You’re right, it requires some forethought to use social media effectively. Starting a Facebook Page and posting occasionally isn’t enough. You’ve probably figured that out by now.
I’m not going to insult you by insinuating that social media takes no time or thought.
It does of course. But by taking some time at the beginning to plan you’ll make it infinitely easier on yourself and have more success.
Here’s what you need to do first:
1) Create a plan. Since you can’t be everywhere you have to choose your social media carefully. Is your target audience on Facebook? Or is Linked In a better bet?
If you don’t know, think about the service or product you sell. Are you a hair salon? Or do you sell lead generation services? If it’s the first, Facebook or Pinterest is a good bet for you. If it’s the latter, Linked In is a better choice.
2) What’s your goal? Do you want to send traffic to your website? Do you want to get to know your audience better and create a community?
Your answers to these questions will affect your postings.
For example, if your primary goal is to send traffic to your website, you need to have another content strategy behind it such as a regular blog post or frequent photos or videos.
Once you’ve answered these questions, you can get on with your daily plan.
Map it Out
Take a word doc or an excel spreadsheet. Put dates across the top. Will you post on Monday, Wednesday and Friday or will you post daily? Whichever it is, put the days across the top.
Next, write down ideas.
If you’re restaurant, will you post a weekly special? A daily special? What else will you share? Staff photos? The chef at work? Articles about the type of food your serve?
Mix it up. People like variety so vary your posts between photos, videos, blog posts and other people’s stuff.
How You Get the “Daily Plan” Part
Take some time and plan out your content for the week. If you plan to post a blog post on Thursday then put “blog post” under the Thursday column.
If you want to post a picture or find an interesting link on Tuesday then put “pic” or “link”.
Get the idea? The more you can plan, the easier you’ll make it on yourself.
Put it into Play
Block out an hour or two in 15 minute increments if you have to. Over the couple of weeks, answer the first two questions and start compiling a list of ideas for what you’ll post.
Then, put them into your content calendar, the document you started creating in the earlier step. Map out a week or two of posts. Then implement. Rinse and repeat.
Want to learn ways to make this even easier so you don’t face “social media block”? Join me at “Social Media Secrets Revealed” next week in Doylestown. Only a few seats left!
