#991 Social Media Chef

Play This Episode

0 Votes

My husband is an amazing cook He reads recipes comes up with his own variations blending and layering ingredients in new and delicious ways Even though he is amazing in our kitchen he could not own a restaurant Why He knows how to time a meal with three dishes for eight people but expanding that to thirty dishes for one hundred people requires skills he does not have What does it take to be a social media chef The same challenge exists when it comes to professional social media Lots of people are good on social media They are funny and engaging They have a large following and interact regularly But just because they are great at managing their own accounts does not mean they have the skills to be a successful social media chef Precise Recipes It is easy to improvise when you are cooking for a few people A pinch of this a dash of that If you don t have enough potatoes you can substitute with carrots When you are cooking for a larger group and they expect a potato that is what you have to serve Slight variations will dramatically change your dishes when you are cooking on a large scale so a precise recipe is required to order the food you need in bulk In professional social media that recipe is your content calendar It outlines the ingredients types of content and the schedule how often and when you will post It is also used to create your shopping list A professional doesn t just grab a random stock image at the last minute Posts are planned appropriate images and Gifs are selected or created and scheduled to drop in the timeline at exactly the right time While many experts have conducted research to find the exact right time Sprout social has a terrific post on this topic A professional social media chef knows how to use the industry standards individual client data and their own experience honed across a range of clients to create the ideal schedule Manage the Kitchen When my husband is cooking the rest of the family stays out of the kitchen He manages his time switching from pot to pot so every dish arrives on the table at the same time That works on a small scale but restaurant chefs must create standard practices train their staff delegate tasks and stay on top of everything that is happening at the same time They can let go because they have laid the groundwork A professional social media chef will do the same thing Whether they are part of your marketing team or an outside expert their first task must be to create standard practices Next social media won t work if you are relying on just one person to put messages out there Everyone on your team needs to be trained and know how to engage in order to support the company s social media program Non-profit organizations with small staffs and large volunteer groups should extend this training to the loyal external community When it comes to social media the more people supporting the chef the more delicious the result Walk into any restaurant kitchen during the dinner rush and it feels a bit like managed chaos Somehow in this chaos the chef knows what is going on at each station Social media management can feel that way as well This is especially true as you widen your team allowing multiple people to share and even post directly to your social pages A good social media chef is continually training coaching providing guidance to marshall the resources of their entire team Click here to visit this podcast episode