What is social media management?

What it covers

Word to the wisePosting is the bit everyone sees. Most of the work happens before and after: deciding what to say, making it look right, and talking to the people who reply.

• Planning. A monthly plan of what goes out and when, built around what’s actually happening in your business.
• Creating. Writing the posts, and taking or designing the photos, graphics and short videos.
• Posting. Scheduling everything so it goes out on time, on the right accounts.
• Community. Replying to comments and messages, and getting enquiries to the right person quickly.
• Upkeep. Keeping profiles, contact details, opening hours and links up to date.
• Reporting. Checking what worked, and changing next month’s plan to match.

Paid social ads are often sold separately. If you’re comparing quotes, check whether ads are included, and whether the ad spend itself is on top.

Which platforms to be on

Be where your customers already are, and do two well rather than five badly. As a rough guide:

• Facebook for local customers, community groups and recommendations, especially for trades and home services.
• Instagram when your work is visual: before and afters, food, interiors, products.
• LinkedIn if you sell to other businesses.
• TikTok and YouTube if you or your team are happy on camera and can keep it up.

An account that hasn’t posted since last year can do more harm than no account at all. If you can’t keep one going, close it, or use the bio to point people to the accounts you do use.

Doing it yourself or getting help

• Doing it yourself. It costs nothing but time, and nobody knows your business better. The catch is keeping it going: it’s usually the first thing to slip when you’re busy.
• Someone in your team. Good if someone enjoys it and has time set aside for it. Give them a plan and a sign-off process, not just the passwords.
• An agency or freelancer. You get planning, design and writing skills, and posts still go out when you’re flat out. You’ll still need to send photos, news and quick answers, because nobody can make those up.

Plenty of businesses mix them. An agency plans and creates the posts, and someone in the business replies to messages, because they know the answers.

What a good month looks like

1. Plan. Agree the month’s posts in advance: finished jobs, offers, seasonal reminders, team news and answers to questions customers keep asking.
2. Create. Posts are written and designed to match your brand, using real photos of your work wherever possible.
3. Sign off. You see everything before it goes out.
4. Post. Everything goes out on schedule, with no gaps when things get busy.
5. Reply. Comments and messages get answered promptly, by whoever’s agreed to do it.
6. Review. Look at what worked, and feed it into next month’s plan.

What to measure

Likes and followers are nice, but they don’t pay the bills. Look at:

• Enquiries. Messages, calls and form fills that came from social. Ask new customers how they found you.
• Website visits from social. Add campaign tags (UTM tags) to the links in your posts, so Google Analytics shows which posts sent people to your site. Source: Google.
• Comments, shares and saves. They show what people actually care about. Use them to plan the next month.
• How fast you reply. A message left for days can lose you the job.

Questions to ask before you sign up with anyone

• Who owns the accounts? You should. The business should own its pages and give the agency access, not the other way round.
• Will I see posts before they go out?
• Who replies to comments and messages, and how quickly?
• Are ads included, and is the ad spend extra?
• What will you report on each month?
• How long is the contract, and what’s the notice period?

Mistakes to avoid

• Signing up to every platform, then going quiet on most of them.
• Only ever posting offers. People follow businesses for more than a sale.
• Stock photos where photos of your own work would do better.
• Leaving messages unanswered for days.
• Letting an agency or an ex-employee own your accounts.
• Judging it on followers instead of enquiries.

Getting help

Planning, writing, designing and posting is what our social media and content service does every month, and you sign off everything before it goes out. If you’d like to talk it through, get in touch.