An Office Manager's Guide to Winning with Social Media

According to Oberlo, there will be over 4.4 billion social media users by 2025. If your business is not utilizing social media as a marketing tool then you are missing out on billions of potential customers.

We understand it can be overwhelming with what to post or even how to get started…let’s dive in.

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You're a business owner and everyone is telling you that you need to be posting on social media.

So, you walk down to your office manager and say, “Hey, Barbara. Can you set up some social media accounts?”  Barbara turns to you with wide eyes and points to the top of her head then replies, “I guess I’ll just take off my accounting hat and put on my social media hat.”Oh, Barb…what a whippersnapper. But Barb crushes anything you throw at her so you know she can handle it.

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SAVAGE PRO TIP

When you start out with social media you don’t need to post on every social media platform, you just need to start with the social media platforms that your ideal clients are using. 

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After a few weeks you check in with Barbara and say, “Barb, how are our social media accounts doing?” Barb rolls her eyes and laments, “Terrible, I’m postin’ all the pictures you’ve sent me but no one cares, I’m only getting likes from Tyler in IT and my friend Marge who works at Shenanigans.”—-----------------------—-----------------------—-----------------------—-------------------------------------

SAVAGE PRO TIP

1. Tag every individual who appears in a photo. This will leverage their contacts and drive engagement. The more people engage with your content the more the platform's algorithm will push your content. 
   
   
2. Post videos on social media. Video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined. 
   
3. Seriously, post videos on social media. Video has a 95% retention rate, while text has only 12%. This is because video activates emotional centers in the brain, which increases the information retention rate. 

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You want to put Barb on the path to success so you decide to hire your best friend's nephew, Conner,  to shoot some video content for your business.

Conner shows up with his prosumer camera with a big 4K on the side and says, “What do you want me to shoot?” You slowly rub your chin and reply, “I guess you can shoot me talking about what we have to offer.”

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!

You are not the hero, your customer is the hero. This is an extremely common mistake most business owners make when they try to create video content. 

Do not fool yourself into thinking you are the hero like Ralph Macchio from the Karate Kid, you are not, and your audience does not care about you talking about how great your company is. Your job is to be Mr. Miyagi!

You have to show your audience what winning looks like and how your product/service will help them achieve success. 

The easiest and most effective way to do this is by shooting customer testimonials. 

A study by BrightLocal found that 85% of people trust online reviews just as much as they trust personal recommendations. 

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SAVAGE PRO TIP

1. You’re a professional business, don’t trust an amateur with your messaging. 
   
   
2. Hire a professional production company. The U.S. Small Business Administration recommends, “As a general rule, small businesses with revenues less than $5 million should allocate 7-8 percent of their revenues to marketing.”

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You know you need a high-quality video with the right message, so you reach out to some media companies, but the sticker shock stops you in your tracks. Don’t be scared. The high prices are because they use expensive equipment accompanied by skilled technicians. Also, don’t think of it as a cost, approach it as an investment in your company. 

A great way to negotiate down the price with a media company is to limit the amount of time a media company will have to use its video production team. 

For example, if you want to shoot 3 customer testimonials, try to schedule all the testimonials on the same day. 

Another great way to get the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to video production is to ask for extra deliverables. 

Examples of Extra Deliverables

• 3 testimonials can be compiled into a compilation video featuring all the best soundbites from each testimonial.
  
  
• Each testimonial can be turned into 3 pieces of micro-content. Micro content consists of 12-15 second clips from each video featuring the best soundbites.
  
  
• Have the micro-content edited in both landscape and portrait aspect ratios. Portrait aspect ratios can be posted as stories on social media accounts like Facebook and Instagram. 
  
  
• Have each testimonial cut down to 30-second versions that can be used for social media ads. 

By asking for more deliverables you can turn 3 testimonials into more than 25 pieces of video content that you can utilize on both your social media platforms and your website.

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Once you get all of your deliverables it’s time to empower Barbara with some great video content to post.But don’t post all of it at once. 

Consistency is key to staying top of mind with your audience. Develop a posting cadence that is in line with your budget. At the very least we recommend two social media posts and one story a week. 

CRMs like Hubspot or online services like Hootsuite allow you to upload your content and schedule all your posts for upcoming weeks. That means Barb can be extremely efficient with her time by mapping out an entire month's worth of content in only a few hours.

BONUS INFO

Social media platforms have algorithms designed for one purpose…keep you on their platform for as long as possible in order to serve you as many ads as possible.  

That means you need to upload your content natively to every platform.

The last thing the Facebook algorithm is going to do is push a user to a Google-owned platform like Youtube. Never post a Youtube link to Facebook, upload each video to every platform individually. 

With top-quality content that is posted on a consistent basis, you will now be able to utilize social media effectively and maximize your brand awareness. Now Barb can take the afternoon off and have drinks with Marge at Shenanigans. 

If you don't have a Barb on your team feel to contact us and we can help you with your social media management.