By Olivia Blumb

If you find yourself in a similar situation as me, you may have found yourself working as a social media assistant, without much experience in social media. For the last five months, I have had to revive a company’s social media platforms. Though our main focus is Instagram, we have also had to plan for other platforms such as Facebook, since one of our largest target audience’s is known to use Facebook more. 

Throughout the last few months, I have learned what to do and what not to do on social media through trial and error. Trial and error taught me things that I couldn’t have learned in a textbook, I had to experience it for myself. The following points are things I would recommend to a social media newbie, like myself, who is managing someone else’s socials. 

1. Know which platforms your audience uses. It is key to know where your audience will find your content. If they are in a younger generation, Instagram is probably where you should post. If they are an older generation, I recommend using Facebook. That said, use multiple platforms to reach more people! When creating your content, plan for it to be used on multiple platforms, and choose a design that can be formatted to fit on each one. 
2. Plan your content ahead of time! Before, managing a company’s social media, I never really put in any thought about planning content weeks in advance. As I manage this social media account with two others, it is important for us to plan ahead. I write copy and create graphics so each post can be approved prior to when it needs to be posted. Since I work in collaboration with 2 others, we use a Google Sheets, where each block is a post and is color coded.
3. Be consistent. Being consistent doesn’t mean you have to post 24/7. To me, it means keep your messaging consistent in all of your posts. In my company, we are always trying to initiate bookings, so every post has call to action line that says, “DM us or visit our website to book now.” Even if your post doesn’t have a call to action, incorporate your brand’s message into the copy. 

All that said, I still learn new things each day while I manage this company’s social media. My main advice is to keep experimenting – try different tactics, learn from others, research. Each of these things will be helpful in learning how to effectively manage a social media platform. 

Olivia Blumb, a Green Bay, Wisconsin native, is a public relations major and corporate communications minor in Belmont University’s Class of 2022. Blumb is involved on campus in her sorority Alpha Sigma Tau and PRSSA. Blumb has been a PRSSA member since her freshman year and now serves as the Chapter President for the 2020-21 academic year. This post was originally published on her personal blog.