5 Ways To Streamline And Automate Your Social Media
Social media is known as a fun and powerful business tool when used correctly. However, it can turn into a full-time job which often puts people off. So here are some easy tips to help you streamline and automate as much of the process as possible.
IDENTIFY YOUR BRAND
It’s important that you know your brand before launching into the world of social media. What voice do you want your brand to have? How do you want to make people feel? For example, if you want to make clients feel positive and motivated then it’s best you leave in-the-moment negativity at the door. Equally, if you are a one man band and believe that trust and transparency are important to your customer base then share useful, exclusive topics with them.
Take time to brainstorm topics that your clients might be interested in. For example, if you are a baby photographer then your social media posts should centre around babies too. Once you have the main focus sorted, then you can think of related themes that speak to your brand and ideal customer. For example; maternity, siblings, being a new mum etc.
GET SOME INSPIRATION
Social media is a fantastic marketing tool but you want to make a big impact and be super helpful to your readers. This means looking anywhere and everywhere for inspiration – from blogs to Pinterest posts to things you see on the news.
To make this easier for yourself try to save everything in one place, whether this is bookmarking to a specific folder or keeping links in a document.
SCHEDULING TOOLS
Now it’s time to get your life back with some scheduling tools.
There are lots of social media scheduling programmes to choose from including Hootsuite, CoSchedule and Buffer. Hootsuite can be used for free but only allows you to schedule posts to Twitter and Google+, whereas CoSchedule and Buffer also integrate with Pinterest and LinkedIn.
Currently there are no scheduling tools for Instagram, however, Buffer does offer a tool that allows you to set a reminder for Instagram which then notifies you at the time you wanted to post.
BATCH WORK
Social media doesn’t have to be a second job, especially if you create your updates in batches. Many people like to do “block work” where you set aside a block of time and work on one topic. This tends to be much more focused and efficient, rather than working for a few minutes every day.
AUTOMATE
Of course, there will always be a certain amount of human touch involved with social media. Connecting and interacting is crucial for most businesses. However, the more you can automate, the more genuine you will sound when you do personally interact on social media.
The programs we mentioned above (Hootsuite, CoSchedule and Buffer) all allow you to schedule and automate social media posts.
