Social media marketing is an exciting career path, with a diverse range of opportunities. You’ll certainly never get bored, with new platforms appearing, more features being regularly added and endless best practices to stay on top of. You’ll have a wide variety of important social media activities to perform within your role too.

Before you jump into this industry, there is a lot to consider. This article shares advice, things to think about and hopefully helps you to decide whether social media marketing is a good career fit for you.

1. What type of role are you looking for?

There are several types of role that you could consider as a Social Media Marketer. What you choose will really depend on your personality, skills, and personal preference

1. Business – If you’d like to live and breathe one single brand, then you may want to consider working within the marketing team of a company. With social media being used across all industries and in B2B and B2C, you’ll find lots of opportunities to choose from.
   
2. Agency – If you’re interested in working with lots of distinct brands on their social media marketing, you could consider working for a digital or social media agency. You’ll get a wide array of experience and work alongside other social media experts.
   
3. Freelance – Do you feel confident in your social media abilities and want to have more control over your work? Becoming a Freelance Social Media Marketer could be an exciting path for you to consider. Don’t forget though that as your own business, you’ll have lots of other elements to manage such as filing your taxes, managing your finances, marketing yourself, driving sales and much more. 

2. What does the role involve?

In my experience, no one day is ever the same. The tasks you’ll be expected to perform will also vary depending on your experience level and the specific role you choose. However, here are just some of the main tasks to be aware of:

• Craft effective social media strategies
• Write eye-catching social media posts
• Work with photographers and graphic designers to create a library of images for social media content
• Perform day-to-day community management of social media accounts
• Engage with customers effectively and efficiently
• Report on the performance of social media accounts
• Set up social media ads
• Run competitions via social media platforms
• Report into marketing managers
• Carefully manage social media budgets

3. Do you have the right skills and knowledge?

There are some essential skills you’ll need to be effective in social media marketing. It goes without saying that you’ll need to be proficient on a computer, be creative, be able to communicate effectively and have excellent organisational skills. Attention to detail is also vital, as well as being someone who enjoys continuous learning.

It’s important to understand that updating your personal social media profiles is a lot different to managing social media for a brand. To perform well in a business setting (and stand out from other Social Media Marketers), you’ll need to develop your social media knowledge. The good news is, there are lots of fantastic social media courses available that you can even carry out online. This will help you understand more complex elements, such as how to be strategic in your activities, what branding and tone of voice mean and what the marketing mix is. You’ll also need to learn how to run social media advertising, how to get a return on investment and many other advanced aspects of social media marketing.

4. What should you do next?

After you’ve read this article, if you’re still confident that social media marketing is the right fit for you, it’s time to take the next steps:

• To stand out from the competition, you may want to consider getting a work placement. This will give you the necessary experience, help you develop your skills further and will give you an insight into what working as a Social Media Marketer is like.
• Keep your skills and knowledge up-to-date by continuously reading articles from industry publications (like Social Media Explorer).
• Update your LinkedIn profile (or set one up if you don’t already have one) to include any social media courses you’ve completed or any experience you’ve gained
• Consider writing your own blog, articles on LinkedIn, or guest blogs. This will show that you’re staying up-to-date and have a genuine passion for social media.
• Now it’s time to apply for jobs in the area that you’re most interested in. LinkedIn can be an excellent place to start your search.
• If you’ve decided to become a freelancer, you’ll need to find your first clients. My advice would be to start off by contacting existing connections to let them know your new career path. They may be able to give you some work, or recommend you to others, to help you get started.

All that remains to be said is “Good Luck” on your journey to becoming a Social Media Marketer! I hope you enjoy this career path as much as I do.

The post How to Start Your Career in Social Media Marketing appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Running a business is not an easy task and takes a lot of passion, patience, and creativity. You put in a lot of time and energy to reap the benefits of the seed you sow. You are your own boss and you have full control over the decisions you take. Everything from design concept to sales is under your control. If this is something you’re looking for, ExchangeMarketplace has three starter shops for sale under $1000 for you! They are affordable and relevant today. The websites of these starter shops are already set up and are gaining some traffic. All you have to do is make the most of digital marketing and advertising to reach the target market and fulfill their orders.

Let’s have a look at these three starter shops – Spikes Nation, Aqua Fit, and BestBudzForever – to see if you find your calling.

