For most smartphone owners, at least, it\u2019s been years since social media expanded to occupy daily life. Facebook updates, Instagram posts, Twitter exchanges\u2026 it became an addiction featuring everything from reward mechanisms (likes, upvotes, comments, and followers) to powerful peer pressure combined with the fear of missing out.<\/p>\n
Given its accessibility, place in popular culture, and focus on communication, social media understandably grew in importance as the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent \u2014 and when companies everywhere started working remotely, it helped with everything from distributing the details to sourcing advice from those with remote-working experience.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not all social media brings to the table: we need to consider its immense value as a marketing tool. Businesses still getting accustomed to being away from their offices won\u2019t have any issues using Facebook as regular members, but what about doing all the promotional work they usually invest in? Maintaining a social strategy remotely is different, and can be tricky.<\/p>\n
In this post, we\u2019re going to set out some tips for not only maintaining but also optimizing a social strategy away from the comfort and advantages of conventional office life, learning heavily on virtual collaboration. Here we go:<\/p>\n
The SaaS industry is single-handedly responsible for the continued operation of so many businesses (essential or otherwise). While there were some businesses that were already capable of operating remotely with no issues, most were still clinging to the old-fashioned office model, and adapting was a major struggle for them.<\/p>\n
Imagine if this pandemic had struck back before the modern SaaS industry existed \u2014 back before internet infrastructure could handle the traffic, and before cloud technology was sufficiently advanced to support the level of activity. It would surely have been so much worse. Companies would have struggled to deploy software installations using physical media, before struggling further to get them working adequately well on underpowered hardware.<\/p>\n
Today, it\u2019s easy to take the SaaS world for granted, but it\u2019s also easy to fall into a rut of using the same old tools and never thinking about what else is out there. Now that circumstances have forced change, you should take the opportunity to look for alternative social strategy tools, taking advantage of sites that review all types of software and list best-in-category options.<\/p>\n
You most likely use a SaaS tool to compose and schedule your social media posts in advance (if you don\u2019t, then that\u2019s a change you should have made a long time ago). If so, consider whether you might save some time and effort by changing that tool. And then there\u2019s something key like sharing URLs: instead of trying to rely on social platforms shortening them for you, you can use your own URL shortening tool<\/a> to save a lot of time while maintaining consistency.<\/p>\n You can even think about the platform you use for your site, because not all platforms are equal. Some, like WordPress, have myriad free social integrations that you can draw upon. Others, particularly in the ecommerce world, aren\u2019t so convenient. Those running Shopify can use native Facebook functions, for instance, while those running PrestaShop (as PrestaShop reviews note<\/a>) must purchase modules to use social features.<\/p>\n You do need to factor in the time needed to make a change, of course. Swapping between tools will present something of a learning curve, possibly requiring you to struggle with changed options for weeks or even months \u2014 and changing your site platform will be even tougher, needing a complex site migration. But if you really want to achieve total optimization, the short-term inconvenience may be a necessary sacrifice.<\/p>\n It\u2019s always vital to be aware of the zeitgeist when executing a social media strategy, because a hashtag that drives a lot of traffic one day can be considered outdated the next \u2014 but the need has risen even higher since the pandemic started. Social media users are always reactionary, but now they\u2019re reactionary and understandably sensitive.<\/p>\n Working remotely means saving time on commuting and having more flexibility, and employees can put some of that saved time into keeping up with social media trends and events. Which brands are faring well? What are the obvious mistakes being made? Consider the importance of corporate ethics in modern business, then factor in how companies are being judged for their actions during a time of crisis.<\/p>\n No one wants to be seen as overly self-promotional while so many people are suffering, getting fired, or even losing their lives. Smart brands are going for easy win-wins like temporarily offering their services or products at reduced rates (or even for free). Within the ceaseless torrent of social media updates lies incredible insight into what people are looking for.<\/p>\n Regular social media activity chiefly goes through smartphones, as noted, but marketing work shouldn\u2019t. Yes, some social channels have character limits, and all of them call for brevity, but consider the impracticality of tapping out (and editing) numerous posts via a smartphone keyboard. It\u2019s a fast way to establish or exacerbate repetitive strain injuries.<\/p>\n It\u2019s faster, easier and better to route everything through computers. Even mobile-only apps like Snapchat feature APIs that allow third-party tools to hook into them (more on this later) \u2014 but moving to regular keyboards doesn\u2019t eliminate the risk. It merely ameliorates the situation by making things significantly more comfortable<\/a>. It\u2019s still perfectly possible to sustain an injury typing on a PC or laptop keyboard.<\/p>\n There are two significant takeaways from this. Firstly, you mustn\u2019t allow anyone (even yourself) to carry out a lot of social marketing or outreach from a mobile device. It might sound like a nice idea \u2014 you can sit more comfortably while holding a smartphone \u2014 but it\u2019s a recipe for disaster. Secondly, simply ensuring that every employee has a functional computer isn\u2019t enough. Provide the funding for every worker to establish an ergonomic home office.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t just sign off on anything, though, or else you\u2019ll end up paying for luxuries. Consider everything that could confer serious benefits. Multi-monitor setups can help with reviewing large amounts of data. Different keyboard types \u2014 using various layouts, formats and switches \u2014 can suit different people, making typing faster and more comfortable (numerous efforts have been made to develop ergonomic keyboards over the years: Rtings has a great roundup<\/a>). Then there are all the necessary accessories: USB hubs, audio cables, and anything else required.<\/p>\n Expensive? Perhaps, yes, particularly if you go for high-end monitors. But it\u2019ll be worth it, not only for your social strategy but also for business in general. There\u2019s no saying when lockdown measures will be fully lifted \u2014 and if there\u2019s even a possibility that you might continue to work remotely due to saving money on office rental, surely you stand to save far more in a few months than you could spend on a large number of home office setups.<\/p>\n High-level social media work requires a lot of ideation because it\u2019s so creatively broad, and it\u2019s key to get input from as many people as possible at that stage. It\u2019s all too easy to come up with an idea that sounds great in the moment but would never actually achieve anything if deployed. What you need is a group of creatives bouncing ideas off one another, so how should you do it?<\/p>\n At a distance, you could use something as simple as a Slack thread, and that approach could work somewhat well \u2014 but what are you losing? Relative to the standard office meeting, you\u2019re losing the valuable context of both audio tone and body language. An idea presented in text might not be interpreted in the manner intended, but in audio it could be much clearer.<\/p>\n This is why you should get into the habit of holding video conferences for ideation. Being able to hear one another\u2019s voices will help team members to focus and get creatively inspired, and will ensure that flawed ideas are either redeemed or scrapped entirely before too much time is put into working on them. (It\u2019s all too easy to waste time on ultimately-unused ideas.)<\/p>\n Handle the conferences the same way you\u2019d handle in-person meetings and generally try to imagine that you\u2019re all together and business is operating as usual \u2014 though always keep the reality of remote working in mind, if only because it\u2019s a useful prompt for relevant social media content.<\/p>\nCommit time to general social media research<\/h3>\n
Invest in ergonomic home office equipment<\/h3>\n
Hold ideation sessions using video conferencing<\/h3>\n