Social media is all about participating in the conversation. Initially, managing social media will be time consuming. But if you put in the hard work early – get organized and plan ahead – managing the wide variety of accounts will be a cup of tea.
Ultimately the social media tools you use will depend on the sites you’re using. However, let’s assume you’re using the Big 3: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Each has a range of demographics, and can help you target a different audience.
Here’s some social media tools to help you manage each like a pro:
1) Buffer
With the smallest learning curve, Buffer is a robust post scheduler for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and Linked In. If you’re trying to promote your nonprofit or small business through a Facebook Page and Twitter, its easy to hook them both up and get to adding articles, images, or posts to your queue. Set the number of posts or tweets you want to publish per day, and Buffer will handle the rest. The browser extension for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, make filling your queue easy with a click.
We’ll talk about analytic tools in a later post, so for now let’s just focus on management.
2) Tweetdeck
This tool is ideal for those that want to manage Twitter, but aren’t quite sure where to start. Tweetdeck uses a column system that is easy to customize and view all the information you could ever want, all in one window. After your home column, a simple set up is a column for notifications, scheduled posts, follower lists, and trends. Try out what layout works best for you!
Tweetdeck doesn’t have a limit to scheduled posts, so feel free to schedule some tweets well in advance. I once had a whole semester’s worth of posts queued! That was a huge relief off my plate.
3) Iconosquare
Ever want to know which filter you use that gets the most likes? What about most popular tags in your posts? This tool is ideal for managing Instagram.
Iconosquare analyzes your Instagram account’s content, engagement, community and optimization to provide important facts to guide your posts. Find out which filter or hashtag impacts your engagement the most in the optimization section. Respond to comments, or like posts from your followers.
To a nonprofit or a small business, the social media pool seems daunting to dive into. Its okay. Take a deep breath. We’ve got your back.