There’s no
two ways about it, social media marketing is time consuming – if done properly.
However, if you read and apply the seven tips I’ve provided in this article,
you’ll feel like Dr. Who (apparently he’s the ‘Time Lord’).
The Excuses Reasons
Some excuses
as to why people don’t have time to market their business through social media
are entirely valid, but only some. The majority of excuses are, in fact,
products of laziness and a lack of creativity. The good news is you’re about to
get the answers to both sets of excuses.
I understand
fully that some are trying to start/run a business along-side running a family
or working a 9 till 5. Purely fitting in the time to service clients can be
difficult, but it can be done. Pretty much all other excuses don’t merit a
mention. Don’t be lazy is all I can say.
One health
warning I’ll give straight off the bat is: rushed social media marketing can be
detrimental to your business and reputation.
So to the 7 Tips
A few of
these may seem like common sense to a lot of you, but guess what: common sense aint that common. Remember that.
1. Create a Post Planner
Your post planner should be linked to the decisions you made
in your monthly strategy. This can be as simple as a spread sheet with the days
of the week on it, and then under the days the types of posts you intend on
creating that day. For example:
Monday: 1. Motivational video, 2. Post monthly offer.
Tuesday: 1. Engaging question, 2. Staff/location picture, 3.
Upcoming events.
Wednesday: 1. Expert article – And so on…
You get the picture.
A good rule of thumb is 2 – 3 posts per day. You don’t want
to flood your audience’s News Feed, and want to give each post time to be
affective.
2. Use Scheduled Posts
Scheduled posts are awesome; purely and simply. It is a very
simple tool that Facebook provides, and for other channels such as Twitter, I
advise hootsuit.com.
Set your posts up for the day and they’ll be released at the
times you have set. Bingo.
Facebook Scheduling |
3. Use Pinterest or Evernote
Everyone should have somewhere to store inspiration at all
times. As I carry my phone with me 90% of the day, I use Evernote – a great app
that allows you to store notes, voice notes, web-links and images. Pinterest,
if you don’t already know, is great for storing useful web-links etc.
This stored data can then be reviewed when it comes to creating
content for your social media channels.
4. Time Block
Time blocking is simple, so I’ll keep this explanation
short.
Block off a time period when you’ll work on a selected task,
and turn off all distractions during this time (phones, internet etc.). You
must only focus on this task and nothing can interfere with this time period.
Here is a useful link I posted on Facebook recently which
explains time blocking perfectly:
5. Link Facebook with Twitter with LinkedIn
By linking up your social media channels, anything you post
on Facebook will be repeated on Twitter, and Twitter with LinkedIn etc.
I do warn you however, do not solely release content on one
channel and neglect the others. This reeks of laziness. The types of content
required for each channel varies. Treat Twitter like a bar, Facebook like your
lounge and LinkedIn like a conference room.
6. Sleep Less
This can be nicely described using a famous quote by a hero
of mine – Arnold Schwarzenegger:
“There’s 24 hours in a day. You sleep for 6 hours and you
have 18 left. Some of you out there say ‘well, I sleep 8 hours or 9 hours’.
Well then, just sleep faster!”
Due to my current business/life situation I have to get up
at 6am every morning in order to get things done. And before a busy day it
might be 5.30am; whatever it takes.
7. Stay Healthy & Exercise
A good diet coupled with regular exercise increases
concentration and your ability to learn. With a poor diet and a lack of
exercise, 1.You run the risk of feeling sluggish and 2. your brain will not
work at its optimal performance.
For those who are interested this is why exercise helps your
brain:
1. As you exercise, your muscles
contract.
2. This releases chemicals, including a
protein called IGF-1.
3. IGF-1 travels to the brain and
stimulates the release of several chemicals, including brain derived
neurotropic factor (BDNF).
4. Regular exercise increases levels of
BDNF.
5. BDNF stimulates neurons (brain cells)
to branch and connect in new ways.
6. New junctions between neurons are the
basis of learning.
And that’s that.
To Wrap it Up
There is
never really an excuse for why something can’t be done. Sometimes sacrifices
have to be made in order to achieve a goal.
Hopefully this
article has given you some actions to take away and add in to your daily
routine. If there is anything you’d like to discuss further then leave a comment
bellow, or on Facebook, Twitter, Google +… where ever suits you best. All of
the links are below:
www.dreamtheatremarketing.com