Social media management tools

Social media management is a powerful marketing and sales tool for ecommece merchants. But it needs a lot of attention to make it a success.

You need to be able to react when your customers reach out on the platforms and you need to cultivate relationships with your most valuable social followers.

This can be hard when you’re running a business – there are a million other things you need to concentrate on as well. Luckily there are a number of ways you can make social media management a lot easier.

In this article we will:

1. List the ways you can manage your social media more effectively
2. Discuss the various apps which can help

Social media management – why do you need it?

Social media is an essential element to every online businesses marketing and sales strategy. Given that having a profile and being active on these platforms is generally free – it is a cost-effective way of marketing your business.

But you have to take into account the time it takes to make sure your social media strategy is a success. Each and every platform requires attention.

Having a social media profile and not looking after it is worse than not having one at all. If you are unsure about how much time you will have to dedicate to social media, sign up to just a few platforms to start rather than trying to do them all and not making a good effort.

“Social media takes time and time costs money, being on too many platforms will dilute your efforts  across the board so you are better to do one channel really well,” says Jonny Ross, managing director of Jonny Ross Consultants.

As mentioned above, there are ways to make your management of social media more efficient – some more of an investment than others.

How can you be more efficient with social media?

Hire a dedicated member of staff

Having someone within the business who is completely dedicated to your social media strategy is a good way to make the most of it. This way you can know that it is being looked after and get on with other parts of the business.

It is obviously one of the more expensive options so it might only be something you will consider once you have some sales rolling in.

Use an agency

There are numerous agencies which dedicate their time to helping businesses look after their social media. It is more flexible than hiring a dedicated member of staff and you are likely to get the best skill level from this route.

“Depending on the size of the retailer, a third party can be a wise decision,” says Ross. “Don’t underestimate the learning curve of social media. It is a good idea to get professional help before you launch into your social campaigns to make sure you’re going in the right direction.”

Use an application

There are a great number of social media management apps for business which can really help you to digest the action taking place on your social media profiles. Many of them offer free or affordable services so they make a cost-effective alternative to hiring someone.

“Utilise things like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck to manage your social media, these makes it easier and alert you to any interactions rather than you having to watch them closely all day,” says Ross.

Which applications can you use?

Here’s a small selection:

Hootsuite

As mentioned, Hootsuite is one of the popular tools for managing your social media output. It can schedule your social media updates to occur throughout the day across all platforms so you are free to think about other parts of your business.

Sprout social

This acts as a social inbox gathering all of your interactions into one inbox so you don’t have to check them all individually. The platform also has a powerful analytics tool so you can monitor your success.

SocialBro

Just for Twitter but a great tool to have – this platform browses your community to pin point key influencers and determine when the best time to send tweets is. It can also tack engagement and analyse your competition.