Running and managing multiple social media accounts can be a full-time job and keeping track of them consumes a lot of time. Good social media practices require constant maintenance, tracking and reputation management. The more accounts you add to your repertoire, the more difficult social media becomes.
Luckily, there are solutions to these management issues. Software and apps, such as Hootsuite or Cyfe, allow you to manage all your social media channels from one platform. In a nutshell, you are able to schedule posts, reply to comments and keep track of your performance through a single dashboard.
What is a social media dashboard?
A social media dashboard is an integrated social platform that measures analytics, monitors performance and creates insights into multiple social media channels. It uses one interface to control multiple social media accounts.
Using a single dashboard saves a huge amount of time because you no longer have to jump from one social media account to another. It also makes comparing data a lot quicker and easier.
Perhaps the main benefit of a dashboard is the ability to schedule posts in advance. You can attach images, write the text and include links and hashtags for any number of social media accounts that you may own, all from the same interface. These posts will then be published at the designated time.
Dashboards are particularly useful for businesses with many social media channels, or if you handle the social media accounts for multiple businesses. You will save time by being able to access all the information you need from one platform.
Setting up the dashboard
Most of these dashboards offer similar services. Hootsuite and Cyfe are easy to use and allow you to track the analytics of all your social media accounts. Some dashboards require a monthly fee, others are free or offer free trials. Free accounts are more limited, so it’s worth spending some money to access a range of additional offerings.
Once you’ve found a good dashboard that gives you what you need, set up an account and choose your package. Once you’ve verified your account, you can log in and add your social media channels.
You can also add widgets such as Facebook Ads, Bitly and Flickr. These widgets can track different metrics for your social media accounts and can be a useful tool for keeping an eye on specific details.
These dashboards are often customisable so that you can set them up to your liking. You can show and hide certain graphs and functions depending on your needs. Some dashboards even let you combine metrics, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followers, into one graph. This can be useful for seeing if your social media campaigns are working across all platforms.
Scheduling posts to publish later
As mentioned before, dashboards will let you schedule posts ahead of time for multiple accounts. Once you’ve put in the post text, links, images and relevant hashtags, you can select a time and date to publish each post on each social media channel.
This can be useful for content that is geared towards specific holidays or special international days, such as Global recycling Day. You can schedule your content to be published at exactly the right moment to encourage maximum engagement.
Once your posts go live, you can track the comments and listen to your followers. Managing your reputation on social media is important and therefore it is vital to keep an eye on your comment sections.
Setting goals and alerts
Social media dashboards allow you to set goals and get notifications when certain things happen. Setting goals is an easy way to visualise what you aim to achieve through your social media campaigns. You are able to set goals such as how many followers you’d like to gain, how many retweets you’d like to get and how much ad revenue you’d like to generate.
Similarly, you can set up notifications for certain achievements. When milestones are reached, such as getting 10 000 followers or achieving 1000 impressions on a post, you’ll receive a notification. These alerts allow you to track your performance in real-time.
Stepping up your social media management
Social media marketing takes a lot of time and effort in the pursuit of building a following. Being able to manage all of your accounts from a single dashboard will save a lot of time. One important aspect of social media management is tracking your performance and making sense of data. These dashboards allow you to keep an eye on various metrics from multiple channels.
Dashboards can also be relatively inexpensive for the ease of use and time-saving benefits that they offer. Comparing channels and your campaigns is made simple through dashboards, so consider using one for your business.
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Sorted Design Agency is a creative company that constantly looks for solutions to other people’s problems. These problems come mostly in the visual format, such as graphic design, logo and illustration, but we’re experts in brand development, website design, and digital SEO campaigns as well.
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Based in Pretoria and Cape Town, Sorted has been in the content marketing industry since 2006. We assist your company with its corporate identity by communicating core values through content and articles written for your website, blog and news area. This content is supported by AdWords and social advertising, which facilitates wider reach and audience growth. Turn your website into a business tool.
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Sorted also owns two other businesses; InkFish Print Studio – a printing company that handles a range of promotional materials for businesses and other services for individual customers, and Pampiri + Kie – a gifts and stationery store selling online and in-store. Both of these companies operate from Cape Town and Pretoria.
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