Top 3 Social Media Must Haves

We’ve been managing social media accounts for small businesses for many years now. There are a lot of tools and strategies out there for any business looking to make social media marketing part of their overall marketing plan. We’ve seen recommendations and hot new resources come and go. In our opinion, there are three tools that every small business needs for their social media marketing efforts.

Editorial Calendar

Every successful social media account starts with a solid strategy. Just posting in the moment and when you think about it is reckless. It does not take into account your goals. (Do you have marketing and social media goals?) It puts you in a position to make up content on the fly. (What is it you are trying to accomplish?) It hinders your ability to be consistent and show up for your audience. (Can your followers rely on you?) All of these issues go away by creating an editorial calendar and coming up with a plan for social media.

Graphics App

Social media has proven that text-only posts simply don’t work. People do not engage with them so the algorithms bury those posts. This means you must have compelling visuals attached to your posts for them to be seen. Whether that is videos, photos, or graphics – you need more than a strong caption. What works well for our clients are investing in a graphics app, like Canva.com, to create social media posts.

Scheduling Software

You didn’t get into business to be attached to social media all day. Once you have a social media strategy, and have created great content, you’ll need to pick a social media marketing scheduling software to ensure you are consistent. That way you can batch content and walk away to get other things done. Just don’t forget to keep engaging with your audience! (But you can build time into your schedule for engagement.)

With all the options out there, and there are many, what we’ve found is that these three tools are a social media must have for our company and our clients.

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Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

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