One of the most common questions I’ve been asked throughout the years is “But, what does that engagement mean?”
This is normally followed by these next questions: “Why does this matter?” and “How does this help me?”
Now if you’re a social media manager, let alone a good one, you know these have pretty obvious answers. But, these questions show how much of a disconnect there can be.
This disconnect can also be from anywhere - a manager, an executive, a whole company’s leadership team, to even an entire industry. This is where the knowledge of a dedicated social media expert comes into action! There is a large reason why you need a social media manager whether in-house, through an agency, or a freelance consultant/manager.
If you’re asking these questions, that’s your sign you need the help.
A social media expert can tell you the answer to these questions, tell you the solution when you need it, design a planned guide for that solution, track progress, re-evaluate and adjust as and when needed.
What I’ve found many times is that you can also bring this knowledge to the table on introductory. It’s a lot easier to get people to listen when you’re already starting out with a few examples of solutions.
You might be wondering what is done, performed, researched, and so on to gain this knowledge, so let’s have a recap from our previous articles.
#1 - Social media experts will perform channel audits
This is especially important when you have a new social media manager joining your team. Your channels need to be reviewed to understand what is actually the best way to move forward. What can it look like without the audit?
Creating content that doesn’t or isn’t working for your audience.
No true strategy and no data based goals set in place.
No way to know when or if your content or channels are doing well.
No knowledge on whether or not you’re reaching your target audience.
Or, your content completely shifting gears for each social media manager you’re bringing in.
If it wasn’t clear before, these points that aren’t happening, are things you want to happen. But, an experienced social media manager would be jumping into these data points from the beginning.
#2 - Build your social media strategy
The social media strategy is not the same as an audit or content planning. However, the creation of the strategy comes after the audit and uses those results. It also helps create the structure for planning content.
Having reviewed your channels, collected the data points, and understanding your audience better, a dedicated manager can take this information and design the right plan that works for your brand.
When you think of that plan, don’t think you’re seeing a content calendar in that plan! That plan should instead outline what will be on that calendar, how often content will be posted, what type of content, and on what channels.
Another reason it’s important to have an expert is because they will understand the importance of planning over the struggle of ad-hoc. Which leads to our last point.
#3 - A social media manager will create a content calendar
These calendars are so important! A dedicated manager will be able to design this plan so that you don’t have someone just coming up with random posts to put up on a regular basis. Not planning content puts added strain on your creativity. This leads to artistic and writer's block. Why? Because you don’t have the time to brainstorm, align with promotions, align with other content, etc. Planning ahead can help spark that creativity.
Plus, when you have a content calendar built out, this can spark new ideas for the future.
All of these collective points are just a few top reasons why you should want what you need and have what you need, a Social Media Manager.
Get the most out of your platforms! Why have them if you’re not making the most of them? If not used to benefit your brand, there will be no point in having it.
Overall, if you understand the importance of social media, but you don’t understand the correct steps to building your platforms or how the data points help your brand grow, don’t hand it off to someone else who doesn’t know anything passed their own personal channels. INVEST.
Want to read more? Check out our other latest articles!