According to Marketo, 59% of social media budgets are spent on salaries for staff to manage social strategies. With the increasing importance placed on social media as part of marketing strategy, this will only increase over time. With that much effort going into what seems to many like a longer-term strategy, it pays off big-time to have some tactics to cut back time when managing your social media strategy.
Because there are so many things out there that you could be using, we thought the best way to organize this blog was to start with the most commonly used medium (ahem, Facebook) and provide instructions to link other platforms to them. This will be followed by future blogs focusing on other mediums that you can work to connect things to. Hold on, this will be an information super-highway!
Facebook – the logical place to start connecting
With the recent announcement of over 500 million users, it’s no doubt this is one of the most commonly used websites for connecting with consumers. Here are a few of the ways that you can connect other commonly used platforms to your Facebook fan page.
YouTube Video Box – this app can be found on Facebook and creates a box or tab on your page to display videos you select. You can post updates and publish on your wall to get your fans to play the video within your Facebook page, or on your YouTube channel.
Twitter App – there are a lot of apps on Facebook that link to your Twitter account, but the one that really cuts back on time is the app that allows you to automatically post all your wall posts on Facebook to your Twitter account. Yes! Be careful on this one, though, as your wall posts allow a lot more characters than are displayed in tweets.
Blogs – there are apps out there that allow you to import blogs to Facebook profiles, but no straightforward method has been developed to import them automatically to your fan page except for through the ‘Notes’ app that comes standard from Facebook. To do this, follow these simple steps:
- Find your RSS feed URL for your blog. This is different for each blog program, so please consult your support documents for your URL.
- Go to the Notes app and select ‘Edit’
- Select ‘Import Blog’ on the right-hand side.
- Enter your feed URL and select ‘Start Importing.’
The tricky thing with linking things to Facebook is that many apps (on Facebook and other mediums) are developed for profiles rather than groups or fan pages, so some things are simply a bit harder. The great thing is that there are lots of workarounds, and with a little elbow grease, it’s typically achievable at some level. These three connections listed above, however, have been seen to not only cut time, but increase the effectiveness and impact of your online efforts.
The more you can link all your presence, the more exponential the impact becomes and the more likely it becomes that you are the one that captures the attention of your target audience. You have to be clever, consistent and connected to get ahead of the curve!
A final note if you are really looking to get serious about cutting back on the time needed to manage your online strategy: you need a social media tracking platform. This allows you to manage your multiple mediums, plan campaigns and most importantly track your success. But for those of you that are strapped for cash or need a quick fix to tide you over until you make the switch, here are a list of ways that you can link your various mediums together to complement each other and cut back on time spent keeping them going!
Remember, publishing content is only a small fraction of what your social media management responsibilities are. Listening and connecting require more sophisticated technology to manage. We promise more on this later!
Let us know if you have any other nifty tips to help others cut time managing their Facebook page. Any requests for our next social platform to cover?
Until next week,
Valorie x
Author Bio: Valorie Reavis
Social Marketer, foodie, closet geekA marketing professional who has focused primarily on the hair and beauty business for of the past decade, Valorie now runs linkup marketing, a digital marketing agency for the hair and beauty professional. Valorie works to engage clients in the marketing process and help them successfully engage with their clients and community. Energetic and passionate about the industry, Valorie focuses on blending traditional and digital media in order to bring salons closer to their clients.
