Managing social media accounts can be time consuming, with the amount of accounts you need nowadays there isn’t enough time in a day to manage them all. Having to post everyday, manage comments, mentions, DMs, and questions, it might feel overwhelming to keep up with daily posts. With all these things in mind, it is easy to lose track of time. So we wanted to share some time saving social media tips with you!  

Plan Your Content 

Having a schedule is the most important thing you can do. It allows you to plan and see how busy or how much free time you have to create more content. Planning ahead also allows you to prepare for upcoming holidays and ensure there is no duplicated content. Using an Excel sheet is a free way of creating a monthly planner. You can also sign up to Hootsuite and Later that allow you to schedule posts in advance as well.

Once you have an editorial strategy, you can focus on a few things:

How Often You Want to Share? 

Nobody wants to see a dozen posts coming from the same account a day. Finding a balance of how many times in a day you want to share is important. You want people to find your content useful, not a nuisance when scrolling through their feed. Seeing too many posts from the same account can feel overwhelming. You don’t want to make your followers feel like it’s a job to read your posts. If you feel like you have too much content, schedule it to be posted the next day.  

What Type of Content to Share? 

Keeping up with your industry and followers is another thing you should keep in mind. Mindlessly posting can be harmful to your account. Being in the now is helpful, knowing what is trending in your industry and keeping up with consumer demands can boost your account traffic. Use these trends to help determine what kind of content your social media team should be sharing.

When to Share? 

Timing is key, paying attention to when people are visiting your account is important. Usually you want to post during the afternoon, when everyone is on their lunch break. Posting in the morning might seem like a good idea, but you have to remember that most people are in a rush to go to school or get to work.  

On the flip side, posting at night might also seem like a good idea. However, people could be catching up on their favourite shows, participating in their own hobbies or just relaxing from a long day and might not have time to check social media.  

Ultimately, your analytics should be able to tell you what time your followers are online the most and where they are located so you can take timezone into account when choosing the time to post. Use this fact to your advantage. Moreover, tools like Hootsuite and Later also provide you with the best times to post as well.  

Where to Share? 

Finding the right platform for you is pivotal. Maybe you have tens of thousands of followers on twitter and maybe a few thousand on Facebook. You aren’t going to spend all of your resources in creating tailored posts for your Facebook account are you? Focus on what your strong suits are. If you find that one platform gets more attention, maybe you should look into focusing more time there. 

Having an understanding of these things allows you to alleviate the pressure of constantly finding something to share at that exact moment, giving you more freedom and thus granting you more creative flexibility. 

The Rule of Thirds 

A useful tool in social media is the rule of thirds. This helps you manage your time wisely. 

With this in mind this is how your time should be used: 

Promoting Your Product or Services  

First and foremost is promotion. It’s easiest to talk about what you know best, yourself and your product or service. When promoting yourself, you should try to include anecdotal experiences. Nobody wants to read or only listen to facts, try to engage the audience and connect on a personal level. 

Engage Your Audience 

“Social” media. It exists as a platform for you to reach out to people you’ve never interacted with or seen before. To share experiences, create conversation and have meaningful interactions with one another. It might be your account, but it’s everyone’s platform. Learning to engage with your audience is the most important thing. Without your followers your business is nothing.  

Ignoring people visiting your account, engaging with your posts is a surefire way of sending the message “I don’t care about you”, which could swiftly bring your community to a halt. Make sure you take the time out of your day to interact with people. 

Share About Your Industry 

Just like how conversation can attract customers, sharing relevant content about your industry can also create account traffic. Sometimes giving back to your community, in this case information, is an easy way to have people coming back for more. Sharing about nonprofits, businesses, tips or even news can show your comprehension in your industry.  

Avoid talking too much about your goods and services, it could take away from your message and make people feel like you’re just using it as another means of marketing yourself. 

Finding a Balance 

Content creation isn’t easy, there’s a lot of trial and error involved. With persistence and perseverance your account and business will grow. That being said, there’s an importance to finding a balance between everything listed above.  

While they are supposed to tell you how much time to spend on certain things, nothing is set in stone. If you feel that you have enough content, maybe try interacting with people commenting on your posts or try reaching out to other businesses. That being said, you might find yourself constantly interacting with people and not having enough to post a day. The key to being efficient is finding a balance between everything. 

Do you have any social media tips? Share them in the comments below! If you want to learn more about social media click here.