It’s that time of year that we’re all getting a little weary and looking forward to a much needed break. But just because holidays are near, there’s no need to be taking a break from your social media. Managing your social media over the holiday period is as important as ever, particularly at a time where consumers are often searching for products and services. There are some easy steps you can take to make sure it’s not an onerous task.
Here are a few tips:
1) Use the scheduling tools to think about content and post at appropriate times.
There are lots of tools available for you to schedule your content in advance. Look at tools like Sprout social, Hootsuite, buffer or Viraltag to plan the release of content at appropriate times. If you’re on facebook you can also schedule posts for relevant times of the day directly from the page (see previous post) . So think about what content might be relevant and schedule in advance.
Many of the core social media platforms can be managed from your mobile phone so make sure you have downloaded apps like facebook pages to help you manage responses whilst you’re out and about.
2) Ask yourself if the content you are posting of interest or value?
This is a time for your community to unwind and many use social media channels to connect with family and friends over this time. Make sure that your content is relevant and ask yourself is it adding value or of interest to your community or are you just posting for the sake of it?
3) Ensure your online product information is up to date.
It’s the time of year where consumers are still active online, spending vouchers and looking for products of interest. Make sure that your website is up to date before you go on leave so that people can still order online with relevant product information and stock levels. If you have delays in delivery over the Christmas period make sure that you can notify your customers and manage their expectations upfront.
4) Respond in a timely manner.
Think about basic customer service and make sure that if customers are asking questions that you respond or manage their expectations about when you’ll resume post holiday trading. There are plenty of case studies of brands being hijacked with no monitoring of pages for weeks on end, so make sure that someone is keeping an eye on your social media accounts.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about other ways that you manage your social media over the holidays. It very much depends on the organisation and resources available, but it does not have to be a complicated process. Merry Christmas!
