How To Make Social Media Marketing Easier

For the last few months, I have provided tutorials and best practices for leveraging seven the Web’s top social networks for your chamber of commerce. So it's to be expected that you feel a little overwhelmed right now. After all, juggling multiple social media accounts, in addition to maintaining the other importatant components of your marketing plan, can be difficult. But there is a solution.

In today’s post, you’ll learn how to make social media marketing much easier for your chamber by using a social media management tool called Hootsuite.

MEET HOOTSUITE

Hootsuite is a free online tool that allows you to post messages, links, images and videos to multiple social networks, all from a single dashboard. Using Hootsuite will help you manage and measure your chamber’s social media accounts in a much more efficient manner. Click here to create your own free Hootsuite account.

5 THINGS THAT ARE EASIER WITH HOOTSUITE

1) Posting

Hootsuite’s Compose Message box has multiple functionalities. First of all, when you write a post, you can choose to send it to one or multiple social networks. You can schedule messages to post in the future (or let Hootsuite auto-schedule posts for you!), customize message privacy settings, add a location, and include an attachment – all in one place!

2) Organization

On the dashboard, create tabs for each of your chamber’s social media accounts. Within each tab, set up streams to view different activity areas, such as Scheduled Posts, Newsfeed, Wall Posts, Tweets, Mentions, etc. Be consistent when setting up your streams (ex: always place Scheduled Posts first in order, Newsfeed second, etc.) so you can acquire a quick overview of your accounts when needed.

3) Search

One particularly useful tool is the Filter by keyword function. Use this to locate relevant conversations taking place within your social networks. This is most effective in your Newsfeed or Home Feed streams.

4) Measurement

Hootsuite has a built-in analytics feature called Quick Analytics that measures clicks on links shared through Hootsuite (which are shortened to “ow.ly” links). You also have the option to create and export a free custom report using the Express Setup. This is a great tool for gathering valuable data fast! 

5) Instagram-ing

Because Instagram is a mobile app, you can only take pictures using your cell phone. However, now you can view, comment on, and like photos using the Hootsuite dashboard! Adding the Instagram app to your Hootsuite account also makes it easy to share your photos on your other social networks.

Hootsuite is by far the best free tool for managing your social media. However, if you decide it’s not for you, check out the full list of Top 20 Social Media Management Tools. 

5 RESOURCES FOR MAKING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING EASIER

It takes more than just one great tool to take the stress out of social media, so here are four more ways to make things easier.

1. Give your social media presence an immediate “pick-me-up” with this 10-minute social media improvement guide.
2. Use the 5-Tweets-A-Day Plan for some quick ideas of what to post.
3. Bookmark this guide of the best times to post for easy reference. 
4. Boost your holiday social media interaction with these Easy-to-Implement Social Media Tactics for December. 
5. Sign up for a free Social Media audit, performed by one of our very own 立博客户端app下载 social media strategists!

Like any aspect of your chamber’s marketing plan, social media marketing requires that you take the time to develop a strong strategy. But with the help of an efficient management tool and some good resources, the implementation of your social media marketing can now be a little easier.

KICK OFF 2013 WITH A FREE SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT

Make social media your New Year's Resolution! Sign up for a free social media audit to receive a report on the strengths and weaknesses of your chamber’s current social presence, as well as a few helpful suggestions to improve your social media for 2013.

Here are some other articles you might enjoy reading:

The Top 5 Social Bookmarking Sites

5 Ways Social Bookmarking Will Make Your Job Easier

5 Ways To Get People To Read Your Content