Social Media Management – a Practical look at Daily Twitter Activity...

Following the social media training that we provide, once teams know what they need to be doing – the next question is...” HOW do we get started?” Here’s a very quick guide to how to go about effective daily Twitter management  for general  awareness.  This schedule is by no means prescriptive and you can work the timings around your requirements .

Clearly, your activity will focus around the objective of your Twitter account. For example – if your Twitter account was for Customer Support – then you’d refine in line with requirements. But this schedule largely relates to a ‘general’ awareness, daily PR focus.

For each Twitter account:

• 8.30 am til 9.00 am (You may be able to do this during your commute via your smartphone so it may be earlier).

Review account activity:  Check your Twitter streams for @mentions, direct messages and what your followers are talking and tweeting about – respond, thank, RT, engage and react accordingly.  Dependent on level of ‘engagement’ this can be speedy or lengthy – and of course, it depends on how many accounts you have. So you may have to revise your timescales here a little.

• 9.00 – 10.00 am

Scout all relevant trade press, review your Google Alerts, Twitter keywords tracking in Hootsuite (or other apps such as Twilert or SocialMention), Twitter search and relevant blogs and portals that you subscribe into - and review any up to date and relevant news. Speak to marketing / sales team - or if relevant, senior management team and ensure you’re up to date on any marketing activities, business news and promotions that can also be shared across your Twitter account(s).

• 9.00 – 11.00 am

At the same time as researching, be scheduling your day’s tweets into Hootsuite (or other preferred social media management dashboard – ie: Tweetdeck, Co Tweet etc). Don’t schedule all tweets to follow one another so that you block up your audiences feeds, spread them out,  usually with hourly intervals – and if it’s big news, don’t be afraid to ‘repeat the tweet’ but be sure to give it a different ‘spin’. Remember, apps like Hootsuite won’t let you simply cut and paste to repeat a tweet – so be sure you’re using a different context to introduce the link.

• 11.00 am – 11.15

At Carvill Creative, our team keeps their Hootsuite account open all day. So whatever method you’re using, check back into your accounts regularly to review any activity, mentions, RTs etc – and any engagement.

• 11.15– 1pm

Content creation.  This activity and timescale related to it will vary dependent upon how many blogs you’re writing – and what content (if any) you are creating.  At Carvill Creative we manage several blogs for clients – so we write at least one blog post a day for each client – so that we’re building an effective pipeline of compelling, relevant and keyword optimised content.

Set yourself a target to create a content pipeline to ensure that each blog is updated with relevant and keyword optimised content daily.  Keep your website / blog refreshed with new and relevant content. That way you have a place to send your Twitter audience that adds value to your business.

The shift in when we’re busiest on social networks...

Timings for when people are most active on social media are changing. At one point – it was very much that most activity happening in the PM. People were more likely to RT (retweet tweets) in the afternoon – and engagement levels were generally higher.

With the emergence of smart phones and social apps – activity is shifting. Early morning (commuter time) between 6.30 am and 8.30 am is now a busy hub of social activity – lunchtimes, and then another spike at the end of the day – 6.00 pm til 7.30 pm ish.  So be mindful of this when scheduling your tweets and looking at engagement.

Finally...

Remember – each account is an important communication channel – and you are acting as ‘brand custodian’ – it’s not just about pushing messages out – but about sharing the personality of the brand and engaging and communicating with your audiences.

If any challenges arise, then speed to response is absolutely key, so be sure to keep monitoring your accounts throughout the day.

Carvill Creative – the online visibility experts. A digital marketing agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  Carvill Creative covers all aspects of online visibility – website effectiveness, social media marketing, social media management and social media training, user focused website planning and conversion focused website design.

Passionate about Online Visibility - creating an integrated approach across websites, blogs and social media platforms.