SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE… SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT FOR EQUESTRIAN BUSINESSES

Social Media is a subjective topic when it comes to which platforms are most effective, how often to post, what content to post and how best to manage it. One thing that is for certain though is that it’s immediate, it’s interactive and has the ability to do as much bad as it can good if not effectively and responsibly planned, drafted and managed. When it comes to riding yards, equestrian personalities and other equestrian business, social media is as effective from an awareness perspective as it is cost-wise, making it the perfect marketing tool to consider. 

 One of the most commonly asked questions about social media is how often one should post online. In most instances, businesses will make use of multiple social media platforms simultaneously and the challenge comes in creating different content for the different platforms and posting it at the most effective times for maximum impact. Understanding when and how often to post on your different social media platforms is an important part of the overall marketing strategy and shouldn’t be considered in isolation.  

Having reviewed many different research studies about the matter, we’ve compiled a brief guide detailing the ideal frequency of your posts on the three major platforms – Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: 

FACEBOOK: 

Most studies suggest that posting once a day is the optimum amount for Facebook business pages. They also all seem to agree that the maximum amount of posts per week should be no more than 10. Many suggest that the ideal time frame in which to publish posts is between 13h00 and 16h00. However, with a little insight from Google Analytics, it appears that 20h00 to 23h00 is also a popular time for horse lovers to be online. 

 Your objectives will guide your posting frequency – if your goal is greater reach, then posting more frequently during the day is your likely course of action. One thing to bear in mind however, is that Facebook makes regular changes to it’s algorithms on what people people see and don’t see – the current changes suggest one should be focusing on quality engagement rather than relentlessly posting several times a day. 

TWITTER: 

Twitter is the social media platform with the fastest pace and shortest post lifespan (the average tweet lifespan is approximately 15 minutes – requiring regular engagement and engaging content. Depending on the nature of the business, the recommended number of tweets per day can vary dramatically. For equestrian businesses, the recommended frequency is roughly 3 to 5 tweets per day but it will also depend on the subject and nature of the content. Prepare to be responsive to comments and replies to tweets or retweets as your moment of impact to influence a conversation is brief on a platform as fact paced as Twitter.  

INSTAGRAM: 

Instagram is the visual version of Twitter, providing followers with a feed of photos and images. On a platform such as this, quantity is definitely not better than quality and the experts recommend fewer, high quality, engaging posts than multiple, irrelevant posts that eventually become considered spam and result in lost followers. Posting a minimum of once and a maximum of 3 times per day is recommended, or alternatively work on a consistency strategy and post twice a day, every day. If your business is event related, you may obviously require increased posting on specific event days, allowing those unable to attend to follow via social media – but this should all be considered when developing your social media strategy to ensure you keep the quality over quantity ratio in check.   

MANAGING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA 

The thought of managing multiple social media platforms can be daunting – what many forget is that although it’s quick to post and share, it’s the content development and creation that can be time consuming. Our suggestions for managing your social media: 

 Schedule time in your diary for content creation 

Don’t underestimate the importance of sourcing and creating high quality and engaging content as this significantly impacts whether or not you achieve your objectives. It’s easy enough to share other people’s posts but if you’re working towards becoming an influencer within the industry then it’s far better to create your own content so any shares on the various social media platforms also means greater exposure of your business and brand. Set time aside, as you would to complete financials and tax submissions or to schedule your week ahead, to work on your social media content plan which is an essential part of your marketing artillery.  

 Schedule Posts 

It’s difficult to be online all the time, and particularly at the times when your target audience may be online and most receptive to it. Platforms like Facebook provide you with the ability to schedule posts in advance so you could draft a week or months worth of posts in advance and schedule them accordingly for ease and convenience. Things can happen and change so be mindful of checking posts and ensuring the content is still relevant at the proposed scheduled date. 

 Utilise Social Media Tools 

In order to manage all the different platforms at the same time (as opposed to scheduling and posting on each of the platforms individually), once can consider online Social Media tools and programs designed to streamline this process for added convenience. The most popular scheduling tool is Hootesuite, which enables users to schedule and manage all their social media platforms on one dashboard. They provide a free trial period to enable users to try before they buy so you can decide whether it will make your life easier before you commit! 

 Outsource your social media to a specialist 

In business, we often try to wear too many hats in order to keep everything centralized and keep control over as much as possible. In hindsight, this is often a short sighted approach as it is not our speciality – hence taking us longer to do and the results being less impressive. Consider outsourcing your social media to an individual or company who will be able to provide the greatest return on your investment through targeted campaigns, strategic content development and effective platform utilization.