Want to spend more time on the beach this summer and less time doing your business social media? Here are my 4 steps to organize your social media for the summer!
Step 1: Content
First you have to make a content plan! An hour or two planning can save a ton time trying to come up with content last minute every day. Plus a strategic plan is more likely to bring you followers and engagement. Create a social media calendar and map out when to post where and what the content will be. Need a social media calendar template to organize your plan? Here’s the Google Sheet I created and use for myself and my clients.
Now that you have a calendar to map out your plan. Make content easier to come up with by having themes. In your social media calendar, choose a theme for the month or even one for each week (there are places to input these themes in my calendar). Then group content around that theme instead of trying to come up with something from scratch every day. For example, I might choose Instagram as the month’s theme for my business, then week 1 is Instagram basics, week 2 is Instagram strategies, week 3 is Instagram Stories, and week 4 is Instagram ads. That way I know exactly what I need to post about and it helps my audience know what to expect and they’ll want to check back for more instead of just random posting.
Another way to help group content is to choose themes for days of the week. Again this make it so much easier to come up with content. You can get away with the same weekly theme for 1-2 months. Perfect for the summer and then change it up come September. For example, Monday motivation quotes, Tuesday Tips (give tips about your industry), Wednesday Questions (ask your audience something or have them ask you), Thursday Share (share something personal or behind the scenes from your business), Friday talk about your service/product or a promotion, Weekend post something your audience would find funny. You can choose any kind of theme you want but mapping out a monthly, weekly, and daily theme can cut way down on the time you spend for something to post about each day.
Step 2: Schedule It
Block out chunks of time between now and summer to schedule the posts. Only focus on creating the content from your calendar and scheduling it. When you have time only to focus on this, it might be surprising how quickly you can get it done!
On Facebook, I always schedule directly in Facebook. If you don’t know how, check out this quick video.
For other platforms, there are many options for free schedulers, Some I have used are: Later, Planoly, and Hootsuite. They all offer free individual plans and have all worked well for me. Check them out and see what is right for you.
Now you can take your social media calendar and sit down and schedule all your content for a week, a month, or even the summer (just make sure your content will be still be relevant if you schedule it too far in advance.).
Step 3: Time for Engagement
Now that you have a content calendar and your post ideas mapped out for the entire summer, you have already saved yourself hours of time! If you’ve also scheduled it out, kudos to you! Now choose a time during the day that works for you to engage on your social media posts. Put that in your calendar and treat it like an appointment. You should engage close to the time a new post will hit. So if you post 6x week on Instagram at 4pm – put an appointment from 4pm-4:15pm those 6 days to hop on and engage.
Check in on your posts and messages, respond to comments, and engage on other accounts during that time. It’s just 15 minutes and you can do it on your phone from anywhere. Make sure to keep up with it so all your hard work on creating content does not get wasted.
Step 4: Enjoy Your Summer!
Once it’s all scheduled out, you are free 🙂 Just check in daily to engage and answer comments/ messages from anywhere on your phone. Then don’t worry about it for the rest of the day! Doesn’t that feel freeing?
Have more social media questions? Join my Free Facebook Group where I answer all your burning social media questions every Thursday!