How To Not Get Overwhelmed Managing Your Social Media Accounts
With new social media networks coming out what seems like every other day, it can be easy to get overwhelmed."Well I have to be on Facebook because everyone is on Facebook!""Might as well throw in Twitter too.""Oh, what about Instagram? Yeah, gotta share those filtered pictures to my audience for sure.""What's this Snapchat thing? And Periscope? So I just record myself talking and people will want to see it?"By the end of the day, you spent all of your time on social media, and zero time actually doing the work required for your business!My hope is to help ease your mind and explain how not to get overwhelmed managing your social media. Let's get to it!
Have a strategy
Everyone claims that you need to have a "social media strategy" for your business, but what does that mean?In simple terms, it means answering this question: Why are you doing whatever you're doing on each social platform? What is your goal of participating on being on a particular platform?There needs to be a "why" to everything you do for your business and the same goes for social media. Do not be on social media just because "people tell you to." There needs to be a reason, otherwise you'll lose motivation to continue engaging.
Batch scheduling
I'm a big fan of batch scheduling in different facets of my life, but especially with social media.Yes, I work in social media, so shouldn't I always be socializing on these platforms? No.For one, I have to write this blog right? Two, I need to meet and discuss with clients, which also takes time. So even I'M not on social media 24/7.Here's what I do:Each Friday, I look at my calendar for the week ahead. I first notice any social engagements, appointments, meetings, etc.I then plug in my workouts into my calendar.Then, I schedule out my work week, scheduling chunks of time to just schedule social media posts or find content to share. I could easily spend hours on social media, but having those chunks of time dedicated helps me remember to save it for then.
Turn off notifications
Just do it. Nothing monumental will happen, I promise. To get a notification on your phone every time someone likes your Facebook page, or tweets at you is distracting and not doing you any favors.I check my social platforms around three times a day: 1) once right when I wake up, 2) around lunchtime, 3) before going to bed.Your audience understands that a human being is responding back to comments on these platforms and they know you might not respond immediately and that's okay. You're a small business, not a huge corporation that has 10 team members watching its social platforms.
Don't be on every platform
Yep. I said it. You don't need to be on every platform as a small business owner. Figure out where your target audience likes to hang out, choose those, and lose the rest.Having a Twitter page just for the sake of having one but never posting on it does you no good. In fact, I think it actually hurts your business more than if you just didn't have one in the first place.I'll use myself as an example. For growing my business, I'm currently only focusing on building my Pinterest and Twitter accounts. These two are where I'm getting the most value for my time right now, so I don't promote on Facebook or Instagram.Now that doesn't mean eventually I won't move onto those other platforms, but I'm only taking on what matters most to my business while I'm still building.
Focus on one account
Pick one platform that you know your target audience is on. Just one. I know it's hard to ignore all of those other ones but this will save you time and will also save your sanity.Why focus on just one? So you can master it.Have you ever heard of "just in time" learning? It's this way of learning something right as you need to learn it, versus trying to learn allthethings at one time.Focusing on one account (ideally, the platform that your audience is on the most) will give you time to learn everything there is to know on how to grow that account and make it sustainable. Once you've mastered it, you can move onto the next.
Automate
Alright, so you have a strategy, you've turned off your notifications, and you're ready to handle multiple accounts. Now it's time to automate.There are many systems out there to automate your social platforms. Some are free, some aren't. Some only handle certain social accounts.For me right now, I use a mixture of the free version of Hootsuite to schedule my tweets and just started using ViralTag for Pinterest. I am hoping to do a full review of ViralTag in the near future.My best advice is to use what system that works best for your budget and your business. It might take a lot of trial and error but once you find the right match, it will keep you from getting overwhelmed.
Hire out
If your small business is growing at a rapid pace (awesome job!) then it might be time to outsource some of your social media tasks.It can be hard to hand over part of your brand to someone new, but it could help grow your brand exponentially if you're then free to do what you do best in your business.Thinking of hiring someone to take on your social platforms? Feel free to check out my services page or contact me directly. I'd love to chat!
