Social media can feel like a lot sometimes. Platforms are constantly rolling out new updates and features, new social media trends seemingly change every hour, and you can’t turn around without seeing yet another story about privacy concerns.
And that’s just for your personal accounts.
Add the need to come up with a seemingly endless stream of content for your B2B social media efforts, and the stress can really mount. While producing original content is vital to any social media strategy, there are things you can do to relieve some of that stress and boost your social media presence at the same time.
Read on to learn more.
Let’s start with a tip you’ll really like because it doesn’t involve you producing any content at all. Remember that social media is a conversation (hence “social,” right?). Spending your time posting all day and not interacting with your audience is like having the ultimate one-sided conversation.
Regularly liking and commenting on activities related to your organization is a great way to raise your profile and boost the content you are already producing.
It does take work – setting up a routine to review and check interactions regularly will help – but it’s well worth the time and effort. Engagement fosters brand loyalty and trust among your followers, which will eventually turn your social media following into a community and result in much higher engagement.
So, get out there, be social, and have two-way conversations!
While producing original content is vital to any B2B organization’s social media strategy, it shouldn’t be the only thing that appears on your page. Sharing content from other accounts related to your company or industry is another great way to boost your social presence.
Get started by following a trusted trade magazine and sharing relevant articles your audience will find interesting. You can also identify influencers in your industry and share their posts every once and a while. Your company’s content should still make up the majority of your posts, but sharing additional content not only gives you a break on production, but it also demonstrates to your audience that you are aware of relevant news and trends within the industry.
This in turn will build trust and establish you as an industry expert.
A more ambitious avenue when it comes to using outside content requires looking to your audience themselves. User-Generated Content, also called UCG, is anything that promotes your brand but is created by someone not affiliated with your organization. Check out our blog on how to tap into your audience for UCG for specifics.
Whether you share a news story or tap into UCG, peppering in content generated outside your organization has many benefits to boosting your overall social presence.
Social media is an ideal tool to help promote special events, but have you considered scheduling social-specific events at a more regular cadence?
Imagine setting up a regular monthly or quarterly social event people can look forward to attending via your page. From updates with your CEO, to interviews with industry experts, or panel discussions with members of your team, social-specific events can go a long way in boosting your social presence overall. It will also give you something to promote ahead of time (more content) and the opportunity to share highlights from these events later (even more content).
Caution: Don’t focus initially on how many people show up for these events, especially for your first few gatherings. People will eventually engage when they realize it’s a regular thing that provides real value, and you’ll have additional content that will keep your social accounts active.
Finally, no matter how trusted your brand is, people will always be interested in the faces behind it. This is why you should consider having members of the executive team set up social media accounts and/or increase their own posting.
“Wait,” you might be asking. “How does creating yet another account reduce my stress or the amount of content I have to produce?”
Easy. Remember tip #2 about sharing other people’s content? Your executives are other people, aren’t they? You can just as easily share their content to your brand’s pages, and vice versa!
In order for this to be truly effective, you must coordinate your message among affiliated social media accounts . The last thing you want is conflicting messaging, so work to establish processes to ensure that doesn’t happen.
If you’re just setting up an account for an exec, make sure it’s tailored to their personality and presents an authentic image of who they are. In addition to company happenings, they can share personalized tidbits about themselves, like a hobby they enjoy, or photos of their family.
Establishing and/or leveraging executive accounts comes with another benefit: tapping into their personal network. Company leaders have worked hard to get where they are and have met a lot of influential people along the way. These contacts might be interested in what your brand is doing, but prefer to hear the latest news from someone they are familiar with.
Whether you choose to follow all of these tips or just one, these will give your social audiences plenty of reasons to interact with your page, and hopefully reduce your content production stress in the long run!
What other tricks and tips do you have for reducing content production stress? Share your thoughts in the comments!