SharpSpring Social Overview

Social media is one of the most important marketing channels for your company—and it makes an even bigger impact when it is backed by the power of marketing automation. 

With SharpSpring's social media tools, you can:

• Post to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
• Create social listening feeds.
• Use the Content Calendar to visualize your social media strategy 
• Create automations and lead scoring rules based on social interaction.

This article will provide an overview on the social media tools in SharpSpring.

The following user roles can access social media tools in SharpSpring:

• Administrators
• Marketing Managers
  

Article Contents

• Social Media
• Locating Leads with Social Media Details
• Posting to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter
• Social Media Content Strategy
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Ready to Learn More?

Social Media

SharpSpring provides all of the tools for you to create amazing social posts without having to leave the platform.  These social media tools help you drive more traffic, attract more leads, and increase the satisfaction of current customers.  For agencies, you can create higher-value relationships, generate new monthly recurring revenue, and prove your value to clients. Create a landing page with a form, post that to Facebook, and analyze the performance of your posts all in one location. In the end, social media helps you:

• Increase page views on your website
• Generate more sales leads
• Improve customer satisfaction

With social media, you have the ability to improve customer retention by providing a direct line of communication. This allows your current customers to feel comfortable knowing they can reach out to you at any time.

You also have the ability to attract a larger audience and strengthen your conversion rates by providing an additional outlet for visitors to fill out forms. In the end, it's all about inbound traffic, and social media is the perfect channel for improving and enhancing your inbound and outbound marketing efforts. For more information, refer to Supercharge Your Marketing With SharpSpring Social. 

Locating Leads with Social Media Details

A lead must have social media details in SharpSpring in order to link their account to their social media activity.

When accessing the contact's record, you can see their social interactions—but only if they have social media icons in their profile. See the screenshot below for an example lead that has details for Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Additionally, when accessing the contact's record, you can:

• See their social media interactions on the life of the lead.
• Increase their lead score based on their interactions.
• Make visual workflows that automate actions based on their interactions.

For more information on automating actions based on social media interactions, see Creating Automations with Social Media Interaction.

Posting to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter

First, go to your settings page and on the left sidebar, click Social Media.  Click Add Connection to connect to your Facebook, LinkedIn, and/or Twitter.  You can connect both a personal account and a company account. 

Once connected, navigate to the Content Calendar by clicking the orange calendar icon on the top right corner of the app—that's where you will be able to create and publish your social media posts. Click Create and then Social Post to begin crafting your message. You can choose to either publish your social media post immediately or schedule that post for a later date and time. 

The following is documentation that will walk you through how to connect, post, and manage social media tools in SharpSpring:

• Connect your social media accounts in SharpSpring.
• Publish social media posts.
• View your posts in the Content Calendar.
• Create social listening feeds.
• Set up lead scoring and automations based on social interaction.

Social Media Content Strategy

Below is a breakdown of a typical content distribution plan:

• 40% engaging content
  • Quotes, motivations, quizzes
• 30% promotional content
  • Special offers, discounts, company news.
• 20% educational content
  • Tips, lists, infographics, statistics, and charts.
• 10% curated content
  • Original ideas, thoughts, brand-specific content

If you are wondering what type of content you should post, SharpSpring recommends taking a step back and looking at your own personal social media feeds. Tune into companies that you have specifically followed because you like their products or brands. Check out their posts and determine whether you would like to follow in their footsteps—or create an entirely new strategy from scratch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are the character limits for social media?
A: Currently, the character limits are as follows:

• Facebook: 63,206
• LinkedIn: 1,300
• Twitter: 280

Q: How can content be classified?
A: Metadata is a key component of any digital campaign, social media or otherwise. To better classify and categorize your data, consider attaching relevant metadata tags to your social media content. For more information on metadata and how to apply it, refer to this external documentation.
 

Ready to Learn More?

• Connecting Social Media Accounts
• Publishing Social Media Posts
• Content Calendar Overview