Social media calendars out there suck. Most people just download a spreadsheet template or Google Doc from the web and just manage it there. So, what’s wrong with that? Everything.
Let me try to list all the reasons why managing a social media calendar on a spreadsheet is wrong.
Mistakes.
Managing a spreadsheet basically means that you are constantly importing and exporting content from other places to manage it. We come from an agency background and we’ve seen plenty of simple but frequent mistakes caused by a sloppy copy and paste job. Why chance it?
No History.
Passing around spreadsheets via email makes it almost impossible to keep track of who has the last version of the document. Even making sure that you have the latest version on your computer means dedicating a good portion of your time to develop your own mini-system to maintain all versions of your files so that there are no mistakes.
Time wasted.
This one is a biggie as people inside agencies waste time managing social media content for clients in several areas;
- Account management – Time wasted emailing back and forward spreadsheets inside the agency and with the client.
- Social Media Managers – Time spent creating content on spreadsheets that will need to be re-created and scheduled on a social media platform once again when it’s approved.
- Art Director – Fulfilling requests for images for the social media manager and sometimes creating mockups of how the content will look to users once is posted so that the client can see for himself.
- Client – Sorting and viewing social media content on a spreadsheet is time consuming and frustrating, especially when the client is not being able to take any easy action to leave feedback or approve the content on their mobile.
Emails
Everyone hates emails. It really is not an efficient way to manage the collaboration around the content that your agency is creating as any notes or feedback given to you do not have the context required to make it easy to get to the point.
Lack of Previews
Clients prefer to see what their content will look like before is published and spreadsheets do not allow this. It only offers them a blob of text and and maybe a tiny thumbnail of the proposed image. Watching a full size image with it’s text in place will have ands impact that will not only help the client appreciate your hard work better, but also makes you look great!
Gain to The Rescue!
Agencies unnecessarily spend hundreds of man-hours on this process every month. This process creates aggravation inside the teams and with the client. Gain changes that.
Our process is simple, once you create a piece of content on our platform it lives there until it’s scheduled, approved and published on Facebook. There’s absolutely no copy/pasting and every user, including the client will always see the content exactly as it will be seen on Facebook.
Gain will pay for itself from day one and will bring efficiency immediately to your team.
Try Gain for free right now for 14 days with no credit card needed!
Photo by Keith Williamson
