One of the significant challenges of working with social media is that you cannot be continuously online. Even if you could, sometimes you just cannot be up-to-date with everything. Now more than ever there are many aspects of your social media marketing you should continuously monitor, from ROI to algorithm updates and recent feature releases.
Marketers have to combine the online and offline effects of their strategies while staying online and completing everyday to-dos. You’re not always online, even when you’re at work. There are reports to make and meetings to attend.
Marketers have a vast area of tasks to complete – posting, monitoring and responding to comments, researching data, developing partnerships, compiling reports for managers and even collaborating with other departments, among others. Each of them is equally important, and it can rarely be postponed. Keeping track of tasks means keeping up with demands from your brand, client and the industry itself.
Backing-up work with a plan
There’s an abundance of online tools and apps that help you organize to-dos and complete steps of projects. These time management aids are extremely useful, especially if you need to collaborate with designers, copywriters and account executives. However, backing up your work schedule can work as an additional tool that can save you from distraction and potential errors. Since marketers begin their workday offline – by sitting at the office and opening the computer, possibly going through an agenda – an offline tool can greet them with the news. Printable calendars are some of the most simple such tools that you can use without allocating them a budget. An excellent way to back up work is to use a monthly calendar template that allows you to choose between landscape and portrait formats and include a lot of space to mark notes.
Calendars come with an advantage that online tool cannot compete with. They allow users to check their schedule and avoid distractions that may come along the process. Some marketers get distracted by emails that appear in their inbox before they manage to open online apps. Consequently, work is delayed, and time pressure appears. The paper calendar can help marketers:
- Schedule regular analysis of Ads Manager data on different platforms.
- Find the best time to analyze press releases from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ and other networks.
- See when’s the best time to plan a budget for upcoming campaigns and in-depth analysis on how customer service works.
- Develop and/or reorganize marketing meetings and look into goals and objectives.
Software and automation are more than bots
Some marketers embrace automation, while others are resilient, as they only consider bots. Using automation tools means developing templates for chat experiences (therefore, customer service), scheduling your work with devices that don’t need your presence and overall possibilities to track just about everything.
- The basics of automation lie in the possibility to schedule posts on social media networks and make them seem like they were spontaneous.
- Purchase or develop an in-house tool to automate processes such as email responses, customer updates, product surveys and ROI measurement.
- Setting up automation tools such as referral links or landing pages for a campaign.
- Develop ROI measurement metrics that can reveal more information than standard options.
- Delegate associates or other execs to monitor results you don’t need to evaluate urgently.
Working online to trigger offline reactions
Aside from viral posts and videos, the most rewarding actions a marketer can take are those who have a substantial impact on customers’ offline behavior. Actually, that’s what marketing is about – increasing offline sales and generating engagement. According to one study, social networking increases users’ online and offline activities by 30%, and user retention by 17%. Also, social media influences users’ behavior in the real world by 7%. Social media apps are motivational, while new social connections trigger an increase in users’ activity.
Almost all social media activities can benefit from automation. However, when you work for both your brand and its audience – as you should – a five-minutes online posting can trigger long-term effects in customers’ minds. Make the purpose of your daily social media usage a priority and evaluate your work once in a while.
Thinking offline
Offline initiatives can bring online effects for a brand. However, so is the work of a marketer. Some marketers observe, take notes and develop strategies almost non-stop. However, no being in the office shouldn’t make you forget a task or idea.
Take a photo of the calendar and consult it whenever you have an idea. Write notes on your smartphone and think about your schedule for the next day. You can even analyze your tasks in the morning while drinking coffee. Such an activity saves you from unexpected time pressure you may feel when remembering you had to make a report sometime this week, but don’t know when and might be unaware if you have time for it.
Does changing perspectives work?
Tracking your tasks means paying enough attention to everything you have to do when you have to complete them. Other said, no tasks need to suffer because I no longer have the time to research or focus more. Therefore, by paying attention to all works, you avoid both distractions and procrastination, and potential issues that might occur because you’ve forgotten a detail regarding the task – such as asking the graphic designer to review an aspect from their work.
The marketing work includes both technical responsibilities and creativity. Marketers are also tech specialists now. So, aside from work itself, they need to keep up-to-date with market products, tools, and specs. Keeping track of tasks can help marketers finally make time for those activities that they usually postpone for improving their work. Also, it allows them to focus on creativity by eliminating time pressure and other stress-related concerns. Therefore, they can concentrate on the brand, its public and results.
 Sean Blaney is the co-founder of CalendarTable.com. Among other things, Sean’s business provides provides access to highly personalized calendar printout formats so you can add photos, quotes or other inspiring material at your disposal. That way, you can get the most out of your day, week or month, depending on how you plan your time.
Thanks to Sean for sharing his insights on the challenge of managing digital social media channels…even when you’re offline! |
| Thanks, again, to Sean for sharing his tips on managing digital channels both online and offline. As the owner of a small marketing agency, I definitely know what it’s like to be able to deliver for my client, even when an internet connection isn’t available. IMHO, a good plan is definitely the key! You can check out more of what Sean and his team are up to by following them on Facebook.
If you have recommendations or suggestions regarding tools or approaches that help manage digital channels online and offline, be sure to share them in a comment. –Sean |