So, you joined an organization and now you’re in charge of running the social media. Or maybe you decided to start a new account for your artwork or your photography. Either way, it can be overwhelming to keep up with your social media, especially if you have to meet certain requirements. Whether you’re running the social media for an organization you’re in or running your own personal account, here are some tips for managing your social media.
1. Plan ahead
Hootsuite is a lifesaver and a timesaver. After creating an account, you want to link it to your social media accounts that you will be posting to. When I’m scheduling Her Campus posts, I go to our Her Campus website, find an article, copy and paste the link to the article, type up a caption, and pick a time for it to be posted. After doing so, Hootsuite will post the content to whichever accounts you chose at the scheduled time. If you have to meet certain requirements each week, this is a great way to plan ahead and not forget to post.
(Photo via Hootsuite)
2. Find relatable content
A quick Google search such as “Fall pictures” or “college memes” will give you endless amounts of options to post on your social media. Pinterest is another good option for finding content. Just find a board that relates to the theme you’re looking for and browse away. Always be sure to give credit to the owner of the images. You wouldn’t like it if someone stole your content without giving you credit, so don’t steal someone else’s content.
(Photo via Pinterest)
3. Make your own content
Canva is a great app for making social media content. There are hundreds of templates to choose from and most of them are free. Just find a template you like, type in your message, and choose a design to go along with it. If you’re making an Instagram post, you can even pick templates that are the exact square shape.
(Photo via Canva)
4. Use hashtags
Since I help run the IUP Her Campus social media, I always use the hashtags #hcxo #hercampus. This allows for other school’s chapters who are using the same hashtags to see our content. You can also add hashtags that relate to that specific post. For example, if you post a picture about Fall you may want to add the hashtags #fall #autumn #leaves #cozy, you get the idea.
(Photo via Her Campus IUP)
5. Take time to focus on social media
Just about every day, usually in the morning, I sit down at my computer and take time to schedule posts. I go on the IUP Her Campus website, find any new articles that have been posted, and link them to Hootsuite. Then I’ll find images on Google or scroll through my camera roll to see if there’s anything I can post. This allows me to plan ahead and not be scrambling at the last minute to find something to post.
(Photo via Her Campus IUP)
6. Switch it up every once in awhile
If you think your feed is getting boring, switch it up. One thing I’ve done before is having all the members of our team send me a short biography and a picture of themselves that I post on our social media. This provides me with a lot of content and lets our followers see the faces behind our posts.
(Photo via Her Campus IUP)
7. Make your posts interactive
If you see that your posts aren’t getting a lot of likes, try making them more interactive. A great way to do this is by having a giveaway because let’s face it, everyone loves free stuff! Have people like the post and tag their friends in order to be entered into the drawing. This grabs your follower’s attention while also widening your audience.
(Photo via Her Campus IUP)
8. Use your personal accounts to promote the page you’re running
There’s nothing wrong with a little shameless plug every once in awhile. Use your personal account to post about the other accounts that you run. This is also a good way to widen your audience.
(Photo via Her Campus IUP and Brianna Freitag)
9. Have more than one person, but not too many people, running the account
Having more than one person run your account allows for a wider variety on content. 2-4 people would be a good number of social media coordinators to have. Be careful though that the content doesn’t vary too much in style or your followers may lose interest.
(Photo via Her Campus IUP)
10. Post frequently
Post enough to keep the audience interested, but not so much that you clog up their feed and they end up unfollowing you. For our Her Campus accounts, we like to post about 5-7 times a week. Depending on what type of account you run, this may be too much or not enough. Try to get an idea of who your followers are, what they want to see, and how much of it they want to see.
(Photo via Her Campus IUP)
Good luck with managing your social media accounts!