Growing your business and expanding your reach—that's the primary reason why small businesses today are exploring the use of social media channels to connect with their target audience.

Social media has emerged as one of the most effective ways for businesses to expand their audience, drive sales, build brand awareness, and communicate directly with customers. However, managing these accounts from a single location is difficult. You need to monitor several accounts at once and respond in real-time to comments, shares, and other updates. 

It's an overwhelming task for most business owners.

With this guide you will learn everything you need to know about managing your business's social media presence. 

What is social media management? 

Managing social media means cultivating, growing, and maintaining a social media account. Social media management aims to raise performance and increase engagement over time. Account growth can be done through scheduling, posting, responding to comments and direct messages, and other activities.

Managing social media is different from running a social media marketing campaign. While marketing campaigns are short-term and focused on promoting a single message or product. Social media management is long-term and focused on providing consistent value to your followers and building trust and relationships over time.   

Why Is Social Media Management Important for Small Businesses? 

Social media management for small businesses is the only way to make the most of your limited resources. Instead of trying to do everything yourself, outsource social media management to specialists; this is one of the most important things you can do to grow your business with social media.

There are several benefits of social media management for small businesses:   

1. It will help to free up your time to focus on other essential tasks.
2. It helps ensure that everything posted on your social media accounts is relevant and engaging since the specialists know what works and doesn't.
3. It helps you to grow your business by tapping into the power of social media to attract new customers and clients.

How to find the right social media manager for your business

Finding the right social media manager for your business is crucial for a successful social media management strategy. Here's what to look for when hiring a social media manager for your business:  

• Experience - Make sure to choose a social media manager who is well-versed in social media marketing. Experience is vital because it will help the manager to understand what works and what doesn't when it comes to social media.  
• Culture fit - Your business and the social media manager should be a good fit. They will struggle to produce consistent and quality work if they are not a good fit. 
•  Availability - Make sure you choose a social media manager who is available when you need them. Outages during critical hours can significantly affect your social media presence.  
• Cost - Hiring a social media manager can be one of the best investments you can make for your business. The right social media manager can help you to attract more customers and generate more sales. 

Hiring a social media manager can also be cost-effective with the right people. At Cápita Works, we can connect you with a virtual social media manager for a fraction of the cost compared to US salaries. Learn more about our marketing solutions for small businesses.  

The Role of a Social Media Manager in your Business

While managing social media is a collaborative effort, there are a few key areas where you want to make sure your social media manager excels:  

• Content creation - You want to work with a social media manager who can create engaging and relevant content for your social media accounts. The best social media managers can create content for your social media accounts and make them look consistent.  
• Engagement - A social media manager who excels at engagement will know how to respond to comments and drive engagement on your behalf -this can help you to drive more engagement on your social media accounts, which will help increase traffic and sales. 
• Relationship building - The best social media managers can help to build relationships with their followers and influencers - this can help to grow your business and expand your reach. 

Which Platform Should You Start With?

Some small businesses start with a single platform, such as Instagram or Facebook. However, that is not the best approach. Your aim should be to be present on all relevant social media platforms so that you can benefit from the network effect. Having a presence will allow you to tap into the power of social media and drive as many targeted and relevant followers to your account as possible.  

There are several benefits to managing more than one social media channel:

1. You can diversify your risk and create redundant social media content across different platforms.
2. You can tap into different audiences and find new leads and customers.
3. You can use social media's power to amplify your posts' reach across multiple channels.  

6 Tips to Ensure Successful Social Media Management for Small Businesses

When managing social media for your business, it's essential to follow these best practices and tips to ensure a successful social media management strategy:  

• Define your goals - Before you start managing your social media accounts, you must define your goals. What do you want to achieve with social media for your business?  
• Create a plan - After defining your goals, you should create a plan for how you will achieve them. How often are you going to post? What are you going to post?  
• Set a budget - It's essential to set a budget for managing your social media accounts. How much will you spend each month on your social media strategy?  
• Hire a social media manager - Once you have defined your goals, created a plan, and set a budget, you should start hiring a social media manager.  
• Be consistent - Once you have hired a social media manager, your posts must be consistent. Post at the same time daily, and make sure your posts are relevant and engaging. 

Social media is an excellent way to connect with your audience and increase your brand's visibility. However, managing multiple social media accounts on your own can be difficult. Hiring a social media manager will free up your time to focus on other essential aspects of your business. 

Managing social media for your business is the only way to make the most of your limited resources. It will help to free up your time to focus on other essential things.

Learn more about our virtual assistant services or contact us at info@capitaworks.com for any further doubts.