How to manage social media

Managing social media can seem daunting and time consuming – just what are you meant to post about everyday? You’ll also need to find time to respond to comments, questions and mentions. Yet there are ways to make this manageable within your busy schedule.

Plan your content

Whether you share a simple document with colleagues, put together ideas on what you will post about every week. You’ll need to work closely with colleagues, including those who don’t share in communications, to source ideas and content. Don’t forget to factor in time for writing copy and sourcing good images.

Schedule your content

Use a social media planning tool like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule content in advance. But do check in a few times throughout the day to respond to any feedback from your stakeholders. If you get the apps on your phone you can do this wherever you are.

Use the rule of thirds

If you’re stuck for inspiration, a good rule of thumb to remember is that one third of your content should be about your charity’s work, one third should be content relevant to your organisation and your audience and the final third should involve talking to your audience. Find out more about the rule of thirds.

Follow the golden rule

Your social media content must be relevant to your audience to resonate with them. If in doubt, ask yourself how they’ll respond to the post you’ve just written, bearing in mind that their attention is a scant resource. Will they be excited? Shocked? Amused? Or indifferent?

Test, learn, improve

Remember that audiences’ needs and wants change quickly, so keep tracking how they are engaging with your content and change it accordingly. Find out how to measure success on social media