My article was published first at AgoraPulse– leaders in social media management software.
If you’re an agency or business owner needing to manage multiple Facebook accounts then you will know how stressful it can be.
I manage six pages on Facebook and there have been times when I thought I was losing my mind. Actually losing my mind! There are now over 65 million business pages on Facebook and if you’re managing more than one of them, you will need some productivity hacks to stay sane.
Here are eight ways to manage multiple Facebook pages without going nuts.
1. Make an Image Library
Facebook posts with images get 2.3 x more engagement than those without, but good graphic design is time consuming, especially when you don’t have a graphic designer! Making an image library can also be time consuming but once it’s done, it will save you hours of page management time.
I use Canva to create my Facebook post images and the great thing is, you can duplicate the message and change the image as seen below. Save your images in a folder for each brand and then alternate them each time you want to post an update.
TAKEAWAY- Create 5 images for each posting scenario. For example; “Social Media Tip”,“Thought Of The Day” and “Thank You”. This makes it super easy to manage multiple Facebook accounts.
2. Establish a Workflow to Stay on Task
One of the biggest problems I had when managing multiple Facebook pages was keeping the various brands and teams updated on everything. Each brand has its own set of creatives, logins, graphics and reports and if you are managing lots of them, then it can become very confusing.
Trello is a great free tool I use for managing my workflow, storing vital details and communicating with clients. In Trello, I can create “to do” lists and assign jobs or reports to different clients, all without leaving my dashboard.
TAKEAWAY– Create a standard set of boards for each client to ensure a smooth and consistent workflow for you. These may be “weekly reports”, “upcoming posts” or “budget spend”. If you need to manage multiple Facebook accounts then this will keep you on track.
3. Use a Dashboard to Monitor all Your Facebook Activity
I used to log in to each and every individual network to compose posts, check replies and monitor interaction. Half my day was probably spent trying to find login details and getting locked out of accounts.
I switched my social media management to dashboards and my productivity has soared.
Using a social media management tool like Agorapulse means that I can monitor comments, posts, private messages and interaction in one place. That goes for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. No more annoying logins and bye bye password lists on Excel!
As you can see from the screenshot below, in minutes I can switch between looking at messages for a hair salon I manage to monitoring comments on my own Facebook page.
TAKEAWAY- Find a dashboard you love and upgrade to the paid multiple account version. The free one is usually only good for one set of pages. A great dashboard really is the best way to manage multiple Facebook accounts.
4. Reuse Evergreen Content
Very often, social media managers are either tasked with producing content or have a role in dictating its direction. So, if that’s you, I have two words for you: Evergreen Content. Evergreen content can be reused over and over again on your blog and on your social networks which makes it an excellent time saving hack.
Another benefit is that evergreen content will get more views as it will be searched repeatedly as opposed to time sensitive or event based content which has a shelf life. You can see a post below from my blog Charli Says which has been reused several times on Facebook. Its content is not time sensitive, does not include any dates and is still useful and valid for my fans.
5. Schedule Your Posts At Least Two Weeks in Advance
One way to feel like you’re going nuts is to leave all your scheduling till the last minute, or worse still, not schedule at all.
I have a two week ahead rule for all my content and social media which means my Facebook accounts are scheduled in advance. Of course, you can always reschedule if you find a more newsworthy post or find yourself with some free time to design something different.
Using the Agorapulse calendar, I can schedule posts and tweets to go out on the days and times I want them to for each Facebook page. This task probably takes me three hours every two weeks. However it saves me needing to remember to post updates each day.
TAKEAWAY– Pay attention to the times you are scheduling your messages for. If you are based in Europe but your page fans are in the US, then schedule for their time zone and not yours.
6. Designate a “Pull My Pages’ Analytics Day”
Marketers don’t like working on social media reports. They can take ages to produce and really cut into your creative time.
If you are managing multiple Facebook pages and producing reports on different days, you may find yourself running in circles and playing catch-up with your other tasks. Set a day aside each week or month where you will handle all the reports for your pages. If your dashboard or social media management tool can produce super-fast reports like these, then it shouldn’t take you too long.
TAKEAWAY- Different brands will have different Facebook KPIs when it comes to social media management. Know which metrics each page wants to see and generate reports based on those.
7. Stagger Your Facebook Advertising Timelines
Envision this scenario: You are managing 6 pages, each has 3 ads running, all of them finish on the last day of the month.
This was me on that last day each month.
If you prefer to spend a whole day dedicated to ads then you can simply end them all on the same date. It’s up to you.
TAKEAWAY- If an ad is producing great results then extend the date and rerun it. There may be no need to replace it at all.
8. Create Parameters for Facebook Page Automation
If you need to manage multiple Facebook accounts then automation is both your angel and your demon. Too much automation can seem robotic, non-personal and can leave you open to potential PR problems. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t use a little automated magic to manage multiple Facebook accounts. Here are some of the commands (or recipes) you could create using IFTTT:
- Repost articles from top sites in your niche to your page
- Set automated “Be with you soon” responses to Facebook messenger
- Automatically post your latest blog content to your page
TAKEAWAY– Automation should be handled with care. Only automate from highly reliable sources or from your own blog. Saying “It wasn’t my fault” afterwards won’t cut it with fans or shareholders.
DON’T…
Now you have some great tips for managing multiple Facebook accounts, here are some of the things you shouldn’t be doing:
- Set up automated RSS feeds to your Facebook pages – it looks terrible and won’t get the engagement you want.
- Forget to monitor comments from fans in your dashboard– you love your fans right? You need to be checking comments even on dark posts when you manage multiple Facebook accounts.
- Use the same content on different pages – you will doom all your pages to failure if you do that. Know each brand and stick to the right style.
- Lose consistency– 1 post per day, every day, is better than 5 one week and 0 the next.
Setting up these eight hacks may take some time but they may just save you from losing your mind in the future. What’s your favorite tip to successfully manage multiple Facebook accounts ? Let us know in the comments!