Managing projects is not always easy, as anyone who’s worked in management knows.
Social media management adds its own unique set of challenges to the mix, from rapidly shifting trends to the growing number of popular social platforms.
From newcomers to seasoned vets, these are five top social media challenges almost all social media managers face and how best to conquer them.
1. Finding Fresh Content
Social media thrives on a never-ending stream of fresh content and that’s one of the most common social media challenges.
The viral video you posted last week has already been replaced by an adorable photo of a kitten.
Days later, a hilarious tweet is all the rage.
To keep driving traffic to your pages, you have to keep posting quality content.
After a while, social media managers can start to feel burnt out from constantly chasing new ideas.
Consider the following sources when searching for fresh content and ideas to keep your pages relevant:
- Social media management platforms. While typically not free, social media management platforms are powerful tools. Not only do they help track and schedule your posts, but many also help you find new content quickly. By entering keywords and phrases related to your page’s topic, you can receive notifications of trending and important news.
- Search social media sites. While it might sound counterintuitive at first, searching the social media platforms you use can help you find undiscovered content. Users constantly update their profiles, groups, and pages with relevant and interesting content.
Search for topics related to your industry, and you can see what the latest buzz is among your target audience. - Recycle old content. Too many social media managers spend all their time writing new content when they already have old posts that simply need a little tweaking.
By updating and reposting an old article, you can boost your rankings without dedicating the time to crafting a post or article from scratch.
If the topic has had major changes or developments recently, this is the perfect time to dust off that old content and repurpose it.
2. Staying on Track With Your Content
Even when you know what you want to post, it’s hard to track when to post it.
Trying to juggle scheduling posts for the best times plus posting across multiple platforms can result in forgotten posts.
To help stay on track of your content, consider making a content calendar.
A content calendar can be as simple as a spreadsheet or even a printed calendar. You write down the topics you want to post along with where and what time. Then you’ll know in advance what you need to schedule for the upcoming week.
Posting content is just the beginning.
You need to be active in the comments section too and actively engage with people who comment on your posts because people expect to get a like from you, at least.
If you find you have more user comments than you can keep up with, it may be time to hire another person or outsource to a freelancer.
Set guidelines for how to handle comments, and outline your brand’s tone.
Pay particular attention to the negative as well as positive. Positive comments help you see what you’re doing well.
You should always reply to negative comments in a professional manner to help customers resolve their issues.
Even if you can’t satisfy every person, others reading your comment section will trust your brand more when they see you are willing to listen.
3. Measuring the Success of Your Campaigns and Adapting to Changes
Many managers struggle with determining whether or not their campaigns are successful. A customer may see an ad but not make a purchase until weeks later.
Some campaigns are designed to raise brand awareness instead of physical sales. All of these factors combine to create a tricky situation for social media managers.
While there is no perfect formula for tracking results, there are tools to make the job easier.
First of all, know your key performance indicators (KPIs).
- If you’re interested in raising brand awareness, you’ll want to track how many people see your content and how often it is shared.
- If you’re tracking engagement, you’ll focus on how many people interact with the content.
To do this, you can use built-in tools such as Facebook Analytics or Twitter Analytics.
You can also take advantage of social media management platforms, like HootSuite or Buffer, to handle all your analysis within a single platform.
You might find that your campaign is not performing well. What worked for you yesterday may be unsuccessful tomorrow. This means you have to tweak it.
But where do you start?
Staying up-to-date on technology and marketing news will give you a good way to implement the right changes.
Keep track of the latest trends in your industry to stay on top of your game.
Popular ways to stay in the loop include:
- Trade magazines and publications
- Organizations in your industry
- Newsletters on trending topics
- Reading user comments on popular topics
4. Tech Issues As a Social Media Challenge
Technology issues are a major problem that can hinder your productivity. From using outdated systems and old hardware to having no automation solutions, tech issues will make the job much harder.
Keeping up to date on new software and technology will help you work faster and provide job security.
Keeping your PC in good health will help too. Being able to solve basic computer issues, such as troubleshooting the most common PC issues all by yourself is a valuable skill to have.
5. Gaining Budget Approval
A difficulty many new social media managers run into is gaining approval for the budget they want. Supervisors don’t always understand the importance of social media marketing or may underestimate what it will cost.
The first step in gaining funding for your budget is to limit it to the bare necessities.
Especially in smaller organizations, you may need to take advantage of free tools in the beginning.
To establish more funding in the future, outline how much you need and what you’ll spend it on.
Then be sure to track everything so you can demonstrate the return on investment of your efforts.
When you can show that spending money on advertising brings in double that amount of profits, your boss will be much more likely to increase the spending budget in the future.
Final Thoughts
Whatever social media challenges you face, others have likely had the same issue.
Researching your problem online and connecting to other managers through social media will help you uncover new ways to solve old problems.
The world of social media management is constantly evolving, and as it does, better solutions will evolve too.
featured image credit: pexels.com
Jen McKenzie is an independent business consultant from New York. She writes extensively on business, education and human resource topics. When Jennifer is not at her desk working, you can usually find her hiking or taking a road trip with her two dogs.