Spikes Nation

This starter shop offers a range of branded running, throwing, and jumping shoes for men and women. The website has a neat interface and is easy to use with clear navigation tabs describing the category of the product.

Homepage of spikesnation.com

The starter shop offers brands like Nike, Adidas, Asics, Saucony, New Balance, and Puma. The products are clearly labeled and priced making it easy for the user to select the desired product. The website has a simple layout with a user-friendly interface.

ExchangeMarketplace.com has listed this starter shop for sale for just $500. The sale includes domain, logo and branding assets, product photos, and access to social media handles. The owner of the website is ready to guide the buyer for up to one week after the purchase of the starter shop. A commitment of approximately 15 hours per week would be required at the buyer’s end to keep this business running.

According to the owner, Spikes Nation has good potential if marketing strategies are used wisely to attain more traffic towards the website.

Aqua Fit

This starter shop offers trendy swimwear and casual wear for women. The website looks aesthetically pleasing that is easy to navigate with relevant tab titles and clear product descriptions.

Homepage of Aquafitstyle.com

Aquafitstyle.com offers a range of clothing for women including bikinis, one piece, hoodies, jackets, sweaters, and tank tops. The website also features accessories like earrings and necklaces. The product photos posted on the website are of high quality with clearly stated prices. The website has a very modern and contemporary look and is user-friendly. The company believes in empowering women worldwide by offering stylish clothing for all shapes and sizes.

Aquafitsyle.com offers a very easy-to-use website

ExchangeMarketplace has listed this starter shop for sale at $990. The sale includes logo and branding assets, domain, product photos, and access to social media handles. The current owner of the website will give help the buyer to set up shop for two weeks after the purchase.

BestBudzForever

Stoners unite! This starter shop offers cannabis-themed apparel to its customers. It sells t-shirts, hoodies, bags, and houseware with comical and witty one-liners related to the theme. The products sold on this website feature a very minimalistic and simple design that offers a very casual look.

Homepage of bestbudsapparel.com

The website has a very simple and easy-to-use layout. The user can navigate through the website easily as the tabs are titled appropriately. The website has a modern look with colors that suit the theme of the brand. This company has good potential if it reaches its niche market through digital media advertising. The company currently uses Oberlo for dropshipping and Placeit for marketing and advertising. With Cannabis legalization being the hot top right now, this brand could do well among the pro-cannabis community.

Exchangemarketplace.com has listed this cannabis-themed starter shop for sale for $1000. The sale would include logo and branding assets, domain, mailing list, product photos, and access to social media handles with 1,542 followers. The buyer would have to put in 16 hours per week to run the company efficiently.

Buying into a starter shop is a great way to get into the business groove with lesser investments, lower risks, and costs. Spikes Nation, Aqua Fit and Bestbuszforever serve a niche that’s worth exploring and can prove to be profitable with the right use of digital marketing and advertising. Head on to exchangemarketplace.com to find the right business for you!

The post Three Starter Shops For Sale On ExchangeMarketplace At $1000 And Below appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

1) Brainstorming

Nobody knows your business better than the people working in it. Therefore, it is well worth getting everyone together on a regular basis to brainstorm some ideas. Just because you’ve employed someone to manage your social media doesn’t mean they don’t have great ideas for what your customers and potential customers would like to see from you online, but getting all your employees together in a group may stir up more ideas and inspiration, and may predict potential issues in the future.

Try to create an open, supportive space, where people know their ideas will not be shot down or laughed at. Encourage people to speak their minds without fear of retribution, and to share their ideas. When your employees feel their opinions and ideas are valued, this can really improve staff morale and can be a goldmine for your social media marketing. Not only will you have some great ideas, your employees are more likely support the project, either behind the scenes, or by posting about it via their own personal social media channels.

2) Posting about work

Some companies have a strict policy that says employees should never mention their jobs on social media. Of course, talking about customers in a negative way or complaining about a manager is never a good idea, but it can be beneficial to encourage them to post about the positive sides of their jobs. You can then share these posts on your business page, which provides you with extra content and social influence.

That said, it is important that anyone who is publicly an employee of your business has a reasonably professional-looking profile. You don’t want mentions of your brand to be interspersed with images of drunken nights out, or swear-laden political rants. Just take a look at these bad examples of employee social media. It’s definitely important for you to set guidelines and provide advice and training where required.

