Brandwatch recently published its latest guide to social media management to assist businesses in how to level up their social media game. Released on 16 April, the guide promises expert tips and best practices, as well as examples and advice to inspire strategy.

While the importance of social media for businesses is now undeniable, many companies still lack the essential knowledge needed for creating an effective and personalised social media strategy. 

“We now have social media directors, people who have worked in the field for a while but are now senior, leading teams and able to advocate for bigger budgets for the first time,” Brandwatch director of social media Meghan Meeker said in the guide. 

“It’s still the Wild West even though the job of a social media manager has been around for 10 years. Senior leaders might understand that social media is important but [they] won’t necessarily know how to really compete with the best of the best. Organisations aren’t levelling up because they don’t know how.”

A Brandwatch guide to levelling up

The guide’s methodology includes interviews with 15 Brandwatch experts with more than 60 years of combined social media management experience. A key component of the guide includes the framework for Brandwatch’s Social Media Management Maturity Model. The model highlights three stages of social media maturity – beginner, mid-level and advanced – and aims to help brands evaluate their maturity level and then learn strategies to maximise overall impact on social channels. 

As well as providing clear guidelines and tips for leveraging social media, the guide includes ‘pro-tips’ from Brandwatch’s internal experts. One such tip comes from senior commercial account executive Jake Larman, who advises businesses to: “Keep an eye on brands that excel on social media, whether they’re competitors or other companies, to see how they use social platforms to get more engagement and grow their fan base. Analyse the quality of the content they share and identify what makes it so good.”

The Brandwatch model is a straightforward ‘how-to’ guide that could provide valuable insight for brands feeling left behind on social media. It encourages businesses to self-reflect and then implement step-by-step processes to ‘level up’. This is a worthy (and free) resource that businesses floundering on social channels, or without established social media teams, should read. 

Photography attributed to Brandwatch.