How to Create Efficient Social Media Workflows for Every Network

How to Create Efficient Social Media Workflows for Every Network So, social media is a lot of work. Duh. You know this already. You wouldn’t be searching for a better workflow process if you didn’t think so. Before we start, see if your team checks off any of the following: Your social media workflow  doesn’t formally exist Your team is stuck in silos, making cross team collaboration impossible Your current social media workflow  is long and cumbersome You need a way to approve content faster Your team isn’t creating content fast enough to keep up with project demands If you looked at this list and thought â€Å"well, that describes my problem† you should probably keep reading. In this post, well show you: How to plan out workflows for every major social network How to turn those workflows into reusable checklists (called Task Templates) in . Weve also included a free Social Media Workflow  Process Template to help you document your workflow from start to finish. Download it now, and then well move on.How To Create Efficient  Social Media Workflows for Every NetworkIn Case You Don’t Have Time To Read Because who does? You could stop right now and sign up for , where we’ll do everything for you. Yup. We’ll automate everything for you. From task lists to team reports, we’ll take away your ever changing spreadsheets, endless email chains and stress over what has been approved and what hasn't been. No, you’re not dreaming, I promise. So, stop reading and sign up your team for a demo. Unless you really wanna keep reading. I am pretty hilarious after all. Still reading? Ok, let’s go over the basics then. Here's how to plan your social media workflows, fast:Training Your Team Members On Expectations For Content It’s vitally important that you train in new team members. You know this already. But how you train in your social media team members could help you save valuable time when it comes to approving your social content. How? Let your new (and old) team members know what your expectations for content are. Are posts always supposed to contain a certain hashtag? What is the overall voice of your social channels? When can they use video? Are gifs company approved or should they stay away from them? If you can answer these and more questions (I'll give you a starting list in a second), you’ll be able to cut your approval time in half because you trust your team to keep the standard of content you expect. So what questions should you be answering so you undoubtedly trust your team? Here’s list of things I asked when I would start working on social media for a corporation. What is the tone of this brand’s voice? What do our  social posts sound like? Do we have specific hashtags that we use in every post? What is the standard for graphics and images we post to our pages? How about videos? Can we use emojis or gifs? How often to we post to our channels each day? How do we create our content? If I need an in house video or graphic, who do I talk to? How does my manager want to be notified when content is ready for approval? What is the overall process of approval? How many eyes need to see my content before it gets published? Remember this list is a short one. The list of questions you need to answer in order to accurately train your team members may be different. Once you have your question list pull up a blank document  or download the template from our approval process kit. Type in each question and answer it for your team. Now as you get to the last few questions on this list you may have stumbled. Maybe you don’t really have an approval process worked out for your social media content yet. And now you might be staring at your screen wondering, â€Å"How do I create a social media approval workflow?† What if I did it for you? :) Keep reading to find them. How To Create Internal Checklists For Your Social Media Workflows These next few lists are going to help you break down your current approval process and cut down on unnecessary tasks to help streamline your team. How To Create A General  Social Media Workflow Checklist So if you were to write down your content approval checklist, it might look something like this. Gather essential team members (45 days before publish) (social media manager) Brainstorm content ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) Choose your 10x ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) Prioritize your top ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) For each idea determine your full to do list (31 days before publish) (social media manager) Assign tasks to team members (31 days before publish) (social media manager) Find keywords for content (30 days before publish) (social media specialist) Write rough draft of social content (30 days before publish) (social media specialist) Meet with assigned designers to determine visuals (30 days before publish) (social media specialist) Peer edit written content (27 days before publish) (content writer) Peer edit visuals (27 days before publish) (graphic designer) Send written content to manager for initial approval (25 days before publish) (social media manager) Send visual content to manager for initial approval (25 days before publish) (graphic design manager) Edit written content based on feedback (23 days before publish) (social media specialist) Edit visual content based on feedback (23 days before publish) (graphic designer) Send to managers for final approval (20 days before publish) (social media specialist) Send content to higher ups for approval (17 days before publish) (social media manager) Determine optimal posting times across all social platforms (14 days before publish) (social media specialist) Add content to posting platform (14 days before publish) (social media specialist) Respond to questions and comments on content (5 days after publish) (social media specialist) I’m not gonna lie, this list makes me have a mini panic attack. It’s a lot of work. Now what if you could cut that list in half so it looks more like this. Brainstorm and prioritize your 10x ideas (25 days before publish) (social media manager) Assign tasks to team members (18 days before publish) (social media manager) Find keywords for content (16 days before publish) (social media specialist) Write a rough draft for social content (15 days before publish) (social media specialist) Design rough draft of visuals (15 days before publish) (graphic designer) Edit written content (12 days before publish) (social media specialist) Edit design content (12 days before publish) (graphic designer) Send to manager for final approval (10 days before publish) (social media specialist) Determine optimal posting times for content (7 days before publish) (social media specialist) Publish content (0 days before publish) (social media specialist) That list was cut in half. IN HALF. Are you flabbergasted? It’s easy to cut out tasks once you figure out why they are there. There are usually three reasons you have a task listed in your approval process. To act as a reminder To keep a team on track To make sure that content is being completed the correct way While these are three valid reasons to put your tasks into a list, eventually once your team is trained in, they become unnecessary because they knows what needs to be done. With that in mind, let me explain what was cut, combined together and why that happened. 1. We Cut Step 1 And Combine Steps 2 Through 4. Quick recap of steps 1 through 4: 1. Gather essential team members (45 days before publish) (social media manager) 2. Brainstorm content ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) 3. Choose your 10x ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) 4. Prioritize your top ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) Why did we cut step one? It’s pointless. You know you need your team together to brainstorm together. It creates an unnecessary step that doesn’t need to be listed because you already do it. We combine steps 2 through 4 because they naturally flow together. Your team should have one session where you brainstorm and prioritize your 10x ideas. Anything that doesn’t fit into a 10x isn’t worth your team’s focus and is a waste of your valuable time. Anything that isn't 10X isn't worth your team's focus or time.2. Cut Step 5 Recap of step 5: For each idea determine your full to do list (31 days before publish) (social media manager) Cutting the full to do list for each campaign should be an easy task to eliminate from your line up? Why? Because when you post social content, you should be following a pattern. While the exact content may differ, your to do list shouldn’t. This brings me back to my earlier point on properly training in your team. By having a set project to do list, you’re able to train your employees to learn the standards that are being set for your social content. If your team knows the standards, they know what it takes to get the content there. Easy right? 3. Cut Steps 9 Through 17.  (Yes, Seriously) Recap of steps: 9.   Meet with assigned designers to determine visuals (30 days before publish) (social media specialist) 10. Peer edit written content (27 days before publish) (content writer) 11. Peer edit visuals (27 days before publish) (graphic designer) 12. Send written content to manager for initial approval (25 days before publish) (social media manager) 13. Send visual content to manager for initial approval (25 days before publish) (graphic design manager) 14. Edit written content based on feedback (23 days before publish) (social media specialist) 15. Edit visual content based on feedback (23 days before publish) (graphic designer) 16. Send to managers for final approval (20 days before publish) (social media specialist) 17. Send content to higher ups for approval (17 days before publish) (social media manager) It may seem like I just hacked half the approval workflow away. That’s because I did. This jumps back into my earlier point about the importance of training your team members to uphold the brand’s standards for content. If you team knows the expectations, they know what is unacceptable.