What to look for when choosing a social media package

These days most business owners understand the value of having a presence on social media. If you recognize that you should be using social media for your business but you don’t have the time, means or knowledge to manage your social media pages yourself, then out-sourcing may be the answer for you.

Allowing external professionals in the field to manage your social media accounts can yield you far more success. But how do you know what a good social media package looks like? The following is a compiled list of elements that are the most important elements when considering a social media package that is right for you.

It is important to note that although content on social media may seem like a collection of completely random posts at first, there is always a carefully curated method behind a successful succession of posts online.

If you are employing a third party to manage your social media, ensuring that they develop a comprehensive, goal-driven strategy will help accelerate your business on social media.

Social media packages should almost always include advertising. If the strategy you are looking at doesn’t utilise social media advertising, then consider upgrading your package as that’s where the true value of social media marketing lies.

With over 2 billion social media users world-wide, there is an unprecedented amount of data available that businesses can utilise to fine-tune and target their advertising. Your content will speak to a certain demographic and you want to ensure that demographic is seeing your content.

When browsing for social media packages, consider a service provider that have set strategies in place to position your social media advertising advantageously through split testing, retargeting and a custom audience breakdown.

If you are investing in improving your presence on social media then having quality content to post is a no brainer. If your social media package includes content production, then you can take comfort in the fact that the content posted to your accounts will be of a certain quality and intrinsically linked to your brand objectives.

Having a team of visual creatives producing content for your brand can prove invaluable when trying to boost your social media presence.  

Creating high quality graphics reflect the calibre of your business and the content you post can make a major difference to your social media presence, particularly if you’re starting from nothing. What you put out in the social media world sets the precedent as to how you’re perceived.

Community management is essential to growing and maintaining a following on social media. The process of community management includes replying to users who interact with you, liking their comments, and joining the conversation.

It is great to have a feed full of amazing content, but unless someone is interacting with your audience, your brand lacks life and personality. Community Management is the best way to ensure your brand comes off as professional, trustworthy and customer experience-oriented on social media.

If you are investing money into social media services, you want to be up to speed with how that money is being spent. It is best to ensure that reporting is included in the social media package you choose.

Reporting not only allows you to track how your investment has been allocated, but will also provide you with key data to apply within other areas of the business, such as best performing imagery or key target demographics.

Social media monitoring is an invaluable tool for all businesses. Some social media packages will include monitoring, meaning they will scan all social media networks to pick up key phrases related to your business or industry.

This option keeps your social media managers finger on the pulse and ensures you will never miss what is happening surrounding your brand and your industry. Social media monitoring is also a great feature in competitor analysis, allowing you to be in the loop with what is happening over the fence, monitoring what is and isn’t working for them, and applying the core learnings to your own model.

Tools such as Mention allow you to integrate Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and ‘listen’ to who is talking about you.

Crisis management isn’t typically included in standard social media packages, but it is an additional service that businesses should really consider. These days, everybody has a voice on social media and when something goes wrong the impact for businesses can be loud and fast.

Crisis management will ensure that your social media manager is tracking your community and will inform you if there is a spike in negative conversation surrounding your brand on social media. They will also do what they can to control the situation and minimise damage quickly and in the most professional way possible.

This is where having experts managing your social media really works to your advantage. Most packages that offer crisis management will, if crisis occurs, provide expert opinion on the best course of action. This service is invaluable, particularly for businesses that don’t have previous experience in social media.

There are many different social media packages available on the market, and every brand is different in terms of needs and goals. Assessing all the above requirements will ensure that your social media services are comprehensive and that the third party you partner with can best provide for your needs. If you are looking for a comprehensive social media package that is built specifically to your objectives and encompasses all of the above, click here.