Embrace Social Media Management To Head Off the Time Suck

If you let it, social media for your business can turn into a total waste of time. Employing more efficient processes promotes better discipline. Here’s how to work smarter.

We've all been sucked into the abyss of our favorite platform.  We scroll, click, read, and suddenly realize that four hours have gone by and we’re still in our pajamas. So what can we do to complete our social media marketing tasks swiftly and effectively?  

Now that I have literally years of experience, I have a few tips to share:

Schedule your time - and stick to the schedule!

Once you have determined your company’s social media strategy, set up your work calendar. Plan to work at least a week ahead. Start by scheduling a regular time to research articles, photos, quotes, and blog posts for sharing. Next, schedule time to fashion that content into posts for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or whatever other social networks make sense for your audience. Schedule those posts to be published at the most appropriate times. Finally, schedule a daily check-in to engage and respond to comments.  

Schedule. Your. Time.

This is how you ensure that all your bases are covered while reminding you not to get sucked in.

Keep a content vault.  

When you are researching ideas for content, stick them in a folder on your computer. Then whenever you need content ideas you can just reach into your content repository. Any posts that are time-sensitive you should highlight so that you don't accidentally use them after they've expired. You don’t want to share a post about an upcoming webinar that actually happened last week! It's a lifesaver to have some backup content to fill in gaps, especially when things get really busy.

Use a tool.  

Scheduling your posts to auto-publish is a game-changer. Many social media platforms have their own schedulers, but tools that let you schedule posts on all of your platforms at once are so much better. You will save so much time simply by cutting out the step of logging into each individual account. Plus, you can see all your social media marketing at a glance. You'll be so organized and being organized feels lovely! 

Create a social calendar.  

If social media is a collaborative effort in your organization, many scheduling tools let multiple users see and contribute or you can set up your own collaborative document. Use these calendars to plan out the content you want to post and remind yourself of the focus for certain days such as holidays, events, or promotions. Save appropriate graphics in your content vault. When everything is accounted for, you won't be scrambling last minute to promote an event or share a timely article.

Social media marketing is, without a doubt, a great tool for businesses. The key is to be efficient in the time that you're putting into the management so that you are making the most of it. If you're reading this article as an excuse to procrastinate on your own social media management, maybe it’s time to hand off this task. As I said, I’ve been part of the Sprocket social media management team for years. We have perfected the process and can do the same for your business. Give us a call to learn more!

photo by KKG

This article is an update to “Don't Let Social Media Management Be a Time Suck” dated 1/28/2015.

Breanne BannonBreanne Bannon

Breanne is a Content Writer, Social Media Marketeer, and Sales Associate for Sprocket Websites.

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