Social Media for Business

January 2020 | Zoe Millette

Capacity is king

There are plenty of factors that need to be accounted for before spooling up a social media program: number of platforms, target audiences, engagement stats, etc. But no question is more important than What do you have the capacity to do? Because with social media, capacity is king. Do what you can do, not what you should do, and do it well so that it works for your business, your audience, and your staff. That’s the foundation of a successful social media strategy for business.

Do what you can do

So often we meet a business that has one part-time employee managing four or more platforms. The employee is stretched so thin that there isn’t time to generate quality content tailored to each platform and audience, never mind engaging with fans and followers. The result is that the business fails to see an impact from social media efforts, the audience experience ranges from inconsistent to borderline negligent, and the social media manager is stressed, overworked, and snowed under by an avalanche of @ replies.

It may seem like stating the obvious but considering how often it happens, it’s worth saying again: if your employee can only spend ten hours per week on social media, be sure that your social media strategy will only take ten hours to execute. Instead of taking a scattershot approach to every platform out there, focus your efforts on creating memorable, engaging content and posting it in one or two places where your audiences are the most engaged.

Do it well so that it works

Content is king! It’s a common refrain in social media management discussions recently. But the truth is, it’s quality content that’s king. You can’t get away with flooding feeds with mediocrity anymore. Thanks to the algorithms that choose what everyone sees, you’ll lose fans faster than you can make them, if they see your content at all. In order to see results, your content must provide value to users and stand out in the feed.

Great content takes time and money. Large companies like Lululemon have whole departments devoted to social media. They have huge budgets and the ability to pump out great content. How can smaller businesses do the same without breaking the bank?

If you only have a small social media budget, the key is making your investment last. Don’t have enough professional photos, videos, or blog content to post every day? Post every two or three days; there’s no rule that says it has to be every day. Don’t have enough capacity or content to post on five platforms? Select one or two platforms with user bases that make sense for your business and post your highest quality content. Don’t be afraid to adjust your strategy so that what you post is valuable and worth the investment—a strategy that fits the capacity of your team and appeals to your loyal fans.