By Kathi Kruse
Kruse Control Inc. 

If you’re a social media marketer, your day is busy.

Sometimes, at the end of the day, you feel like all you did was spin your wheels. The boss is breathing down your neck waiting for results and you’re hard-pressed to give him anything concrete. You long to develop the habits of highly effective social media marketers but you’ve got so many balls in the air, you’re not sure which way is up.

There is a better way.

Taking the time to create a system that works for you will allow you to breathe easier. It might be painful during the process but once you’ve got it down, things will become manageable and the results you and your boss were craving will begin to emerge.

Following the habits of highly successful social media marketers requires that you make a choice. You can go along the same way you always have and get the same results. Or, you can choose to focus on building a system that works…and let it do some of the work for you.

It’s your choice.

7 habits of highly successful social media marketers

1. They develop a core strategy

Create goals that give you room to stretch, fail, get back up, and grow. State what you need to accomplish and determine the type of content that will help you achieve these goals. Then, create a plan to help you accomplish them.

Be nimble and agile. Core strategy should be flexible enough for you to easily adjust as your environment shifts. Your core strategy should align with your core values because you’ll need to sustain it and endure challenges over the long haul.

2. They know content strategy is key

• Who are your target customers? Identify and describe who you are trying to reach.
• Who are your competitors? Determine who or what can take prospects away from you.
• What do you bring to the table – better than anybody else? Resolve your “Why Buy Here.”
• What customer problems, concerns, or questions can you solve, clarify or answer?
• What content are you currently publishing?
• What’s the purpose of your specific content types? Examples: Increase interest, show up in search, engage prospects, advertise for leads.

3. They manage their content just like any other company asset

• Who will produce your content? Who will research, write and design it?
• How will you distribute content? Where does your ideal audience spend their time?
• Who’s in charge of your content? It may be you but in growing companies, this may need to be outsourced.
• Who’s going to maintain your content? Content is like a garden, it needs to be cultivated. Name that person and create a schedule.
• Who’s responsible for the results? If you have a small team, make each person responsible for some area of content. Make sure these goals are measurable, achievable and specific.

4. They manage their time with ease

A social media manager’s job is really a 24/7 gig. It would be nice to shut off the spigot sometimes, but customers want what they want, when they want it. In social marketing, so many components need to come together to achieve results and managing it all can be overwhelming. Time management is crucial so you don’t feel like you’re going to lose your mind.

Social media marketing is a creative process (contrary to what all the “tools vendors” tell you). Creativity needs breathing room. One of the reasons you feel overwhelmed or tapped out is because you haven’t designated a space, with no distractions, to focus on what matters most. Here’s where the 90-minute rule comes in.

The 90-Minute Rule:

Choose each next day’s most important task the evening before.

• Silence your phone, close all windows on your computer and put voicemail on do-not-disturb.
• Begin your work day focusing uninterrupted for 90 minutes on that one task. Routine is vital so commit to at least 21 days of practice.
• Typically, you’ll get more work done during those 90 minutes, and feel more satisfied with your output, than you do for any comparable period of time the rest of the day.

5. They focus on conversions

Highly effective social media marketers behave as though everything they do leads up to conversions.

• Building fans and followers
• Increasing reach
• Boosting engagement
• Selecting the right content (posts, blogs, landing pages, ads)

Taking these important steps to lay the foundation for conversions is crucial. It often means the difference between getting the sale… and not.

Once you’ve got a solid audience who knows, likes and trusts you, you’ll need a system to capture leads and turn them into sales.

• Creative campaigns capture attention
• Click throughs to landing pages deliver compelling offers
• Lead forms bring prospects another step closer
• Expert follow up turns fans into customers

6. They measure and analyze to inform next steps

It’s not enough to hang your hat on how much traffic is coming to your site. Years ago, this was the golden ring. Today, it’s simply a part of your overall analysis.

Determine the top KPI’s (key performance indicators) that measure success for you and use them to form your next steps. Here are the top 8 Facebook KPI’s we use to determine our client’s next steps:

• Audience growth
• Audience profile
• Audience engagement
• Content reach
• Engagement by content type
• Leads
• Response rate and quality
• Negative feedback

7. They have fun

Highly effective social media marketers are passionate about connecting with people — online or off. Producing content that attracts target customers comes easy to them because they are passionate.

Doing what you love is fun. If you’re not loving what you do, it’s time to do something else.

Are you ready to be a highly effective social media marketer?

Scaling the wall to develop these habits is your choice. Take time to investigate what makes sense for you and put in down on paper. Don’t be distracted by every tip, trick or hack that comes to your inbox. Free advice only goes so far. It’s taking that information and making something useful that’s going to get you to the finish line.

This content originally appeared on www.krusecontrolinc.com.