Do you ever feel like you are only one person and can only do so much? One day I sat down and wrote everything I needed and wanted to get done in a week and was completely overwhelmed by the amount of work that I needed to do. (I don't recommend doing this - it only leads to more stress). I am typically one of those "take it one day at a time" kind of girls, but I got a wild hair, tried something new, and ended up stressed out.
Anyways, back to what I was saying. There are many facets to running a small business and one of the ones that seems most time consuming to me is social media. I try my best not to let social media consume my time, because I feel that face to face time is better than virtual time with those that I love.
BUT social media is a necessary way to communicate and share your business in today's society. I am fully aware of this, and decided that I needed a plan on how to balance social media and my sanity/family time, while still being effective at getting my name out there.
In an effort to accomplish this goal, I dedicated a few hours every weekend to prepping and planning out all of my posts for the week. I am going to share with you what I do, and hopefully it can help you create margin in your life too.
Facebook - If you have a Facebook for business page, you can schedule your posts out for any date and any time. I plan out one post per day (roughly) talking about new products, sharing memes that I have found, or videos that I thought were cool. I can also share other items to my Facebook page as I found them, but at least I know that there is something being published each day.
Pinterest - I take the easy way out here and use tailwind to schedule out all of my pins for the week. I schedule 12-15 pins each day and use the tribes to pick content that is relative to my followers. I will still participate in a pinning party here and there and spend a little time on Pinterest, but for the most part, this takes care of my weekly pinning. Here is my referral link if you want to try out Tailwind.
Instagram - Instagram is one of the most difficult ones to prep due to the fact that unless you use a scheduler, you are still responsible to post at the time you want it to post. What I have found works for me is to create all of my posts over the weekend and save them all as drafts. I can add all my tags (and #hashtags), captions and edits. Then when I open up Instagram, the very first thing I see when I go to upload a new picture are the posts that I have saved in drafts. Yes, I still have to post it - but at least all of thinking is already done - I just have to click post!
Blogger - Obviously blogging is the most time consuming when it comes to content, but it is the easiest to schedule. Honestly, I write most of my blog posts once a month. I typically post every Monday & Thursday, but sometimes it's a little less than that. As I come up with ideas, I write them down and jot down any thoughts I have. Once a month I will sit down with the post ideas and any holidays, new products, or ideas that I have for the month and compose all 8-10 posts for that week. It might seem a little overwhelming to you, but the thought of having to keep up with blogging multiple times a week is more overwhelming to me.
Again, this might not work for everyone, but this has worked for me. I have also found that if I turn my phone off or leave it in the other room (except when scheduling Instagram) and tell my husband what I'm doing, that I can just work quickly and quietly and get ahead for the week.
Here's to finding margin,
Hilary
Anyways, back to what I was saying. There are many facets to running a small business and one of the ones that seems most time consuming to me is social media. I try my best not to let social media consume my time, because I feel that face to face time is better than virtual time with those that I love.
BUT social media is a necessary way to communicate and share your business in today's society. I am fully aware of this, and decided that I needed a plan on how to balance social media and my sanity/family time, while still being effective at getting my name out there.
In an effort to accomplish this goal, I dedicated a few hours every weekend to prepping and planning out all of my posts for the week. I am going to share with you what I do, and hopefully it can help you create margin in your life too.
Facebook - If you have a Facebook for business page, you can schedule your posts out for any date and any time. I plan out one post per day (roughly) talking about new products, sharing memes that I have found, or videos that I thought were cool. I can also share other items to my Facebook page as I found them, but at least I know that there is something being published each day.
Pinterest - I take the easy way out here and use tailwind to schedule out all of my pins for the week. I schedule 12-15 pins each day and use the tribes to pick content that is relative to my followers. I will still participate in a pinning party here and there and spend a little time on Pinterest, but for the most part, this takes care of my weekly pinning. Here is my referral link if you want to try out Tailwind.
Instagram - Instagram is one of the most difficult ones to prep due to the fact that unless you use a scheduler, you are still responsible to post at the time you want it to post. What I have found works for me is to create all of my posts over the weekend and save them all as drafts. I can add all my tags (and #hashtags), captions and edits. Then when I open up Instagram, the very first thing I see when I go to upload a new picture are the posts that I have saved in drafts. Yes, I still have to post it - but at least all of thinking is already done - I just have to click post!
Blogger - Obviously blogging is the most time consuming when it comes to content, but it is the easiest to schedule. Honestly, I write most of my blog posts once a month. I typically post every Monday & Thursday, but sometimes it's a little less than that. As I come up with ideas, I write them down and jot down any thoughts I have. Once a month I will sit down with the post ideas and any holidays, new products, or ideas that I have for the month and compose all 8-10 posts for that week. It might seem a little overwhelming to you, but the thought of having to keep up with blogging multiple times a week is more overwhelming to me.
Again, this might not work for everyone, but this has worked for me. I have also found that if I turn my phone off or leave it in the other room (except when scheduling Instagram) and tell my husband what I'm doing, that I can just work quickly and quietly and get ahead for the week.
Here's to finding margin,
Hilary
Great advice! Social media is overwhelming. I struggle with my instagram. Im definitely going to try your method. Thanks!
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