What is Social Media Management?

Updated April 4, 2023

Social media is growing extensively with 11 new users added every second. According to market and user data provider, Statista, more than 4.76 billion people across the globe are present on one or the other social media platforms. Businesses consider this statistics important and this shows in their social media management expenditure. As per 2021 data, US and China were leading with 56.86 billion USD and 45.1 billion USD as total social media advertising expenditure, respectively.

If you want to leverage social media as well, continue reading this article. In this article, information will be shared on what is social media management, benefits, how to push the social media management activity, and the cost associated with social media management.

Table of Contents

• What is Social Media Management?
• Benefits of Social Media Management for Business
• How to Streamline Social Media Management Process?
• Different Components of Social Media Management
• How Much Does Social Media Management Cost?
• Why Social Media Management Services?

What is Social Media Management?

Social media management is a part of digital marketing that looks after the creation, publication, engagement, and management of the content on various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and more.

It is much more than posting company updates on social media platforms. Engaging with the audience, reaching out to fetch new business opportunities, spreading the brand voice, personalizing people’s experience on your social media profile, etc., is equally important.

Any brand can take its business to social media using precise management strategies. Here is the list of social media management actions in the initial phase:

• Conducting an audit of existing social media accounts
• Analysis of the target audience and competitors
• Finalizing the future social media accounts after deciding the suitable social media platforms

Following this, there are various services under this domain that can enhance the social media presence of any brand with tried and tested as well as innovative strategies.

Benefits of Social Media Management for Business

Social media has nearly 60% market penetration rate globally. Hence, every business has limitless possibilities for growth through social media. Considering factors like marketing budget, availability of in-house social media team, and more, a business can decide how to use social media for better return on investment.

If a business already has a social media management team, then they can initiate the process of using social media. However, if there is no in-house marketing team, a social media management agency like us can assist a business to achieve certain key performance indicators (KPIs). Even if you opt for in-house team or an agency, here are the benefits that it renders to the business:

• Saves time – It helps in the implementation of well-organised and pre-scheduled social media marketing or optimisation strategies.
• Cost-effective – It cuts off the cost of the company that goes into traditional marketing (TV ads, magazine and newspaper ads, hoardings, etc.).
• Improves brand visibility – By posting relevant content on different social media throughout the day.
• Increases return on investment (ROI) – It enhances lead generation and leads conversion processes through authentic and valuable content.
• Enhanced brand reputation – By allowing a brand to review the comments and feedback, and responding to them in the least possible time.

How to Streamline Social Media Management Process?

With millions of active users, social media platforms provide businesses with a vast audience to reach and engage with. Yet, running several social media accounts can be time-consuming and difficult. Streamlining the social media management process helps businesses save time and resources, ensuring that their social media presence is consistent and effective.

Social media assessment – Before streamlining the social media management process, it’s essential to assess the current situation. This involves identifying the social media platforms to use, analysing the target audience, and determining social media goals. It also involves understanding the do’s and don’ts of social media reputation management.

Social media platforms – There are numerous social media platforms available, from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and more. It’s crucial to identify the platforms your target audience uses the most and focus on those platforms to reach them effectively.

Social media target audience – Understanding your target audience is vital to create content that resonates with them. You can use in-built social analytics capabilities provided by social media platforms to analyse audience demographics, interests, and behaviour. For more insights, enterprise businesses can invest in third-party social media analytics software that can generate information using social media analytics report.

Social media goals – Establish your social media objectives by deciding what you hope to accomplish with your online presence. It could be increasing brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, generating leads, or increasing sales.

Social media planning

Once you have assessed the current situation, the next step is to plan the social media strategy.

• Social media strategy: Develop a social media strategy that aligns with your goals and target audience. The strategy should include the type of content to post, the frequency of posting, and the tone of voice.
• Social media content calendar – Create a content calendar that outlines the topics, visuals, and captions for each post. This helps ensure that your social media presence is consistent and aligned with your goals.
• Posting schedule – Establish a posting schedule that specifies the time and frequency of posting. This helps ensure that your content is posted at the optimal time to reach your target audience.
• Social media metrics to track – Determine the metrics to track to measure the success of your social media strategy. Metrics could include engagement rate, reach, click-through rate, and conversion rate.

Social media automation

One of the most effective ways to streamline the social media management process is through automation. There are several social media management tools available that can help automate various aspects of social media management.

• Social media management tools – Use social media management tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Sprout Social to manage multiple social media accounts. These tools allow you to schedule posts in advance, manage comments and messages, and track metrics.
• Automated posting and scheduling – Schedule your posts in advance using social media management tools. This helps save time and ensures that your content is posted at the optimal time to reach your target audience.
• Chatbots and auto-replies – Implement chatbots and auto-replies to handle frequently asked questions and provide instant responses to customer queries. This helps save time and ensures that your customers get instant responses.

Team collaboration

If you have a team managing your social media accounts, it’s essential to assign roles and responsibilities, set up a workflow, and use collaboration tools to streamline the process.

