7 Safeguards for Social Media Managers

Managing social media accounts for brands is a big task. Not only do you have to stay “in voice” and pay attention to brand language and colors all the time, but you have to make sure you are posting to the right account at the right time. Today I have Seven (7) Practical Steps for Social Media Managers to keep it all organized and in the right spot.

1. Use separate devices – may be the most impractical of them all from a device perspective, but one of the best ways to keep everything separate is to keep everything separate. Most of the time when you work in this field for a company, you get a stipend or device from the organization. That makes it super easy to afford and carry 2 different devices. Maybe put different color cases on the phones or a logoed sticker or pop socket on your work phone so you know when you have it in your hand.
2. Log in, log out – after you have finished posting, go back to your home account. For me personally, that means always being on my personal account. That way if I mess anything up, it’s usually my personal account. This also helps if you do any cross-posting. Just remember where you were working and come out of the brand account when you are not posting there so you don’t accidentally put something out into social media land under that brand name. One of the best examples of this happened a few years ago with some Red Cross staff. It was thankfully a slow time of year for them, but a couple of staff members were hosting a party and thought they were on their personal account when they posted about it.
3. Look before you leap. Double check what page you are on before you hit “post.” This can be as simple as glancing over to the icon or checking the name in the sidebar. It takes a milisecond, but its a quick check. It is rare that we get a quiet moment carved out to do our posting, especially if we are working with multiple clients or accounts. One quick shift of the eyes is a great way to double check yourself. Everything cannot be undone, but many things can. If you messed up, go in to edit and make your changes or copy your caption before deleting your post. No need to loose all that hard work. (then go sign out of the account and back to your home account, see point 2!)
4. Slow your roll and be present where you are posting. Being a social media manager requires your mind and thoughts to be in so many places. But, when you are posting, stop all your other things and be right where you are. Some years ago I was on vacation and did not have back up at the office, so I had to post while we were on our trip. This was before you work with programs to auto post to Instagram. Thankfully it was my mom, but she knew when I said, “hey can we sit on this bench for a second.” It meant I needed to focus for a minute and make my post and move on. Scheduling programs help with a lot of this today, but we are on our devices multitasking all the time. SLOW DOWN. PAUSE. FOCUS. POST. Then, go on about your business. One thing that can help you with is to set up expectations with your family and friends. Once people know what you are doing they won’t perceive you as rude. Or, if you know you are going to need to work, just let the people you are with know ahead of time when you excuse yourself from the table or check out a minute during a game, movie or TV show. It’s much easier to avoid frustration when expectations are set and communicated.
5. Don’t auto post. Many tools exist to help you “push” from one platform to another. Whether it is in the app when you post or using tools like IFTTT (if this, then that). But you do not want to auto-post anyway. Make each post look like it was built for that platform. While they are similar, a native post for Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook should all look different. When I was scheduling regularly, I would keep Facebook, Hootsuite and Buffer all open in different tabs side by side. I did a lot of copy, paste, and adjusting. But, each audience is a little different. The language of each platform is a little different. And, the format and style of each is slightly different. Your audience knows when you need to do that, but they also appreciate when you take the time to make it just for them, where they are. And, take this one from experience, with personal accounts and business accounts opening or at least logged in on the same device, there are times that they get posted in the wrong account when pushed. Often times you can link business accounts to pages in other platforms and works. I was posting personally once and pushed if from one platform to another. My friend and I immediately got several likes on one of the business accounts I was managing. Thankfully we were on a bowling team for a fundraiser and many people from that organization were there as well. And, I was able to quickly delete it. But, normally I would have closed my phone and come back several hours later and any damage that could have been done would have been ignited. Schedule and plan when you can be focused and organized. Set yourself up for success later if you have to post in the moment. Sometimes that means calendar reminders, post-it notes, emailing yourself content or pre-saving images to your photo gallery. 
6. Check your work before you walk away. It takes just a second after you hit “post to make sure it showed up like it should. Even when you are in the moment of scheduling, take a second and read through your caption one more time. You can even add a browser extension like Grammarly that helps with all content you type on your computer. It catches spelling errors on all web pages and word processing. Grammarly also catches grammar errors and makes suggestions. So many tools are at our disposal. Mistakes will happen, but you can alleviate so many of them with a good, safe, double-check.
7. Only log in work at work. And, only log in to personal when you are not at work. You will want to have your client or brand accounts on your mobile device so you can check work or make adjustments or changes when necessary. But, one way to keep things separate is to keep your work accounts logged in on your computer and save your personal accounts for your personal devices. Keeping it separate not only helps your mental space keep focused, but your devices as well. If you are a freelancer, it may be that you designate a specific time for different clients and you sign in and out for those times where you have just their information open in front of you instead a bunch of tabs to switch between and create potential confusion.

A couple bonus thoughts. BE PRESENT with your people and RESPOND to your followers. Of course the same 7 safeguards for social media managers applies here too. But, 2 more safeguards are to make sure when you work in this field that you don’t keep your head down so much that you miss out on what’s happening in front of you.

Maybe this advice comes from 8 years in the field, as a single adult during most of it or now as a mom to a 1-year-old. But, life happens fast. Posting is your job and is important to your brand story…. but stop sometimes and put down the dang phone. Multitasking can only go so far. Do what you need to do and then get on with enjoying your real life.

The other part of this is don’t get so wrapped up in wha you say that you forget to interact and respond with the aduience you are attracting. When people take the time to follow you, thank them. When they write a comment, respond to it. It’s ok if people disagree with you, that makes for good conversation. And, when things get too strong, invite people in to a DM (direct message) and resolve what you can.

We have a big responsibility as Social Media Managers for brands and multiple clients. Put theses seven safe guards in place and make your work life balance stronger and build your brand in a stronger, deeper, safer way!