As a social media manager, I must remind myself that not everyone knows what I know when it comes to using social media to market business. It may sound strange, but I know people who haven’t opened Facebook accounts yet! Also in my work I have met some entrepreneurs who have not done it either, mainly because another person from the company took over. Of course, by the time they came to me for help, no one could remember their logins or figure out how to work on their Facebook pages.
If you are new to social media, you don’t need to be overwhelmed or even reluctant to market over the internet. You may wonder if your message will get lost in the noise, but I think you can reach your audience if they actively seek your information. You can post it for people to see or do nothing, as it is overlooked by customers (and revenue). Hiring a company to manage your social networks is a way to ensure that people find you through mobile media and virally; You also have the option of bringing in someone internal who is close to the action and can help you create a workable online marketing plan.
On the days when you need to access your social media, you need to know what to do and when. It is important that regardless of who manages your accounts, you have login access to everything and that password recovery emails go to an account that you can access. With this in mind, keep the following in mind:
1) There are no direct logins to Facebook pages. If you want to see your Facebook page statistics and ask the social media person for the password, they will probably tell you that you need to access the page from an account with admin access. You can be granted administrator status in your personal account, allowing you to view the backend.
Often they ask me for the password of the pages and I have to explain it. I imagine a lot of people think I’m trying to get around them because they will keep asking for a password. Since I don’t want to give them access to my personal account, I have to keep driving home.
2) You must know exactly how your social accounts are connected. For example, your Facebook page may be connected to Twitter, so each status update is tweeted. In addition, your company’s Instagram can also be connected to Facebook and Twitter. There are many ways to connect social media so that you can kill multiple birds with one stone. If you only want to reach a specific audience, know how to use your social media only for tweeting or distributing via Facebook.
Take the time to go over social media strategies with your marketing team. It is always good to be aware of the campaigns. Don’t be intimidated if you don’t “get” social media right away. You will learn over time.