What do you do if your team is struggling to stay organized on social media?

The most important thing is to figure out how to put numbers with whatever you're currently doing on social media. They can be simple numbers, i.e. how many times you posted on a platform last month. However, in order to accurately asses your current "state of the union" you need to be able to put some data against it. Once you have all this, it makes it way easier to set goals and to create plans!

When facing challenges in maintaining organization on social media, our approach involves implementing robust strategies. Firstly, we leverage Asana, a comprehensive task management tool, to centralize all our assignments and deadlines, ensuring transparency and accountability across the team. Additionally, regular weekly check-in meetings serve as vital touchpoints for discussing client updates, facilitating brainstorming sessions, and addressing any hurdles we encounter. Furthermore, scheduling content in advance enables us to stay ahead of our posting schedule, effectively managing our time and resources.

Start with two things: 1) Review your social media situation: look at the platforms that you are using, your objectives/goals, your type of content etc. 2) Review your team's current workflows and processes: what are bottlenecks, when is your team inefficient, which areas are not well-organized and why not, are you using tools to support your day-to-day social media work, do you have strong processes in place? If you want to properly assess your situation, it's important to consider these two perspectives when doing a first audit to really understand what is not going well and what needs to be changed.

Here are some steps you can take to get your team on the same page and streamline your social media workflow: Communication and Goal Setting: - Define Your Social Media Goals: Clearly outline what you want to achieve with social media. - Regular Team Meetings: Schedule regular meetings to brainstorm ideas, discuss upcoming campaigns, share feedback, and track progress. Content Planning and Collaboration: - Develop a Content Calendar: Maintain a shared content calendar where everyone can see upcoming posts. - Content Creation Workflow: Establish a clear process for content creation, from ideation to approval. - Utilize Social Media Management Tools: Many platforms offer features for scheduling posts in advance.

In my experiences the RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed) model works really well for teams trying to define roles and responsibilities. Once you have this framework in place, delegating out specific tasks becomes second nature.

Clear roles and responsibilities are super important. Not only because this prevents confusion, duplication, or omission, but it will make your team more productive. If nobody takes responsibility for a task and your team constantly feels confused about their own role, they will be much less likely to be motivated and deliver qualitative work. We need certain guidelines and expectations to make ourselves accountable for what we do.

In my experience, organization is key to staying on track with your social media content plan and meeting the goals of your social strategy. Personally, I use spreadsheets for monthly editorial calendars, google docs for copy writing, canva for housing designs, a project management software for approvals, and a social scheduling tool in order to stay organized with multiple accounts across various social channels. However, there is no one size fits all when it comes to your process! For instance, if you are managing only one account or one channel, you may not need to invest in all of these resources, and a spreadsheet, google doc, or notion template may fit your needs. The best approach is whatever works for you to stay organized!

Planning is key in order to stay on top of socials. You need to have a resource that your team can use efficiently and effectively to suit your goals. It should be a resource all team can access, and make comments or changes. Regardless of what the tool might be, it's something you and your team should be able to use long-term that allows for planning, organising, clarifying and creating.

Tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Sprout Social enable your team to schedule posts, collaborate on content, and monitor engagement from a single platform. These tools can significantly reduce the time spent on manual tasks and improve coordination among team members. They also offer analytics to gauge the performance of your social media strategy.

Implement a system for gathering and sharing feedback among team members. This could involve regular meetings to discuss what’s working and what’s not, analyzing performance metrics, and brainstorming ideas for improving content and engagement strategies. Encouraging open and constructive feedback helps refine your approach over time.

Staying up-to-date with the rapidly changing world of social media is essential to stay caught up. To achieve this, it is important to have a good monitoring and data analysis approach, which can help you identify what works and what doesn't. It is recommended that one person be assigned to track trends and insights while another person can be responsible for reviewing the performance of the social media strategy. This way, you can be on top of the latest updates and optimize your social media efforts accordingly.

Here’s What Else to Consider: - Training and Development: Invest in training for your team to stay updated on the latest social media trends and tools. Continuous learning can spark creativity and improve your social media strategies. - Cross-Department Collaboration: Encourage collaboration with other departments (e.g., sales, customer service) to ensure a cohesive brand message and leverage insights from different areas of your business. - Contingency Planning: Develop a plan for managing social media during unexpected events or crises. Having a protocol in place can help your team respond quickly and effectively, maintaining your organization's reputation.