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I think we can all agree that social media marketing is an essential element of an organization’s online presence. Unfortunately, according to the Harvard Business Review, 43% of companies that use (or are planning to use) social media believe they are using it ineffectively. This could be because organizations view social media as a passing fad, or they don’t see the relevance, or it could be that they just don’t know what they are supposed to do with it. When implementing a social media plan, several questions arise: Who will update it? When will they update it? How will we keep track of our company’s reputation on a medium that never sleeps?
Many have turned to social media management software as a way of harnessing social media content and monitoring online presence. Social media strategist Jay Baer distills social media software to five categories:
- Monitoring software: allows organizations to keep track of what is being said about their company in the nooks and crannies of the internet
- Engagement software: a place to easily respond to all questions and thoughts posed via social media
- Social marketing software: used for customizing social media platforms to better fit the needs of the organization
- Analytics software: an outlet to observe and evaluate the effectiveness of an organization’s social media efforts
- Social influencer software: helps to find out users’ interests
Your nonprofit organization may or may not use all of these tools in some way or another. But is it advantageous to have five different software licenses for each social media need? When does social media software become more trouble than it’s worth, and when is social media software the answer to an organization’s social marketing needs? In the coming months, I plan to answer these questions and uncover some of the best practices in utilizing social media software.
Has your organization encountered social media software that has proved to be beneficial to the organization, or software that has been less effective? Let me know what you think in the comment section below.