Don’t forget that if employees are promoting your business, they need to disclose that they are employees. This could be by using the hashtag #emp on Twitter for example.

3) Employee of the month

You can use your social media accounts to show off how great your staff are and to show them appreciation. An obvious idea for this is by doing a regular “employee of the month” feature, or you can get a little more creative! Photos of the office where you tag staff members are a great way to get more eyes on your posts, while also making your staff feel valued and noticed. You could introduce new team members, wish people a happy birthday, mention weddings and so on. All of this helps to make your staff feel valued and appreciated. This will then encourage them to post more positive things about their job. Showing that you value and appreciate your employees also shows your customers what sort of business you are. Many people prefer to deal with a company whose employees are happy in their work and it can help to show your company as being more human, rather than a faceless entity.

4) Ask them to share

Something as simple as asking your employees to share your content and products can really help. Obviously, you don’t want their personal pages to become a big advertisement for your brand, but encouraging them to share a post here and there can really help if everyone gets on board with it. If you sell a product your staff members can use, give them a free one to use on the understanding they will post a photo or two on their Facebook profile. You could also look at a “friends and family” offer, where your staff can provide their contacts with an offer code or another incentive to try your products. Sky, for example, has a great staff introduction plan which you can see here.

Employee Advocacy is Extremely Valuable

Speak to your team and explain honestly that you need their help. People love to feel needed, and getting your staff involved in your social media strategy by asking them to share one of your posts each week is a great way to help them feel included. If they share your posts and can see this translate to more calls, more leads, more sales, this will also be great for their personal development and they will see that they can make a difference.

Of course, any sharing needs to be natural and not out of context. For example, if your company unblocks drains, you wouldn’t have your 16-year-old Saturday employee post about how great your service is. However, you might ask them to post about it if they’ve received a call from a happy customer, or if you have a special offer. It’s about encouraging your team to take pride in their work and to share that pride with their followers. Some businesses will even go as far as to create suggested content for their employees to use, which they can copy directly to their social media channels, editing it slightly so that it is personal to them.

Whatever the size of your business, whether you have several different departments or just four of you sharing an office space, you are missing valuable opportunities if you do not encourage everyone to get involved with social media. Of course, you do need to have a social media policy in place, which details what people should and should not say about your company. But once this is written and signed by employees, it can pay dividends to encourage your staff to join in with social media.

It might feel daunting to encourage your staff to get involved in the social media for your business, but done right, it can produce massive rewards for all of you.

Do you get your staff involved in your social media campaigns? Leave a comment and let us know how you’ve encouraged your team to become brand advocates.

The post 4 Tips for Developing Employee Advocacy in Your Business appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

If you’re really interested in becoming a Social Media Manager, you need to be able to plan social media channels effectively, write engaging content, communicate with customers and much more. To do all these things effectively, there are several important skills you will need to master:

1. Good Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation

It might be perfectly acceptable to use slang terms and txt spk on your personal profiles, but if you are representing a brand, you need to know where to put your apostrophes!

2. Discipline and Organization

On a personal social media account, it doesn’t matter when you update your profile, or if you get distracted and don’t post anything for a few days. If you’re managing social media for a business though, you need to not only post regularly, but also have some continuity of content. For example, you might follow a theme for a few weeks, mention celebration days, as well as come up with brand new content on a regular basis. All of this requires a discipline and organisation that’s not necessary when updating your own personal social media accounts.

3. Great People Skills

It’s easy to think that being a Social Media Manager is the perfect job for someone who doesn’t enjoy the company of others. After all, it is a job based on the Internet. However, you really do need to be good with people. Unlike your personal social media accounts, where you can respond flippantly and even argue a point with your friends if you feel like it, when you are the voice of a brand, you need to be able to keep your emotions and opinions to yourself and respond effectively and professionally to customers.

4. Good Copywriting Skills

As well as an excellent grasp of the English language, as mentioned above, you also need to be able to apply this in several different ways. This includes the obvious tasks of crafting engaging social media posts, but also populating profile pages and creating compelling ad copy to drive both engagement and clicks.

