I love social media, but sometimes it can be overwhelming!! You have to create a lot of content for it, which can be time consuming and then once you actually go on to Facebook, Twitter or any other social platform to share your content, you can very easily get distracted… the next thing you know an hour has gone by and you’ve scrolled through a bunch of pictures that you really didn’t need to see! Has this ever happened to you?
Well, in order to prevent this from happening you need to plan your social media so that it’s not overwhelming, you don’t get distracted and it’s a huge success! So this week I’m sharing a 5-step process for planning your social media, so you can manage it effectively. I also share a free social media systems worksheet, which is from my upcoming course Zero to Blog (highly recommended if you serious about starting and maintaining a successful blog), you can download it below 🙂
DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY WORKSHEET BELOW
PICK 1 OR 2 PLATFORMS
Keeping up your presence on numerous social media platforms is a recipe for disaster, as you cannot effectively keep up with all of them. If you really know whom you’re serving and where they’re hanging out online, you don’t actually need to be everywhere.
Choose one or two platforms and commit to interacting on them regularly.
ESTABLISH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA BUSINESS GOALS
Are you on social media to increase your revenue? Do you use it to meet specific types of people (potential partners, connectors, the media)? Is your main goal to increase your brand’s visibility or build your list?
Clarity about your goals creates a strong focus, which crushes overwhelm by determining what actions you need to take and what types of content you need to share on your social media platforms.
For instance, if one of your goals is to establish relationships with specific businesses and individuals, create a list with their names on it so that when you’re making your social media rounds, you check up on them, respond to them, and share their content.
Sharing people’s content and participating in conversations they start is an incredibly powerful icebreaker.
CREATE VALUE
Social media is a channel for communication and building trust.
It’s not a platform where sales happen, but it’s crucial for cultivating the connections that prepare people to click “buy.”
You’ve got to show your personality and demonstrate your values through your non-promotional conversations and messages. Sharing interesting and insightful information makes you look generous, informed and helpful.
I love to devote some time every other day to going through the new posts on the sites I follow. They get collected in my RSS Reader account, Feedly, to be exact.
From there I share some of the articles right away and schedule the rest in my Buffer account. Buffer and Feedly work beautifully with one another.
Overall, it takes me 15 minutes a day to look through the new posts and share the good ones.
STRIKE YOUR STRATEGIC BALANCE
Keep your plan of action effective and manageable by dividing your efforts into two categories: preplanned and live.
Combining preplanned content with spontaneous interactions is essential. The Internet never sleeps. But you cannot be online 24/7 making sure you add value in real time.
You don’t need to. You can as effectively share something valuable with your audience using preplanned content. Just don’t overdo it. You’re not a robot and you don’t want to look like one.
Commenting on people’s updates, replying to those who’ve mentioned you, reaching out, checking in, and sharing—all these things cultivate authentic, meaningful connections. . .the kind of connections you need in order to succeed.
The good news?
You only need to set aside 10-15 minutes a day to maintain this very important live element of social media interaction.
AUTOMATE IT
Your preplanned content can and SHOULD be automated.
Come up with a list of updates and conversation starters, pop them into a spreadsheet, schedule them in bulk using Hootsuite or Buffer and reuse them every 2-3 Months. Variety is important.
To organize your preplanned content, create a schedule.
Of course, for visual platforms like Pinterest and even Facebook, you’ll make different choices. But you get my idea.
Yes, this will require some prep work, but once you’ve established your strategy, all you need to do is spend 1-2 hours every month to update your social media spreadsheet and 30-45 minutes to schedule your updates (delegate it to your assistant, if you have one).
Approaching social media in a proactive, intentional way is what makes the ultimate difference. You’ll still get drawn into the social element, but my system allows you to manage your time on social media platforms more effectively. The time you save can be spent on what you love most and do best—making your clients happy—or even taking a well-deserved break.
I have given you access to the Social Media Strategy Worksheet, which is part of my Zero to Blog course. Inside this worksheet you will find 10 questions, which will walk you through strategies for your social media. Click on the image below to download.
If you want to whip your blog into shape, so everything finally runs smoothly and gets done, without leaving you exhausted and frustrated then definitely check out this amazing Zero to Blog course – it’s amazing and you’re going to love it.
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