With 3.6 billion social media users worldwide(external link) in 2020 social networks offer unique possibilities to promote products and services and engage with consumers. This is why most companies have made social media marketing an integral part of their marketing mix. To stay relevant and stick out from the rest new content has to be published on different networks regularly – in some cases even several times a day. This is a challenging task that can cost a lot of time and effort if you don’t have a good strategy. In this blog we have 8 tips for you on how to make social media publishing a smooth process.

1. Define roles

Whether you have a whole social media team in place or not, you need to define roles. Who comes up with content ideas, who is managing the content calendar, who is creating the content and who is responsible for scheduling and publishing the final social media posts on the different networks? Also think about who else in the company should have access to the content calendar. For instance, the social customer care team should be informed about what is being published in order to be prepared for any questions or reactions on the content.

2. Set up a workflow

Once you have defined roles, the next step is to set up a workflow that describes the process from creating, editing, approving to scheduling and publishing the content. A good workflow ensures that you have a constant flow of content for publishing on social networks.

3. Plan your content ahead

Planning your social media calendar well ahead makes sure your posts are of high quality and in line with the overall strategy. So you will constantly have valuable content going up and you won’t have any gaps or miss out on important business dates such as the launch of a product, events and holidays.

4. Leave room for spontaneity

It’s good to plan ahead but consider that social media lives from the moment. Spontaneous published posts on current events can get a lot of engagement, so you should leave some room in your social media calendar. Spontaneous posts also show that you are up-to-date on what is happening around you and open to interact with your audience in important moments. At OBI4wan we participated in the “Bring your kids to work day” and received a lot of engagement on Linkedin for our post about it.

5. Use a publishing tool

Think about how much time it costs to log in every day on every single platform and posting your content manually. With the amount of different social networks this can become a full-time job. A publishing tool helps you to efficiently manage and schedule your social media content from one single platform. This not only saves you plenty of time but also allows you to publish at any time you want, also after office closing times.

6. Check your scheduled content

Keep a close eye on your scheduled content and adapt or delete if needed. There are certain scenarios where your planned content can suddenly become inappropriate or be wrongly perceived. For instance when there is a scandal around one of your products or negative events such as a plane crash are happening. Read more about how to cope with social media crisis in the blog: Crisis management: From trending topic to social shitstorm(external link).

7. Don’t forget to engage

Great! You have worked out a strategy and workflow for your social media publishing and you have a lot to share with your audience. But the work doesn’t stop here. If you put content out there you also have to follow up on it. It is important to stay in touch and proactively engage with your audience. Social media is always a two-way communication. Need some tips to give your community management a boost? Read the blog: Community Management 2.0: 8 tips(external link).

8. Analyze published social media content

Social media analytics(external link) help you find out how your social posts are performing on the different networks. Over time you learn to post the right content and format on the right channel. Maybe you will find out that your infographics are performing really well on Linkedin, whereas your GIFs and videos are popular on Facebook. Each social media channel has its own characteristics. So knowing where your content is performing best, helps you to use the strength of each network.

Want to get your social media publishing to the next level?

Would you like to find out how you can easily schedule and publish your social posts and engage with your customers on social media? Contact us for a free demo!