5. Graphic Design Skills

You might enjoy sharing images on your own social media accounts, but when you’re managing social media for a brand, you will need to create your own branded graphics. This is not as simple as using an app to plonk a quote on top of a photo. Your graphics need to be engaging, interesting, professional looking and on-brand. This can take a lot of work and skill!

6. Video skills

These days, social media is all about the video content, especially live video. Therefore, when you’re managing a social media account, you will need to be able to create engaging and interesting video content. This might be those clever cut-together videos showing how to make a meal or craft project, or perhaps a live video where you go on camera to explain a new product or idea for your brand. Either way, you can’t manage social media effectively without a little camera work.

Still interested in becoming a Social Media Manager? There are plenty of things you can do to help give yourself a head start:

● Invest in a Training Course

Hootsuite Academy has some great social media certifications that will stand you in good stead, and the Digital Mums social media training course is very well respected too. There are lots of different courses out there though, and it’s important that before investing in any, you investigate and make sure they are reputable qualifications which will teach you what you need to know. Check out testimonials and go by personal recommendations wherever possible.

● Sign Up for Free Webinars

There are lots of these available all the time. You’ll often see them advertised on your Facebook newsfeed, or on Twitter. Since they’re free, they will only cost you your time, and you may learn valuable nuggets of information.

● Read Articles and Blogs

Social media is constantly changing, so even if you get a good qualification, you will still need to stay up-to-date. Websites like Social Media Explorer are updated regularly with helpful and insightful articles. It’s also worth keeping an eye on sites like the Facebook Newsroom and the Twitter blog for announcements.

● Practice, Practice, Practice

Set up your own professional social media channels and run them. This will allow you to try out new approaches and ideas, as well as providing proof to prospective businesses or clients that you know what you’re doing.

Are you an aspiring Social Media Manager? Let us know if you have any additional tips that you think will help other readers!

The post Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Social Media Manager? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Of course, there will be things that crop up or change during the space of the year that will mean your strategy needs to adapt slightly. Social media itself is unlikely to remain the same for the next 12 months either. However, having a clear strategy for your social media now can really help you to know what you want to achieve moving forward and decide how you’re going to achieve it.

To help you get started with your social media strategy, here are 4 key questions people often ask, along with some answers:

1. What Is a Social Media Strategy and Why Do I Need One?

In short, a social media strategy is like a business plan, but for your social media activities. When you first get started, it’s unlikely that you will have much of a plan and you will probably just post whatever comes to your mind that day. You may schedule a few posts about your products and include a few links back to your website. You may also spend endless hours just scrolling away, giving the occasional “like” here and there.

Being active on social media is great, but we all know that social media can be a massive drain on your time. Creating a social media strategy can help, though. Instead of aimlessly posting, liking and retweeting, all your activities are planned out and drive towards achieving your main objectives.

2. How do I Write a Social Media Strategy?

A social media strategy can be as detailed or as brief as you like. However, the more time you invest in your strategy, the more you will get out of it in the long-term. There’s no right or wrong way of writing a social media strategy, so do whatever you feel is the most beneficial for you and your business. I’d personally recommend starting by writing your strategy in a simple word document, or a PowerPoint presentation if you’re planning to present it to others later.

3. What Does a Social Media Strategy Include?

• Objectives: The first thing you need to do is decide on your goals and objectives. These should usually fit with your overall marketing strategy so that your efforts on social media help to achieve your broader marketing goals.

• Social media audit: Next, review your existing social media presence. Consider questions such as “How many followers do we have?”, “What content do we currently share?” and “How often do we post?”. It can also be valuable to look at three or four of your key competitors and ask yourself the same questions. This is a good way to see what your competitors are doing well at on social media (which can provide you with some inspiration) and discover areas where they are not performing as well (which can highlight possible pitfalls for you to avoid).

• Social platform research: Look back at your business accounts again and think about which social media platforms you need to focus on. Before you decide, it’s important you’re clear on who your target audience is and the key demographics of various social media platforms.

You can also look back at your social media audit to see which channels your competitors are active on (and performing well on). Don’t forget that it’s important to focus on quality, not quantity. While there are so many channels to choose from, you may not be able to give all of them the attention required, so it may be better for you to prioritize a couple. That being said, you may want to set up an account on each platform, so your name is reserved if you decide to focus on that platform further down the line. By doing this now, you increase your chances of being able to secure the name you want, so your username is consistent across all your channels.

