Running your company’s social media channels can often be challenging and time-consuming if you’re not familiar with the full array of features on offer. For us at The Practice, there’s always something new to learn when it comes to discovering how to make social media management all the easier. We’ve put together some of the best hacks that are sure to help you out…

When it comes to Facebook, many businesses believe they’re doing the right thing, especially when it comes to posting engaging content. But what ensures more traffic?

1. Embedded buttons

We believe all brands can benefit from implementing the additional call-to-action buttons that Facebook offers. These are free to embed on your organic posts when you set up a Facebook advertising account- (this step is also free too). With available buttons including “Learn more”, “Shop now” and “Sign up”, these are useful tools for ensuring higher click-through rates.

2. Post targeting

Did you know that you can target your posts according to gender, age, location, language, interests, and even educational and relationship status? Facebook now gives you the option of the “Add Targeting” button, which can be found next to the scheduling button. Give it a try on your next post and see if your reach increases.

3. Pages to Watch

One of Facebook’s newest features for your business page is “Pages to Watch”. This allows you to add up to five pages you wish to keep an eye on- great for keeping tabs on competitors. With this, you’ll be able to track the number of “likes” they receive, and their general progress.

Pinterest is one such social channel which brands find time-consuming to update. With companies choosing to post an array of content, lengthy descriptions and curated images, there’s a lot of time that needs to be devoted to the platform. So how can you reduce your workload?

1. Pinning from Facebook

Brands will often have a collection of images on their Facebook business pages that would also be ideal for Pinterest. But pinning directly from Facebook is actually a well-kept secret! We discovered however, that all you need to do is click on the image you wish to pin, right click it to view in a new tab, and then it is ready in jpeg format for you to pin. Easy! And it means there’s no more need to constantly upload pins directly from your desktop.

2.  Imputing text

It’s often the case that businesses can become lazy with attaching descriptions to their pins, simply because writing content for several hundred or thousand pins can be a laborious task. However, it is important work- using key words and hash tags for instance, will of course aid search and discovery. But there is an easier way! When you pin something from the site, simply highlight the pin’s description and/or title before clicking the “Pin It” button- the text will automatically come up in the description box!

On to Twitter- perhaps one of the most important platforms to grow your business, but also one of the most confusing. So what are our favourite hacks when it comes to using the micro-blogging site?

1. Twitter Lists

One of the most overlooked aspects of Twitter is the “Lists” feature. This allows you to create a list of people whose tweets and activity you particularly want to track. The best thing about this is that they don’t even necessarily have to comprise people you follow, meaning you can keep up to date with a wider group of people- and it’s especially good for businesses wishing to keep an eye on competition without directly following.

2.  Archive your tweets

Twitter now has the option for you to request your archive, which can be found in the Settings tab. By clicking on this, Twitter will email a link to you with a downloadable file of every single tweet ever composed. This is of course a great way for brands to check on what’s been tweeted in the past, what to repeat and not what to repeat, and which tweets have had the greatest success and why.

What are your favourite social media tips and tricks to use? Do you make use of them to save on time and work, or simply because they are more effective? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital, and share your comments on our Facebook page.