• Social media roles / responsibilities – Give tasks and duties to each team member based on their qualifications and experience. This helps ensure that everyone knows what they’re responsible for and can work efficiently.
• Social media workflow – Set up a workflow that outlines the process of creating, scheduling, and posting content. This helps ensure that everyone is on the same page and can work together efficiently.
• Social media team collaboration tools – Use collaboration tools like Asana, Trello, or Slack to communicate, share files, and assign tasks. This helps ensure that everyone is informed and can work together efficiently.

Social media monitoring and engagement

Monitoring and engaging with your audience is a crucial aspect of social media management. It helps you understand their needs, respond to their queries, and build a relationship with them.

• Monitor social media platforms – Monitor social media platforms regularly to stay updated with the latest trends, conversations, and feedback from your audience.
• Respond to comments and messages – Respond to comments and messages promptly to show your audience that you care about them. This improves engagement and fosters a relationship with your audience.
• Engage with followers – Engage with your followers by liking, commenting, and sharing their posts. 
• Social listening tools – Use social listening tools like Hootsuite Insights, Brand watch, or mention to monitor social media platforms and track conversations about your brand. This helps you understand your audience’s needs and preferences and make informed decisions.

Evaluation and optimization

Regularly evaluate the success of your social media strategy and optimize it to improve performance.

• Analyse metrics – Analyse the metrics you’re tracking to measure the success of your social media strategy. Make wise selections by determining what is and is not functioning.
• Evaluate social media strategy – Evaluate your social media strategy regularly to ensure that it aligns with your goals and target audience. Identify areas that need improvement and optimize them.
• Optimize the social media process – Based on the evaluation, optimize the social media process by making changes to the strategy, content, posting schedule, and metrics to track. Continuously testing and experimenting with different approaches can help improve the effectiveness of your social media presence.

Streamlining the social media management process can have several benefits for businesses. Here are few:

• Consistency – By streamlining the social media management process, businesses can ensure that their social media presence is consistent across all platforms. Consistency helps build brand recognition and trust among the audience.
• Efficiency – Streamlining the social media management process can help businesses save time and resources. By automating certain aspects of the process and collaborating with the team, businesses can work more efficiently and focus on other important tasks.
• Increased engagement – By monitoring and engaging with the audience regularly, businesses can increase engagement on social media platforms. Sales, customer loyalty, and brand awareness may all rise as a result.
• Better decision-making – By tracking and analysing metrics regularly, businesses can make informed decisions about their social media strategy. This can help optimize the process for better performance and achieve their social media goals.

Additional important factors for streamlining the social media management process

• Use social media analytics – Social media analytics can provide valuable insights into audience demographics, behaviour, and preferences. This information can help businesses create content that resonates with their audience and improve their social media strategy.
• Repurpose content – Repurposing content can save time and resources. For example, businesses can turn a blog post into a social media post or a video into a blog post. This helps ensure that the content is consistent across all platforms and reaches a larger audience.
• Use templates – Using templates for social media posts, graphics, and videos can save time and ensure that the content is consistent. There are several online tools available that provide pre-designed templates for social media content.
• Collaborate with influencers – Collaborating with influencers can help businesses reach a larger audience and increase engagement. Influencers have a loyal following and can promote products or services effectively.

In conclusion, streamlining the social media management process is essential for businesses to effectively manage their social media presence. It involves assessing the current situation, planning a social media strategy, automating the process, collaborating with the team, monitoring and engaging with the audience, and evaluating and optimizing the process. 

By streamlining the social media management process, businesses can save time and resources while ensuring that their social media presence is consistent and effective. It’s essential to continuously monitor and evaluate the social media strategy to make informed decisions and optimize the process for better performance.

Different Components of Social Media Management

Social media management covers a huge array of components focusing to achieve the marketing goals for the brand. They not only help the company to set up its social media profiles but also customize the social media marketing strategies for greater ROI. Here is information on these components.

Target audience and competitor research

A social media target audience is the group of people (based on age, demographics, profession, behavior, education, etc.) that a brand wishes to engage with for its products or services. Identification of the target audience helps the business to customize its content for enhancing lead generation and conversion outcomes.

Competitor research involves the identification of the competitors’ social media profiles, strategies, content, and engagement. It helps the brands to find the strengths and weaknesses of their rivals. This can further provide valuable insights into the evolution of social media strategies for business growth.

Conducting these researches from time to time can contribute to the success of any social media strategy.

Creation of social media strategy

Setting SMART social media marketing goals

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Such goals lead a business to realistic social media strategies and outcomes.

Tracking insightful metrics

Apart from the likes and followers, businesses can go for cost-per-click (CPC), story views, click-throughs, comments, mentions, etc., depending on the social media platform for better insights.

Drawing inspiration from social media success stories

Award-winning campaigns, published case studies, well-known brands, etc., can be referred to for building a strong strategy.

Creating a content calendar

This step involves setting up a posting & engagement schedule and determining a content mixture for the social media marketing campaigns.

Social media profile setup

A social media profile is the representation of a brand on any platform. A successful social media profile consists of few additional elements.