• Posting details: Consider how often you will post on each platform and what that content should be. Your strategy should also include details of any hashtags you want to use, which accounts you want to align yourself with (by liking, commenting on and sharing their content) and which accounts you want to avoid aligning with (for example, those who promote a different message or don’t fit with what your brand is all about).

• Evaluation: An important thing to consider is how you will measure your success. If you’re just starting out, you might want to use your Klout score to judge how your efforts are progressing. However, it’s important not to get too caught up in metrics and follower numbers. Although you do need to gain followers in order to have a voice, it’s more important that your social media efforts actually help to improve brand awareness and ultimately your sales.

For more help on creating an effective social media strategy, take a look at this useful infographic by Emedia Creative.

4. When Should I Start Planning My Social Media Strategy?

There’s no time like the present to begin planning your social media strategy. It can be good to start the year with a fresh start and a clear plan of action. Have you been putting off creating a social media strategy for your business? It really doesn’t have to be daunting and can help you give more direction and focus towards your future social media activities.

The post Implementing Your Social Media Strategy for 2018: What You Should Know appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

You might think your business is safe. After all, why would anyone want to hack your accounts? The thing is, hackers often don’t do what they do for money or to hit big names. It has become almost like a sport for them, and we are all targets.

Hacked social media accounts can be inconvenient and annoying for anyone, but for a business, it can be devastating and ruin the brand’s credibility. Not so long ago, hackers managed to access the Twitter account for Burger King and wasted no time in changing their profile picture to a McDonald’s logo. Burger King is a well-established, multinational brand and they could gain control of their account quickly. Could your business do the same? Follow these 6 steps to help keep your company’s social media accounts secure.

1. Practice Good Password Hygiene

A strong password is the first step in good social media security. Make sure you change your social media passwords regularly and ensure each password is a meaningless string of letters, numbers, and special characters. It goes without saying, that you shouldn’t write your passwords down or share them with others.

Wherever possible, use two-factor authentication (2FA). This means you need more than just a password to access an account. Each time you log in, the site will send a unique passcode to a mobile number registered to the account. If you have several people monitoring your social channels, this may be inconvenient. However, there are always ways around it. For example, you could use third-party apps such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social, which allow you to easily manage access rights for individuals.

2. Educate Employees

All employees should receive some basic training in social media security. More than 60% of enterprises allow their staff to use personal devices to access corporate data, so it is important that your staff know what to look out for, both on their own accounts and on company pages. If a member of your team has their account hacked, the hacker may well target their place of work first, posting unsavory messages on your company’s social channels.

3. Produce a Social Media Policy

A formal social media policy means that everyone can be aware of what the standards and expectations are. This doesn’t need to be a lengthy document but should include details of what is considered good practice. Among many other things, it could specify that all devices used to access the organization’s social media accounts are password protected and are locked when not in use. It could also explicitly state that passwords should not be written down or passed around among employees (unless authorized to do so) and should be changed every 90 days.

4. Limit Access

Choose carefully which staff members have access to your social media accounts. You could even consider using third-party management tools such as Sprout Social or Hootsuite, as this allows you to give them access to social accounts, without having password access. Always keep a log of exactly who has access to which accounts, and ensure it is audited and updated regularly.

Passwords should be changed whenever staff members leave, even if they leave on good terms. Employees are often the weakest link when it comes to social media security. In 2013, UK staff at HMV found themselves undergoing redundancies, and their Twitter account quickly hit the news when Tweets started appearing declaring, “We’re all being fired!” The tweets were, of course, later deleted, but nothing is ever completely removed from the Internet, and screenshots abound of tweets that look bad for the brand.

5. Check Access Rights for External Tools

There are hundreds of tools available that help you to schedule and manage your social media accounts, such as IFTTT, Hootsuite, and Buffer. It’s important to regularly audit which apps have access to your accounts. If you no longer use a certain app or don’t recognize its name, revoke access, to help keep your account secure.

6. Make It a Role Within the Company

Rather than giving access to everyone on the team and then waste time trying to monitor it, consider hiring a Social Media Manager to take care of your social media channels. Hire someone who will be fully trained and educated in your social media policy and best practices. They should not only update your accounts regularly but also monitor your brand’s presence online and look out for any signs of a problem.

