Social media is great for raising brand awareness and is one of the online spaces where smaller businesses can compete with well-known brands. Consumers expect you to have a social media presence, so it is imperative that your businesses are active on social media.
Of course, not every business can afford to have their own social media manager and often this task will fall to the owner, along with everything else that running a business involves.
It’s easy to get distracted by the million and one things on your to-do list, or the abundance of cat videos online, so here is how any small business can maximise their time on social media to make sure it is the most effective use of their time.
Plan Ahead
Creating a social media calendar allows you to sit down and compose a week (or months) worth of posts and tweets. Composing in bulk allows you to focus on one task and helps you to avoid being distracted.
Add important dates and information to your calendar so that you can see at a glance what is coming up. If you know that something important is on the horizon, you can be aware of any photo or video opportunities and what resources you need to gather.
Automation Is Your Friend
Automation isn’t the dirty word it used to be in marketing. Without it, most marketers would struggle to get through their to-do list. Using software like Buffer or Hootsuite will allow you to schedule your posts ahead of time. The benefit of this is that if a crisis happens, and your focus is needed elsewhere, then you know that your posts will still be published.
It is important not to overdo the scheduling. Social media still needs a human element and if every post appears scheduled then you risk coming across overly robotic. Another mistake that businesses make is linking accounts so that anything published on Facebook is also published on Twitter. This may save you some time but as each platform has it’s own unique audience and nuances, this can actually have a detrimental effect.
Focus On What Matters
If one social platform is providing the most traffic to your website or leads for your business devote more of your attention to that platform. Your time is limited so why would you spend time on something that isn’t as beneficial to your business? You don’t need to be present on every network so think about which ones are likely to work for you. If you’re a B2B business then Linkedin may be better for you. If you’re B2C then Facebook may be the network of choice.
It’s Ok to have a presence on other networks and your customers may expect you to have one, but it’s important to focus on networks that are working for you. Scale back the number of posts per week on the less important channels and put more time into the ones that are helping you to achieve your goals. You don’t want your channels to look neglected so it’s essential that you continue to post something regularly on each channel, even if it’s once or twice a week.
Find Other Ways To Save Time
Find other ways to save yourself time. Saving a few minutes here and there will soon add up. Here are some of our favourites.
- Create a content log: This can be simply a list of links on a separate tab on your content calendar. This will save you the hassle of having to find the link on your website and it will remind you of what content you have available. Don’t be afraid to post evergreen content if you don’t have the time to create something new.
- Make use of tools like Feedly and Pocket. These apps work in harmony to deliver content and save content to read later. Follow relevant websites in Feedly and when they are updated, you will see the updates in the app. If you find something interesting to share but don’t have the time to do so, save it to Pocket for later. They work for us.
- Set up Google Alerts for relevant keywords or phrases to do with your business. Results will be delivered directly to your inbox. For example, if we set up an alert for social media marketing, Google will deliver links to your inbox on the subject of social media marketing.
- Let more people help. Use available admin features to give other people access to your accounts. This doesn’t have to be an employee but could be somebody that you trust. You don’t have to carry the load yourself.
- Set aside a specific time each day in order to respond to queries, catch up on your news feed and interact with other accounts. This engagement will be the most important and time-consuming element of managing your own social media marketing. Set aside time in the morning, at lunchtime and before you leave for the day in order to catch up with the day-to-day running of your accounts.
Check Your Data
Social media networks provide plenty of data for businesses these days. You can use this data to fine-tune your marketing activity. It will show you what is working and what isn’t and will allow you to focus your time more efficiently. Set aside 15 minutes each week to look at your data.
It might take some time to get into a routine, but once you have done so you will easily be able to make better use of the time you spend on social media. If you require any help or training then don’t hesitate to get in touch.
