If you’re having problems working out what and when to post on social media, maybe you should think about implementing a social media strategy.
Why is this so important?
It’ll help you get more followers
Yes, it’s true! Posting consistently will help you grow your following. If you schedule your posts in advance and get really organised, you could schedule a post every single day – even when you’re lying on the beach or if you’re ill.
You won’t have last minute panics
I get that you’re busy – always! There is never really a ‘quiet’ patch is there? But, of course, quite often the best time to be on your social media is when you’re busy!
If you’re busy, you have more things you can post about!
You’ve got loads of customers to photograph, lots of opportunities to show people how your customers have a great time in your business. You’re busy working and you want to showcase that…..
BUT you don’t have time because you’re too busy!
So, take the photos, film the films, get some testimonials etc., but don’t post them now! Keep them and schedule them in for another time. Does it matter that the event you’re showing happened two weeks ago? Or that you wrote that article last year even – if it’s relevant, people will still be interested.
Ever thought about using images from last Christmas? You’re still posting about Christmas so it really won’t make a difference. You can even publish it in October/November to showcase what was happening last year – and hey, it may happen this year too.
It’ll save you loads of time
We all need more time right? Sitting and planning all your content in one go (on a quiet Tuesday morning for example), may seem like a challenge but it will take much less time than going backwards and forwards into your social media and your photos.
On more than one social media channel? You can post to several channels at the same time with the help of one of many free scheduling tools, how easy is that?
You’ll post better content
Ever have that panic when Facebook sends you the message: ‘You haven’t posted anything on your page for a while, post something so your followers don’t forget about you.’ AAUUGGHH! ‘Quick!’ you think, ‘I must post something, here this will do…’
If you have your content planned in advance you can smile in the confidence that, at 2pm this afternoon, a really amazing post will be up on your page!
You will be able to showcase more of your business
If you plan your content in advance, you can make sure that you’re showing off all parts of your business. Creating ‘content categories’ of the parts of your business and then working out a post for each content category (for example, staff, offers, customers, behind the scenes, best selling products, events etc) will ensure you don’t miss anything out and your audience will get a full, rounded picture of your business.
Your ‘feed’ will look so much better
If you can see what your Instagram page looks like before you post anything onto it, you can make sure it’s on brand and appealing as a whole. People do look at your page as a whole as well as at individual posts in their feeds so it’s important that the posts work together as well as separately.
There are lots of free apps where you can see exactly what your page will look like before you’ve even posted a thing. If you don’t know which to use – feel free to ask me as I’ve tried lots!
You can target your audience more effectively
If you plan ahead, you can ask your audience questions about their pain points, what they want to know, what sort of content they want to see. When you start getting answers to these questions, you can start to plan your content accordingly.
So if someone says they want to see more photos of your staff, set up a photo shoot and get all your staff photographed and plan the posts so they’re spread out over a period of time.
If you’re an online fashion business and some people say they like seeing films of your models wearing your clothes as they like to see the way the clothes move, it gives you a chance to set up a film shoot.
Then you really are giving your audience what they want!
You really can save yourself tons of time, post better content and show your business off in a much cleverer way by being organised and scheduling your content.
If this all sounds a bit scary, I’d be happy to help! Give me a shout and I’ll share some of my tips, tricks and ideas with you.