Social media is an unavoidable part of any good marketing strategy—and social media security is a vitally important part of that. Make sure your social media channels are not vulnerable to attack. What are you doing to protect your businesses social media channels? Share your tips in the comment box below, or tweet us @smxplorer.

The post 6 Tips for Keeping Your Company’s Social Media Accounts Secure appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

1. Decide What You Want to Achieve

Take some time to think about what you want your contest to do. For example, do you want it to help you raise brand awareness, collect customer email addresses, or generate more conversations on your social media platforms? Understanding your goals right from the start will help you during the planning stages.

2. Choose a Social Platform

Decide which social media platform you want to run your contest from, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. You could even run it from multiple platforms at once, using hashtags, or tools such as WooBox, Rafflecopter and Wyng (previously named Offerpop).

3. Plan the Contest Type

Make sure you choose the right type of contest for your platform, audience, and objectives. Here are some suggestions:
• Sweepstake
• Photo/video contest
• Poll/questionnaire
• Caption competition
• Pin it to win it promotion
• Hashtag contest
A sweepstake for example is the easiest to enter, so you’re likely to get more entrants. However, it’s not as engaging as a photo contest, where consumers are encouraged to submit user generated content. It’s therefore important to reflect on your goals when choosing the contest type.

Get fitter, faster and stronger in 2017! RT & Follow to enter our #competition #giveaway to #win a Fitbit Alta. #realbuzzfitness pic.twitter.com/BcjOx4PuXn

— realbuzz (@realbuzzcom) January 30, 2017

4. Think Outside the Box

Lots of businesses are running competitions, potentially at the same time as yours, so stand out from the crowd by being creative. You want to come up with something new, exciting and fun for consumers to get involved in.

5. Set the Timeframe

Consider the length of your contest. If a contest is too short, people may not have a chance to enter, but if it’s too long, you may find that people get bored and entries start to dry up. 1 or 2 weeks is normally a good starting point. You can always try this out and decide whether to increase or decrease the timeframe for your next contest.

6. Pick Your Prize

Choose a prize that will get consumers interested. Make sure you consider your target audience too and set a prize that is relevant to them and your business. Far too often, businesses give away prizes that are not relevant and they therefore end up attracting lots of people who are not interested in the business. As a result, they see a high rate of unsubscribes or unfollows once the contest ends.

7. Set up Your Contest

If you are using a contest tool such as WooBox, Rafflecopter or Wyng, then you will need to sign up for an account and build your contest. Fill in all the relevant information and make sure you test it out, to check it works from both your desktop and mobile. You will also need to create some eye-catching images that can be used in the contest app.

8. Set Your Terms and Conditions

Create some clear and concise terms and conditions. No question should be left unanswered. For example, you will need to outline how many times people can enter, how many words will be counted (for caption contests) and how the winner will be chosen (e.g. the funniest or best quality photograph). You will need to set the dates of your contest, outline copyright rules, explain how to enter and who is eligible to enter etc.… It may be useful to seek advice from a professional, to ensure you are compliant with any laws.

LIKE, FOLLOW and TAG YOUR FRIENDS to WIN. . Are you ready to taste juice like you’ve never tasted it before? Here at realbuzz HQ we think homemade juice is pure that’s why we’re giving away one of these awesome juicers during January. (FYI it’s also awesome if you want to detox). To get your hands on this fantastic prize just like the post, follow us on Instagram and tag your friends. It’s as easy as that to enter. All entries must be submitted by 5pm GMT on the 31st of January. This competition is in no way sponsored or endorsed by Instagram or their partners. Good luck everyone! #competition #win #giveaway #food #healthy #philips #vegan #fitspo #fitness #fit #foodporn #foodie #foodstagram #foodphotography #foodshare #yummy #fitnessmotivation #fitspiration #fitfam #vegetarian #veggies #recipe #cooking #cook #instagood #regram #picoftheday #2017 #juice

A photo posted by realbuzz.com (@realbuzzcom) on Jan 30, 2017 at 10:00am PST

9. Understand Platform Rules

Each platform has their own contest rules and so make sure you familiarize yourself with these before you run your contest:
• Facebook – Page Terms
• Twitter – Guidelines for Promotions
• Instagram – Promotion Guidelines
• Pinterest – Terms of Service

10. Promote Your Contest

Take some time to create social content that you can use to promote your contest. This could include posts that countdown to the start, and posts counting down to the end of the contest. Don’t forget to accompany these posts with engaging and eye-catching branded images.
For extra traffic, you can promote your contest across all your social media channels, not just the one which you’re running it from. You could also include your contest on your email campaigns, blog posts, add a banner to promote it from your website and even run social advertising.

