According to recent surveys conducted by Wearables, fewer than 10% of decorators say they have a well-defined social media strategy and even less are confident in their ability to effectively reach their audience on social media.

Taking charge of Twitter, Facebook and other social outlets can help you stand out in a bustling industry, but when you’re already wearing more hats than one head was meant to hold, it can be difficult to find the time to take the reins.

Don’t worry. SanMar U has you covered. We’re here to help with a new series of blogs that will teach you how to wrangle your social media and develop a solid strategy.

AUDITS AND ANALYTICS

Before forging ahead, it’s important to know where we are and to deal with a scary word: audit.

When you’re running a business, “audit” is usually the last word you want to hear, but in a world full of tweets and likes and click statistics, regularly scheduled social media audits can mean the difference between successful campaigns and weeks of wasted effort.

STEP ONE: Know Your Networks

The keys to your social media kingdom tend to get passed around from person to person. So the first step you need to take in any social media audit is to take stock of your accounts.

Create a spreadsheet that includes links to all of your social profiles. List who has access to the accounts and note the passwords. (Make sure you keep those passwords somewhere safe and update them whenever they’re changed.)

Then, once you’re done corralling your information, create a company-wide policy for creating new social channels and centralize the approval process. This will help you avoid owning three different Facebook pages and six separate YouTube channels.

STEP TWO: Define Your Look

Now that you’ve gotten a grasp on all of your networks, you should make sure you have a uniform look across each and every one.

Are you using the same user icon on Twitter and Facebook? If you’re using a logo for your avatar, can people read it on their phones? Are your cover images consistent from network to network? The answer to all of these questions should be “Yes.”

Create a seamless experience for your followers, no matter how they come to your brand.

STEP THREE: Do Your Homework

Actors, magicians, teachers and salespeople all know one universal truth: if you’re going to wow a crowd, you need to know your audience. This applies to managing your social networks too.

Every major social media outlet gives you access to analytic reports that track how well your posts are performing. Make note of the updates that do exceptionally well, and you’ll start to get a sense for the kinds of content your audiences like to see. Your Facebook fans might enjoy behind-the-scenes photos while your Twitter followers prefer links to blog posts and news articles.

Play to your audience and give them what they want. The more your followers like, comment and share your posts, the more people you will reach with your message.

We’ll go into some of the more nitty-gritty analytic data later when we talk about engaging with your followers. For now, just keep track of your performance and be sure to compare your past and present statics. A monthly analytics check-in is usually enough for all us over-worked hat-wearers.

Speaking of monthly, come back in March when we’ll talk about creating and managing a content calendar.