The biggest challenge most people face when using the likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Pinterest…and the many other platforms available, is time. This is the top argument that we hear very often from people not using social media to market their business. Either that or they have tried and failed because they haven’t seen the results that they had hoped for. Consequently not everyone has the budget to outsource this activity.

Whatever the reason, you have to acknowledge the fact that social media is useful for marketing purposes. So why not make it work for you, rather than becoming a slave to your social media accounts. There are a few tricks that you can use to make the time and energy you put into social media marketing activities, more efficient and effective.

  1. One hit wonder– logging into the various accounts that you have can be time consuming and tedious. Using hosting tools such as Hootsuite can save you time by setting up all of your accounts in a third party platform. All you have to do is upload the URL’s you want to post, tailor the messages (more on this later) and with one click your posts are sent. Hootsuite also has the capability of scheduling the content you want to post, so you could spend 10 minutes in the morning to set them up  and not have to worry about it for the rest of the day. However, one thing to remember, whilst you can use Hootsuite to post onto Facebook, we wouldn’t recommend it.  Facebook doesn’t like third party apps.  If you use one to post your content the reach will be really low.  When it comes to Facebook, schedule the posts directly from your Facebook page.  It’s easy to do and using the improved insights you will be able to pick the best time to post to ensure the maximum reach.
  2. On the go– whilst you want to be engaged with your social media platforms and your audience, you don’t have the time to chain yourself to your desk and chat online all day. The trick here is to use your mobile as your sidekick, Robin to your Batman if you like. With smart phone capability you can download the mobile apps for each of the social networks and then turn on their notifications and alerts functions. This allows you to see message even in the locked screen so that you can stay engaged and respond to any activity, even when you’re away from the desk.
  3. Wait a minute Mr Postman–when you post a message on Facebook, it shouldn’t be the same post that you put on Pinterest. Although the messages maybe pointing to the same destination, the URL you want to direct traffic to, the message should be tailored for the different audiences on each platform. You can kill two birds with one stone, by using the content you’re directing traffic to, and optimising the messages. For example the photo that you use on Pinterest will be the same image that you use for the post on Facebook.
  4. Stuck on repeat– if you are producing great content, don’t be afraid to post it more than once. Just because you have followers on one platform, doesn’t mean they are all going to be on the other. If they are they’ll more than likely check it out more than once if it’s interesting enough, maybe even share it for you? Post the same thing more than once, but try to switch up a little bit, to improve upon the original.

Making these for little changes to your social media activity will help you manage your time more effectively and efficiently. Remember it will take you at the very most 15 minutes to schedule your posts and 10 minutes (a coffee break) to engage during the day. Fitting this little bit of time into your day will have improved results for your social media accounts and marketing efforts.

Really struggling to find the time? Outsource to a dedicated digital marketing agency! Contact us to discuss what you want to achieve and we’ll let you know how we can best support you to achieve it! Call us on 01245 791969 or email [email protected]