The Social Media Breakdown

Free Content Calendar

Now there’s a double entendre: The social media breakdown.

Social media’s use for business is simultaneously necessary and overwhelming. You know you need it. If you don’t have a good social strategy, you either won’t get noticed in the digital marketing realm or get passed over for a competitor who is more “interesting.” It’s an unfortunate side effect of the on-line shopping age.

Although we all agree a good social media presence is important, the overwhelming aspect often takes over.

We hear things like:

• I don’t know what I’m doing.
• I try to make myself do it, but I forget or get too busy.
• I’m unsure what works or what to post.
• I had someone posting for me but that didn’t work out too well.

Sound familiar? The bottom line is, you’re probably so busy running your business that you don’t have time to learn/do/ try/ create content, etc. We totally get it and so many other business owners and office managers and even in-house marketing teams feel your pain.

So here are 5 steps for you to follow to get your social media moving in the right direction:

1. Start with a plan. Create a content calendar (or use our free one) and choose ONE format you’re comfortable with: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. Two to 4 posts per week is a good start.
2. Set a time each week to get your posts ready. Take some photos, record a video, write the blog, pull a quote, etc. Focus on your audience’s interests. If you’ve chosen Facebook as your platform, you can preschedule your posts. Some 3^rd party platforms allow you to preschedule for the other platforms, or you can just have a running file where you can copy and paste from.
3. Plan 5-10 minutes every day to glance at your posts to see if you’ve received comments or reactions. Respond to the comments… Always! Check your messages as well and respond.
4. Train your brain to think “This would be good for a post.” It’s a habit you have to practice. Keep your cell phone on you and snap “in the moment” posts about your business. These can be in addition to your content plan.
5. At the end of each month, analyze your posts. Most platforms have an analytics aspect. Learn to read these so you can determine what is working and what is not. Obviously spend your time doing posts that get the most attention. And posting them at the time that works for your audience.

We promise, practice makes perfect in this scenario and you’ll get more comfortable the more you do it. We’re here to help with any of these steps, of course, so feel free to reach out. In the meantime, download the FREE content calendar and start getting your plan together.