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Social media is an important aspect of business operations because of its prevalence and myriad benefits. Social media is massively trendy. Everyone – from clients to colleagues to friends and family – is using social media. When businesses use these platforms, they are given an opportunity to interact with these groups in frequent and informal, yet still meaningful ways. There are also major monetary benefits to using social media, as it can be one of the most affordable ways to reach clients and build up a brand.

There are two different routes for social media: campaigns and page management. The goal of social media campaigns is to establish or grow a community. Ads, promoted posts, and gated content are often components of social media campaigns. Page management is the upkeep of social media pages; it includes content creation and day-to-day posting and interaction on social media platforms. Boxcar has experience with both social media campaigns and management, but the focus of this blog post is the management aspect.

When Boxcar manages social media for a client, we create a spreadsheet that includes all content that we’ve created for the month as well as what days it should be posted. We can do all sorts of content here at Boxcar – written posts, images, polls – but our favorite by far is video. Currently, we create all social media video content for Cantina Laredo, and we’re having a blast with it. When creating content for a client, it’s important to operate within the voice of the brand and to make sure that the correct platforms are being used. For example, Cantina Laredo’s brand can best be described as “Modern Mexican.” When making videos, we keep this voice in mind and make sure it shines through.

One of my responsibilities as an intern is to run the social media pages for Boxcar. I create detailed monthly social media plans and post that content on our pages. Social media is surprisingly difficult. For the longest time, I found it strange that some companies would have entire departments devoted to social media. Now that I’ve dabbled a bit in doing social media for a business, I know why social media teams are frequently necessary. No one person can truly encapsulate the voice of their brand. In order to develop and execute a successful social media strategy, one needs to think complexly and collaborate with their team. There’s a great deal of work that goes into creating a vibrant social media footprint, but the payoff is worth it all in the end.