One of the preventative aspects of businesses being on social media is the means in which the accounts can be managed outside of working hours. Many business owners complain that they struggle to find sufficient time to manage Twitter and Facebook during the working day so how are they meant to do it out of hours?! There are 2 main techniques to adopt to ensure your social accounts have sufficient coverage outside of usual working hours:
Inform users of coverage
Users of social media are much more understanding than people give them credit for. If you clearly describe in a Twitter bio or Facebook info the hours in which your account(s) will be manned, you not only cover yourself for any potential confusion and/or complaints, you are using social media for what it was originally created for; communication. Customers generally accept a business that is prepared to be open and honest with them – it’s important to remember that there is nothing wrong with not being available 24/7…it is not expected of you!
Social media management tools
There are some highly efficient tools available to social media users that enable them to both remotely access their accounts and schedule in posts. Hootsuite leads the way in allowing users to manage multiple accounts and schedule posts for future coverage. If you are not available to update your Twitter account during the weekend, you can write the tweets and have them set to go out on specific days, hours and minutes. This is a great way to maintain momentum and extending the coverage of your social accounts.
