I've been engaging in the world of social media for along time, a great deal of which in the capacity of a social media manager/digital marketer.
At this point in my life I live and breathe this space, it dominates my informational intake and takes up the overwhelming amount of my time. It's what I read, what I watch and what I love to do.
But there have been some, shall we say, moments in which I learnt some things which I feel all junior social media marketers could benefit from.
Here we go.
1. Communicate!!!
Some people might be thinking, 'duh', but when you're young and starting out, especially if you're a freelancer communication is not only essential but may not be second nature.
Particularly for those working at a localised level, what you need to understand is that a lot of your clients will not be 100% convinced of your service until months or years into the relationship, and if you don't pop up in their inbox regularly you will never last that long.
Send every single one of your clients an email at least once a week, at least for the first few months. Because for many, unless you tell them what you're doing they will presume you're doing nothing and cut your service in a matter of 1-2 months no question.
Early on I lacked that confidence in what I was doing, so I tended to shy away from taking the initiative with communication, but trust me clients love nothing more than an email that starts like this:
"Hey Client,
Just touching base with everything that's been happening this week concerning the social media strategy, this week I've been really focused on...
Heading into the next few months...."
This sort email will have your clients doing backflips.
2. Schedule Content At Least A Week Ahead
Please, for the love of all that is good, do not operate on a week to week basis. Even if you are working for just one client just make sure that you employ a schedule that gives you a week's room.
This means that none of the following will happen to you (as may or may not have happened to me):
- You miss an important post that the client emailed you about a week or two earlier
- You are on the bus pumping out posts on your meta business suite app at the very last minute
- You just get caught up and miss a few days of posting
Life is busy, account for it. If you don't give yourself wiggle room you will quickly find yourself in an all encompassing wave of stress.
Nobody likes stress, plan ahead.
3. Use Brand Kits
A really good lesson I learnt when starting out as a social media manager was to use brand kits.
Once you start managing multiple accounts at a time, you need to be very clear on which fonts, colours, aesthetics and style you employ for each one.
If you don't do so, you might use one font one week and another the next - this is not a good look.
Take the time to sit down and plan out a long term strategy, think about the brand and what their feel is/what they're trying to achieve.
Build out a 1 page brand kit including the primary colours, the heading and paragraph font and some aesthetic images giving the vibe your going for.
It's also a good idea to list some other social accounts which are similar to what you want to replicate.
Again, organisation organisation organisation.
Get good at it, quickly.
There is plenty more I've learnt, but if there are three things to get you started, being an effective communicator with organisational skills will always help you hit deadlines, reduce the workload stress and ultimately deliver better results for the client.
Good luck out there!
Shoot us an email at hello@grab-social.com or schedule a call through our website to learn more about social media management plus how we can help your business elevate itself in the digital space.
Will Staber
Digital Marketing Strategist
تعليقات