It’s been said that time is our most valuable resource because it’s finite. Being busy entrepreneurs, we certainly don’t want to waste any of that time. So how can we maximize our time on social media marketing while still being efficient and getting everything done?
Below are my suggestions for getting your posts out consistently while avoiding distractions and losing that precious resource, time.
Use a timer: We’ve all experienced the social media black hole. You know, where you plan on popping into Facebook for a few minutes and the next thing you know an hour has gone by. To make matters worse, you had planned on focusing on your business page, but got sucked into cat videos and your friends’ posts.
The best way I’ve found to avoid this is to use a timer. You can use a physical egg timer, one on your phone or one of the many online timers. Set it for 10 or 15 minutes and make it non-negotiable, when the timer goes off you log out. Do this for each social media channel you plan to spend time in.
Schedule your future posts: When you’re using social media for business, I always say you need to post with purpose. What I mean by this is that you need to have a social media marketing plan and post things that will help you meet your marketing goals.
I also understand that it’s “social” media and that you need to be social, so I suggest planning and scheduling your planned posts. You can then schedule time to go in and comment, like, share, etc. and be social in a more efficient amount of time (see tip #1 above).
Two of my favorite programs for this are Hootsuite and Buffer. This week Hootsuite announced that you can now share video across different channels, which I think is a great feature!
You can even schedule future updates directly through your Facebook business page.
Bulk upload tweets in Hootsuite: Are you active on Twitter? If so, the bulk uploading feature is your friend. You need to use the Pro version to access this feature, but if you are posting a lot on Twitter, it’s worth it. Tweets are uploaded in bulk via a CSV template that can be downloaded from Hootsuite’s bulk upload section. This template can save you lots of time in getting your tweets scheduled.
Use one channel and share it with another: Save time by posting on one channel and sharing with another right there. If you share an update on LinkedIn, you can chose to share it on your Twitter account, too. If you upload a picture to Instagram, you can also share it on Facebook. It saves time while using one post to reach more people on other channels quickly.
Repurpose your content: I wrote a blog last month all about repurposing your content, so I won’t go into great detail here, but be sure to post and re-post your content. The Twitter feed moves fast, so feel free to post many times about an upcoming event or a past blog post. Re-post links to previous content a few weeks later on Facebook and use blog posts to publish on LinkedIn.
These are just a few of the ways to save time spent on social media. Comment below and let us know how you save time.