• Display name – The target audience can identify any brand on social media with this name.
• Username – Using a unique username across all the social media channels can enhance the brand identity.
• Profile picture – A profile picture aligning with the business goals can help the brands build trust among the audience.
• Website link – Placing links to business web pages on social media profiles can increase the traffic on the website.
• Bio – An ideal bio consists of one or two sentences. It is a glimpse of the brand for initial users/profile visitors.
• Cover picture – A customised cover picture can spread the brand’s voice effectively.

Platform-specific content creation

Every social media channel requires a unique style of communication. Hence, any brand aiming to post or run a marketing campaign on social media needs to design tailor-made strategies, contents, captions, and graphics. These should align with the audience demographics, expectations, and interests associated with a particular channel. Hence, the companies require a thorough analysis of the audience as well as content formats on every social media platform before designing/posting the content/marketing campaign.

For example, medium-length content with trending hashtags in a friendly/informal tone goes well with Instagram. But LinkedIn demands lengthy, and formal captions with few yet relevant hashtags.

Social media marketing campaign execution

After creating the content, the immediate step is the execution of the social media campaign. This involves scheduling and posting the content. At the same time, it is also important to listen to the audience. Social listening helps the marketing experts to identify the trending hashtags, peak hours of audience activity and gain insights into the brand sentiments. Using the correct hashtags and posting the content at right time can boost the content reach.

The immediate step is to engage with the audience. Scheduling the social engagement for each post can help the brand streamline its communications with the audience.

Reports and monitoring

Monitoring social media growth with preferred metrics can help a brand monitor its growth on different channels. However, curating systematic reports and monitoring the activity can help the company design future social media strategies to stand out in the competitive market. This can give an in-depth insight into the social media performance of the brand through the analysis of the basic growth metrics like likes, mentions, clicks, comments, etc., and comparing them with those of competitors. Businesses can repeat this process weekly, monthly, or quarterly as per their requirements.

How Much Does Social Media Management Cost?

The whole world is working and spending time online now. Social media marketing is one of the best ways to bring in 10x the revenue if correct strategies are applied. Business owners cannot do this on their own all the time. Designing posts, creating copies, consistently posting them, and engaging with their audience is a tedious task. It would be a good choice to hire people already skilled in social media management and marketing for the same. But how much does it cost?

Well, there is no single answer to this question. Social media management costs differently based on different factors. Whether one chooses to work with an social media management agency or freelancers, hire an in-house team, or hire a number of people for different tasks, factor in when the costs are being calculated. Furthermore, the quantity of components and the quality of work also matters equally.

Number of networks targeted, number and types of required posts, engagement with the community over comments and DMs, number and types of promotions and ad copies, etc., all these come into the picture while calculating the total cost. However, a plan as basic as 30 posts with simple images, community engagement and management, along with several complementary services specific to the platform should cost around $500 on an average given that an overall solution is provided. The costs might be drastically different depending on the service provider, but overall social media management generally costs between $500 to $2500 on a monthly basis.

Some service providers also charge on an hourly basis and the basic hourly charges for social media management range from $15 per hour to $50 per hour. Some very experienced and expert social media professionals also charge more than $100 per hour. Additionally, if one decides to go for done-for-you templates or cuts down on the services required, the charges might drop down to as much as 50% of the original price.

Why Social Media Management Services?

Social media is a place where the world hangs out. One can only benefit from a strong social media presence. This requires updating valuable content, engaging with the audience, and listening to them on a regular basis. However, it is not easy to manage a business and promote it on social media at the same time single-handedly. It is always easier to take help from those who know what they are doing. Be it a small, medium, or large-scale business, social media management services become a mandate to handle their social media presence and activity accurately.

Here are the benefits of investing in professional social media management services.

• Time-saving – Social media managers are experts at everything ranging from creating a strategy, creating content, tracking analytics, and optimising the social media profile at the same time. It’s always better and gives faster results when an expert is involved.
• Better traffic – Social media managers know what people are looking for. Giving the audience the content, they love will only bring more traffic and more revenue for the business.
• Creating a community – It’s difficult for business owners to engage with the community while also working on other aspects. Hiring social media managers will allow the business to engage with the customers and lead to potential purchases.
• Building an identity – The online presence of a brand determines the authenticity and genuineness of its products in a manner. Having a good social media presence is a strong factor in success.
• Increasing ROI – Social media management experts know the right way to conduct successful social media marketing campaigns. This can enhance the lead generation as well as conversion rates for the brand.
• Competitive social media management – Experts can think out-of-the-box and generate content and strategies based on their pre-defined formulas and experience. This can help the brand stand out in the tough competition that exists on social media platforms.

Conclusion

Social media management is not only about posting updates on various platforms but also refers to engagement, analysis, and monitoring of the audience and their response. It also involves researching for the target audience as well as competitors. Further, every social media platform varies in terms of its audience, communication, and algorithms. The experts are well versed with the algorithms and they also come up with innovative solutions based on their skills and experience. This can benefit the brand to boost its revenue. In this highly competitive world, where most businesses are building their social media presence, experts can help the brands to build their unique presence on various platforms. Hence, hiring a specialized team for social media management can drive more traffic to any business and enhance lead conversion rates.