Starting from scratch on social media can be difficult. In order to grow your account(s), it takes time, dedication and a lot of patience. I have been managing social media platforms since 2009 and I’ve launched many accounts in that time – for agencies, small business and personal brands – and let me tell you, I have learned a lot. Here are five things I’d do if I was just starting out (or over).

Clearly define your audience(s).

Yes, I said audiences, PLURAL. Defining your audience as a whole is easy, but remember that different social media platforms attract different audiences. Tailoring your content to a specific group—whether by age, gender, or user habits—makes it more effective in the long run. Gone are the days we can cross-post to all of our platforms and call it good. (Trust me, I miss those days.)

Instead, hyper-focus on what content does well for you on which platform and define your strategy from there. You can do this by performing an audit on your current content to how things are performing. It is absolutely ok to see certain content performing well on one platform over another. This actually helps to determine a more defined content strategy so you are not wasting your time and effort by trying to create content that may not allow you to see a return on your investment (and energy).

Offer online training.

If you are someone who relies on others to collect or produce content for you, this is something I wish I’d done in my past agency work. The fire department I worked for had approximately 200 employees, and we encouraged all of them to take photos or videos of appropriate day-to-day events. However, we overlooked educating them on what that content should look like, which formats worked best, and the specific requirements for creating effective content. I tried to get in front of as many groups as possible to help educate, but unfortunately, the numbers reached were very slim.

If I had to do this over again, I would record a short tutorial using tools like Teams, Zoom, or Loom (one of my personal favorites) to explain and show them what I needed. This would have helped to foster relationships and better understand the mission of the department when it came to communications. Getting in front of or making personal contact with that many people was not feasible (trust me, I tried my best) but now that we have a variety of tools at our fingertips where virtual learning is possible, I absolutely would go this route if I had to do it over.

Post with consistency. (Wait, there’s more…)

I say this all the time when it comes to social media content: post with consistency. (I know, I can hear you saying, “duh, Jenny. You say this all.the.time.” But hear me out.

When I first started managing agency social media, there were so few users that we actually had to spread our content way out so we didn’t bombard our followers with content. (What a time to be alive!) As things progressed and I needed more content to stay consistent, I started posting original content five to seven days per week, only sharing others’ content in stories or alongside my original posts. This was exhausting.

Now fast forward and social media platforms are absolutely saturated with content again. So much so that we can’t consume it fast enough (nor should we even try). This led to another audit (are you sensing a theme yet?!) to see what our audience truly was engaging with, then scaling back to serve them appropriately. No one wants to be on the hamster wheel of social media content creation. Trust me, you will approach burnout so fast and fly off that little wheel. Been there, done that. 0/10 – don’t recommend.

Instead, we need to focus on consistency and quality so we are serving our audience at the highest level without wasting our time or theirs on content that doesn’t convert. We want our followers to seek us out, get offline and onto the platforms we own (such as our website and email list), and become our ambassadors. This can’t be achieved if we’re pushing out content that isn’t thoughtful or purposeful. For reference, most agencies I work with now post to their feed two to five times per week. I know this is a wide range, but some weeks do have higher volume of posts needed, while others are lighter and that’s ok. Getting laser-focused on your message and content strategy helps your audience understand your content and decide whether to follow you. Give them consistent, quality content and they will follow. I promise.

Build in regularly scheduled audits.

(Seriously, are you surprised?) Audits are such an important way to understand your audience, their needs and user habits. This, in turn, helps you understand how best to serve them. Remember, we want to serve, serve, serve before we ever try to sell to them. That doesn’t mean selling a physical product, either. It means asking them for something, such as signing up for your free email list, following the detour signs while the road is closed or in the really big cases, voting on a ballot measure.

Your followers are committed to you because you’re offering them something. Give them what they came for! If you focus on service first, those audits will show you a clear direction your should take your content. Auditing your account for post performance, conversion rates and trends can help you to repurpose your best performing content so you’re being proactive in your content strategy instead of reactive.

Build templates.

Templates may be considered a shortcut, but they’re not considered lazy. In fact, they’re genius. By having templates in place, it allows you to take the guess work out of what something should look or sound like. Templates can be built for so many communication efforts, including (but definitely not limited to):

• Feed posts (single graphics and carousel posts)
• Stories
• Highlights
• Reel covers
• Blog post featured images
• Emails
• Print publications

Make sure these align to your brand guidelines so it creates consistency and ultimately, much less work for you. I create most of mine in Canva and absolutely love it.

No matter where you are in your social media journey,

there’s always room to pivot. Things change constantly in social media and communications and I know how hard that can be to keep up with. Instead, focus on what’s working, ditch what isn’t and determine if you need to add anything as you move forward. This can feel like a moving target, but when you serve your audience with quality and consistency, it will allow you to connect with your audience and built trust with them.