“Round-Up” Your Social Media Content In Seven Steps

When the mood strikes, I go to YouTube to watch my favourite television commercial from 2006. Remember this one?

It reminds me that an online community manager is a bit of a digital cowboy. When you’re responsible for “rounding” up daily, quality content for all your social media channels, practice your “yeehaw”, put on your cowboy hat and direct your digital lasso to help you organize online content quickly and with a purpose. Here’s how:

Step 1: Organize It
Consider using a social media dashboard like HootSuite. With a dashboard, you can set up and monitor search streams to help you keep an eye on the online conversations and content that matters to your audience.

Step 2: Share It If You Like It
Visit your favourite blogs, news sites, and online magazines. If it’s not something you would read or watch yourself, than you’re going to have a tough time convincing others to spare their attention. Always post quality over quantity.

Step 3: Schedule It
Bookmark or schedule the content for posting or tweeting throughout the day or week. Remember, scheduling good social media content does not replace day-to-day social media monitoring. It’s important to take the time to read and respond to fans and followers who reach out to you. Monitoring should always take precedent over scheduling content.

Step 4: Build It
We recently came across a study that shows tweets that contain a link with content on either side of it perform better than tweets with a URL at the beginning or end. It’s a small change but worth consideration. Prompt the tweet; add your shortened URL, and follow-up with your own thought or reaction to the post.

Step 5: Repeat It
Be consistent. Seeking out relevant content can take longer than you think. Set up a block of time each week and, if you need to convince management that it’s time well spent, explain how it’s a form of media monitoring and research. After one month of “rounding” you’ll notice how much more you know about the current conservations and online attitude toward relevant topics.

Step 6: Have Fun With It
Not every piece of content you share has to be a New York Times opinion editorial. Maybe you work with a conservation organization and you’ve just come across a beautiful example of time-lapse photography that features wild landscapes from around the world. No doubt members of your audience who support your conservation efforts would love to see examples of wild spaces that matter so much to them.

Step 7: Reward It
If an organization or company similar to yours is making headway in their field and you like what you see, share it. It never hurts to send a little link love toward efforts that further innovation, even if you find yourself competing for the same audience.

Giddy up.