QUESTION: Social media takes so much time. How can I streamline the process?
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been asked this question. Large companies have at least one team member focused solely on creating content and posting on their social media sites. But how are small businesses supposed to manage their pages when they don’t have a dedicated team?
I can absolutely relate to this as a “solo-preneur” and my experience from working in smaller organizations. There isn’t a team, and generally not even a dedicated marketing person. Although my business is marketing and social media, I also do everything that the owner of a clothing shop or mentoring program would need to do – pay bills, attend meetings, and work in my business for my clients.
So how do I stay active on social media while ensuring my client’s projects are successful?
Batching.
Once a month, I sit down and scan my newsfeed. I follow other social media influences, businesses, and marketing companies. This helps me see the articles posted, quotes shared, and trends that are happening. I collect all the interesting items I want to share with my followers and head over to my social site.
NOTE: I’ve never been happier with Facebook than when they introduced the scheduling tool. This has made every marketer’s life much easier.
A Schedule Sample
I take my articles, photos, and post ideas and start scheduling. I usually collect enough information to schedule for an entire month. While I’m constantly changing up my routine, here is a great sample to get you started:
- Monday: flex
- Tuesday: helpful article
- Wednesday: quote, #WednesdayWisdom
- Thursday: client shout out / testimonial
- Friday: flex
- Saturday: flex
- Sunday: flex
Flex days are spent sharing whatever is happening, will be happening or happened in your business. Perhaps promoting an event. Or a sneak peek of an upcoming product. Maybe a special shoutout to a great employee or a customer testimonial. It’s ok to toot your own horn – just not too much!
Sharing articles or fun videos are a great way to add value to your followers. Be sure to add a short little blurb about the article and share your thoughts. Asking a question is a great way to create engagement.
Wednesday is hump day, people are over the week and are looking forward to the weekend. So why not inspire and encourage them! It’s great to have a visual, so consider putting an inspirational or informational quotes on an image. A helpful tool is Canva to make your own graphics. Not everyone is well versed in Photoshop, so this makes creating unique images easy.
Be sure, though, to allow a few days for you to post in the moment. Heck, go LIVE and really connect with your audience!
Free Days – HOLIDAYS!
One of my favorite hacks is finding holidays as a free content post idea! Outside of the main holidays, you can also find wacky days, like National Donut Day (yum) and celebrate that in a fun way (like bring a box of donuts to the office or a client!). There are many calendars out there with these random holidays, but here is one I’ve used.
Other Tools
For my business, I have found Facebook is my main social page, so it does get a majority of my attention. But that is not the case for many of my clients – or maybe for you! If the scheduling tool isn’t an option within your platform, I like to use Buffer (desktop and app). You can schedule to Twitter and Instagram from this program.
It doesn’t have to take forever!
If I’m focused, I’ve been able to do this entire process in an hour. Sometimes it takes me a bit longer if I have to create more images. But in under a few hours a week, I can have a good foundation for a month of posts. I’ll still check back every day to see if there is a late-breaking news or event I want to share, but otherwise I sit back and let Facebook do the work for me. But make sure to watch your pages and interact with comments!
If this still sounds overwhelming to you – don’t worry, this is exactly why I’m here. I’d love to sit down and help you strategize and plan your social content. Reach out to me!