Hurry #Competition is nearly over & so will the #JanuaryBlues! FLW, RT & LIKE to try and #win 1yrs supply of JB air fresheners! pic.twitter.com/sZjktsNT5J

— JB Air Fresheners (@jellybellyAF) January 30, 2017

11. Make Your Contest Shareable

If you’re using third-party tools, look to see if they have a sharing option. If so, ensure this is switched on, so it is as easy as possible for entrants to share the contest with their friends and family.

12. Make Everyone a Winner

Once you have announced and awarded the winner, make sure you thank everyone for entering. Instead of leaving most of your entrants empty handed, why not award them too? This could just be something simple such as sending them a free sample in the post or giving them a special offer that is only available to entrants.

13. Learn from Your Experience

Once your contest is complete, it’s easy to just move onto the next one, without learning anything. Instead, review your performance by looking at how many people entered – Was this above or below your expectations? If your contest performed well, you may want to run future ones in a similar way, on a regular basis. If your contest didn’t go as well as you had hoped, think about where the issues were and how you can make positive changes moving forward.

The post 13 Steps for Running a Successful Contest on Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

However, there are a huge range of tools you can use to help you become more efficient and effective in your job. So, whether you’re a full-time Social Media Manager, or have other responsibilities within the business, these tools can help free up your time for other important tasks. Here’s a list of seven popular tools to get you started.

1. Feedly

If you want to know what’s going on in your industry, try Feedly. It’s a simple RSS tool that brings together all the latest posts from sites around the web. You can even pull through your Google Alerts, so you have everything all in one place. As well as using it to stay up-to-date, you can also integrate it with Buffer (see below), so you can quickly and easily develop your content calendar at the same time!

2. Google Sheets

If you’re in charge of producing content, Google Sheets is a great place to create a weekly or monthly posting plan. You can easily keep track of your posts, access it from anywhere in the world, share it with colleagues to check and approve, plus, there’s no need to worry about version control.

3. Bit.ly

Bit.ly is arguably the most popular URL shortener tool. It’s ideal for networks such as Twitter, where you’re limited to 140 characters. However, you can also use it for other accounts too, where a short and concise URL can look much cleaner and more professional.

Not only does it shorten links, the tool tracks clicks, so you can see how well your content is performing and how much traffic you’re getting back to your website. The great news is, many tools like Buffer and HootSuite have bit.ly already integrated, so any links you add on thes platforms will automatically be shortened into bit.ly links.

4. Buffer

Buffer is a simple to use tool that can make you much more efficient at managing your social media content. You can post to one, or multiple social accounts and it will even help you know the most effective times to post your content. The detailed analytics will then help you to see what’s working best. There’s even a handy browser extension, so you can share any page on the web at the click of a button.

5. Canva

We all know that an image is worth a thousand words, but sometimes your image library just doesn’t cut it. If this is the case, give Canva a try, where you can design a visual to complement your written post. You don’t need to be the most creative person to design something spectacular, as the tool offers lots of excellent free features, design inspiration — and it’s very easy to use.

6. HootSuite

HootSuite is one of the best-known social media management tools out there. Not only does it allow you to schedule and manage posts for multiple social media profiles, you can also use this tool to monitor brand mentions and conversations. Try typing in keywords and see what people are saying about you, your products and even competitors.

7. IFTTT

“If That Then That” (IFTTT) is a useful tool that can help streamline your social media activities. You can get the tool to automatically carry out a range of actions, from sending you a notification every time someone mentions your business in a tweet, to keeping track of what times your competitors are posting. You can even configure it to add people to custom Twitter lists if they mention specific keywords on Twitter. Check out this IFTTT guide to get started and for more ideas on how this tool can help you and your business.

Do you use any other tools to help you with social media in your business? We’d love to know which ones have helped you the most. Leave us a comment below, or tweet us @smxplorer

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