on current efforts and networks, if goals where met and what the plans are moving forward.

If you found this tip helpful please share it with a retailer friend.

To the future,

Crystal