Social media is an indispensable tool for businesses. This is proven time and again, especially during the pandemic. Dare we say that social media has created more winners than losers in those chaotic times? But how you keep social media marketing in check and intact is a matter of deliberation, more so if working with a remote team. Your business may need to develop its own social media toolkit. While it is not the be-all and end-all, the toolkit informs, guides, and directs the team, ensuring that all members are on the same page.
What is a social media toolkit?
A social media toolkit is a how-to guide. It is similar to brand guidelines, though for social media purposes. The toolkit aims to help any brand ensure consistency in representation, whether textual or visual because the team precisely knows what the strategy involves. A toolkit is handy if multiple teams are handling numerous campaigns.
Furthermore, a social media toolkit incorporates best practices for using these platforms more effectively. Applying these practices ensures a higher level of quality that helps the company or organization reach its business goals.
Reasons for choosing a social media toolkit
One social platform is already challenging to manage—what more if there is more than one platform and several social campaigns to manage. Not to mention if your users expect your post daily, which means you also need to produce and manage a content volume. And not all content is created equal. For example, visuals take a few minutes to hours to create. The process will be easier if you have an in-house or on-call graphic designer.
An accessible social media toolkit drives up productivity levels. It can also designate urgent and important tasks. So the toolkit adapts to the way the team works. This way, you will spend more time refining your social media strategy than learning to use tools.
With a toolkit, spontaneity is ensured, and disruptions are minimized. This is more so when newcomers are going to work on social campaigns. Guidelines are already created, so they only need to work on implementation. Of course, they may also contribute by offering new ideas and insights. Thus, without clear guidelines, downtimes may be realized. This is a disservice to your social strategy because your social media plan may be compromised.
Elements of a social media toolkit
A company will surely appreciate investing time and resources in its social media toolkit. This is true whether that firm is new to using social media marketing or does not have a toolkit.
1) Purpose
What is the toolkit for? This one question may have multiple answers, but it will surely establish how people should use it. It also encourages them to consult or refer to the toolkit when they get stuck, for instance, on how to use hashtags.
Moreover, the toolkit is for contextualization. For instance, it provides insights into why a specific campaign uses sponsored posts while the other campaign makes use of influencers. With this, you cannot move forward with or make considerable progress if you have no idea what your toolkit should be used in the first place.
2) Visual assets
Compelling visuals are critical in any social media marketing campaign. Visuals may include branded, non-branded, or other agreed-upon photos, graphics, illustrations, etc. All these should represent the brand and the campaign regardless of your choice.
Such resources should be available in a shared location, especially if more than one person is working on the social strategy. You want to make sure of the shareability of the photos as well. Thus, if the creatives are in one place, it is easier for everyone to provide feedback on whether a particular image aligns with the campaign’s goal.
When we say accessible, it does not only pertain to making the toolkit available to team members. It also means using visual assets that allow people to engage with them regardless of disabilities. For example, it must include alternative text for text-only users or open or closed captioning for users who are deaf or hard of hearing.
3) Hashtags
It is 2024, yet even some digital marketers do not know how to use hashtags. Not just the technical aspect of it (no spaces, please) but also the need to use hashtags in the first place. Firstly, hashtags are unique identifiers. If you are building a campaign from the ground up, create hashtags for that particular campaign. These hashtags unify the posts. Consistent use of specific hashtags will make it easier for the followers to find relevant information about your campaign. Hashtags are clickable and searchable, right? This brings us to…
Secondly, hashtags are a way to monitor what others are saying about you generally. If a hashtag is meant for participation, you may quickly know how many people use it and who actually uses it.
Thirdly, hashtags are algorithmic. The more a user searches, clicks on, or uses a particular hashtag, the more content will be shown on his or her feed using the same or related hashtags. This is how the For You page on TikTok works.
4) Sample posts
How are teams going to use social media content? Essentially, the toolkit accounts for different social content and the reason behind which one to use. These are some examples of social content:
- Written posts, links to blog posts, articles, how-to guides, etc.
- Ebooks
- Images, illustrations, photos, infographics, etc.
- Videos (reels, short videos, video stories, live videos, etc.)
- Testimonials and reviews
- Contests and polls
- Announcements
- Memes and GIFs
The toolkit must offer guidance on the elements of each content type and best practices (when to post, how to post, etc.). For example, posting on Facebook and Twitter is always better to accompany textual content with a photo or any visual for that matter. In Instagram, use only square photos because landscape or portrait images render differently on the platform. Yes, visuals must be sized according to the platform’s requirements where you plan to post them.
Apparently, the toolkit has the brand message at its core. For one, you may align the tactics to the values and interests of your target audience. Next, you may drill down to what actions you would like them to take (based on call-to-actions on each post, for instance). Finally, the team may decide how to strategically use texts and videos to capture the audience’s attention. All in all, you will be guided on how you can keep your audience engaged.
A sample of up to three for each social content type will do. Then again, keep in mind that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the like consistently roll out new functions and features. So figure out how a new feature may benefit your social media campaign by creating guidelines around that particular feature.
Other considerations
Content calendar
The social media toolkit embodies the brand’s content strategy. A social content calendar is instrumental in this endeavor. The toolkit includes guidelines on what and how to post what content type on which social platform. All team members’ expectations are also guided in what is getting published and when. For instance, if you need to hype up an incoming event, you can brainstorm ideas and reflect them on the calendar by creating marketing collateral.
Besides the content calendar, the members are also guided on what tools to use. For example, the toolkit may include a portfolio of manipulatable post templates. Make sure that the folder is accessible to streamline the process. Also, changes to the templates must be documented appropriately.
Social metrics
When setting up goals, make sure that you utilize a metric to measure the success of each strategy or tactic. Social metrics determine how effective the strategies are.
Social platforms usually have a dashboard that walks you through the campaign’s analytics. Use this to track metrics and strategize accordingly. For instance, if some posts perform better than others, analyze why this is so. Then, plan on creating more of that posts in the future.
Finally, a social media toolkit is dynamic, which means its effectiveness lies in continued use and refinement. The toolkit goes beyond efficiency, though. It renders structure to your strategy and ensures consistency. Putting social media components in one place makes the process more manageable. Nothing will be forgotten or lost. Also, the team may focus on consistently getting things done rather than stressing over what to do next.
Think of your social media toolkit as something alive and thriving. Some tactics that work now may no longer work tomorrow. So revise and refine whenever necessary.
Optimind has a socials team that can help implement your social media marketing strategy. We can build your social campaign based on your social media toolkit. We can also help create one for your brand if you don’t have one yet. Our team can help in different ways. Call us!
