Content Management and Your Sanity
Client after client, I hear the same thing - "Where am I supposed to find time to do all of this?" If you list off all of the single items that need to be done related to your social media, the list can be completely overwhelming! Overwhelm typically leads to paralysis and doing a big-fat-NOTHING. Sound familiar?
Most of the time, within the confines of a quick conversation with someone, I can tell pretty quickly why they're not getting the results they want from their social media endeavors. Most of it has to do with the fact that they don't create a plan or a strategy - they are throwing things into the proverbial social media wind, hoping it catches the breeze of chance or algorithms and fingers crossed that it lands in front of someone who cares.
I'll be honest with you - this isn't a strategy. It's the game of staying alive, but it most certainly isn't the game of growth. It's been harder and harder to show organic growth these days, as we're all too familiar that platforms are becoming increasingly pay-for-play marketing. If you checked out our blog from earlier this month, you learned that there are a lot of unseen and not as well known benefits to SIMPLY showing up on social media, but if you want more out of it, you'll have to try harder than that.
So how can someone who is already managing most aspects of their own business find a way to fit a content strategy into their lives that isn't going to have them shotgunning red bull or non-fat double shot macchiattos every week? Planning.
In all actuality, if you can give yourself 1-2 hours on your schedule every week (yes, seriously) to dedicate to improving your social media presence, YOU WILL SEE IMPROVEMENT.
Here are the key factors you'll need to keep in mind:
1. Creating a Plan - The first thing you'll need to know is WHAT you're trying to accomplish and, although this may sound obvious, most people skip this step. Creating a list of standard items you want to provide on a weekly basis coupled with upcoming events within your business is a great place to start. Call it a brainstorm - get it all down, and then use a calendar to plan it all out.
2. Use tools - Seriously, don't go it alone. There's no reason to make this harder on yourself! Grab yourself a platform like Hootsuite or Later which can schedule in advance, so that you're not jumping into your social media every single day trying to write new content on the fly. These tools also provide analytics and other options to help you with your marketing efforts.
3. Don't forget to be social - One of the biggest missteps and misconceptions I find with clients is that they aren't taking the time to actually be social. Output of content is great, but if you aren't tagging other pages, interacting with them, commenting, liking, sharing, engaging - your growth is going to be minimal, at best. ALL social media platforms reward you when you spend time engaging. Commit to it for a week, just 15 minutes a day, and I bet you notice a huge difference in your numbers.
You can do it and retain your sanity - I know because I've trained and consulted with MANY business owners, marketing departments and burnt-out employees who now have a set routine and don't dread it.
Our first online course "Creating a Week’s Social Media Content: Tools, Tricks & Hacks to Plan your Social Media Content in an Hour or Less" is almost ready to debut on Teachable. It's free! Join us for more details on how to accomplish a more realistic and sane social media routine for your business. Subscribe to our mailing list to get (below) notified when it launches.
