As a small business owner, you’re already juggling so many aspects of your business that it can be easy to let your social media sites fall out of your line of sight, especially if you hire someone to take care of those sites for you. But as the leader of your organization, it’s important to make sure you’re familiar with your business’s social media channels and that you have the ability to access each of them whenever you may need to.
Losing track of this isn’t just a hassle for you and your employees, it can set back your entire operation. Social media sites are usually one of the top ways we communicate with consumers and share updates about our products and services. Here are our dos and don’ts for how to maintain control over each of your social media channels, and why it can be such a hassle if you can’t access them when you need to.
DO keep up with which channels you already have, and which ones you’d like to create:
In today’s world, there are so many social media sites and such a huge emphasis on using them in your daily business operations. You’ve probably already created profiles on all of the major outlets: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Keep track of which profiles you’ve already created so you don’t duplicate profiles and misinform customers. If your business has hired marketing firms in the past, they might have even created some of these profiles for you that you may not have realized existed. This can be confusing for customers looking to find you online, potentially costing you business if they mistakenly follow or reach out to an unchecked account.
DO set yourself as an administrator on each of your channels:
Don’t find yourself without access to some of your most important methods of communicating to your customers. One of the surest ways to maintain control over your social profiles is to set yourself as an administrator for each of your accounts, allowing you to monitor them and giving you the authority to change any posts that aren’t up to the standard you expect. So how do you do that on each of your channels?
Facebook: Likely, you have a business page that is connected to your personal Facebook profile. If you created your business page, you should be the page owner and already have administrative capabilities. With that, there are five roles you can assign to someone: Admin, Editor, Moderator, Advertiser and Analyst, each with different levels of access and capabilities. To assign, go to your page, click Settings, then Page Roles. Using the email address associated with a person’s profile, you should be able to grant them access to your page.
Instagram: While you can have multiple people logging in to one Instagram account to post content, you cannot assign administrative roles on the platform. You should, however, make sure your profile is a Business profile rather than a personal one, as it gives you access to perks like analytics and post views.
LinkedIn: For LinkedIn, you can request to be an admin to the company once it is affiliated with your personal account. Like Facebook, there are different tiers of admin capabilities for your business page: Designated Admin, Sponsored Content Poster, Lead Gen Forms Manager, and Pipeline Builder Admin. Admins can be set for mutual connections by clicking the business page and selecting ‘Manage.’
Twitter: You can either have multiple people login to one Twitter account, or you can utilize their TweetDeck tool, where you can assign roles to each member of the team. To assign roles in TweetDeck, go to ‘Account’ and then ‘Manage team.’ Here you can add members and assign them administrative access if you wish.
DON’T designate just one person to keep all of your information for you:
It’s never a good idea to just have one person with access to your profiles, even if you have hired a marketing firm to create the majority of your posts. You could decide to switch marketing firms or hire new social media managers, and you don’t want to risk losing control over or neglecting those accounts in the process. You want to make sure that you have the power to access all of your social media accounts at any moment.
DON’T be careless with your passwords and information:
Finding a secure method to store your passwords and share them with relevant parties is so important to maintaining control over your social profiles, and whenever you have changes in staff controlling your social media sites, make sure you change your passwords and keep a record of the new password in a safe place.
Still have questions?
If you’re struggling with your social media, let VisionPath Marketing guide you in the right direction. We approach each of our clients with a 7-step strategy and proven methods to achieve the growth you’re after. Contact us today for a free consultation!