One of the biggest things I preach is that you really can manage your own social media. All of my blog posts are designed to show you how to do it yourself. Because, in all honesty, I don’t believe anyone is better qualified to speak about your business than you are.
Of course, there are times and situations where outsourcing your social media may be the most practical and efficient option. But, if you’re interested in doing it yourself, the most common question I get asked is how to find the time to manage social media with everything else you have to do.
I get it. You’re BUSY!
Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur, a small business owner, a marketing manager, or other role responsible for your business marketing, you’re busy. You have 8632 things that need to get done and which are pulling you in multiple directions every day. Everything you read about social media is that it takes so much time. It’s always changing and you can barely keep up with the changes. There are countless platforms that you “have” to be using. It’s confusing to know what to do on each platform. It’s exhausting creating MORE content to share on social media. And engaging with other people or accounts – who has time for that?!
That’s. A. Lot.
No wonder so many people struggle with social media and complain it doesn’t work. How can it work when this is the attitude you have about it?
Here’s the thing: Yes, social media takes time. But it doesn’t have to take that much time.
Honestly. You can see success in 30 minutes a day, if that’s what you can make work for your schedule. Or you can see success in 8 hours a day, if you have the team and resources to do it. That’s just one of the many reasons I love social media – anyone can have success, you just need the right plan.
Yes, it’s all about strategy!
And that strategy has to include a time commitment. When I work with clients, one of the first questions I ask them is how much time they can commit every single day to social media. It may only be an hour for some people – and that’s totally fine! The right strategy and the right time management means you can still be successful.
Ok, so how do you do this? Here are my tips for organizing your social media around your schedule.
How Much Time?
First and foremost, you have to know how much time you really have. Like, for real. Don’t plan on 2 hours a day if you only have 30 minutes. You’re only setting yourself up for frustration and failure.
Then figure out where you can fit in that time. Is it in the mornings or afternoons or late at night? Maybe you can plan for 20 minutes in the mornings and 30 minutes at night. Boom! You have 50 minutes a day
Get Creative with Your Time
I know your days are already packed and how are you supposed to find another hour or two a day for social media?
Get creative!
Do you wait for 20 minutes in the pickup line at your kid’s school? Could you wake up 15 minutes earlier? Do you have 10 minutes at lunch every day? Is there 30 minutes of TV or Netflix you could swap out to manage social media? Rather than scrolling through Pinterest for another dinner menu idea, spend 10 minutes on your social media profiles engaging with other followers or accounts.
If you really choose to make social media a priority, you will find the time in your day for the extra commitment.
Schedule Your Time
When you first get started with this concept, making time won’t be easy. It will feel like a chore. And you’ll want to push it off for other things that need to get done.
That’s why it’s super important to put time on your calendar. Every. Single. Day. Literally make an appointment (or two or three) on your calendar so that you don’t forget or get distracted.
It really takes being intentional with this planning to make it a habit. But once you’ve done that and you’ve been consistent for a month or two, it becomes second nature and it’s no longer a chore you have to fit in, but something you fit other things around.
Which Platforms?
You wanna hear something crazy? You do NOT have to be on every freaking platform! Really, you don’t.
If you only have an hour a day, you may only be able to focus on one platform right now. And that is perfectly fine! I actually recommend it.
Take it one step at a time. Pick the ONE platform you want to focus on right now. Learn it, work at it, get good at it, get results. Then, you will find you don’t need as much time every day to maintain the success you’ve achieved. Which means you can devote that extra time to another platform. Yes, you may need to find another 15 or 20 minutes a day, or more, but you’ll know the value in doing so and gladly find the time like you did before.
Check Your Notifications
At least once every day, check your notifications. This is where you will see who commented, posted, messaged you, or otherwise engaged with you. These are the priorities for responses!
Checking your notifications takes just a few seconds but ensures you don’t miss anything. Sometimes people comment on an old post or mention you on their own profile. If you aren’t checking your notifications, you will miss these and risk missing out on opportunities for growth and conversions.
Plan Your Days
Social media takes more than “just” social media. You have to find time to read and curate articles or content to share. You have to make time to photograph your products or shoot videos to share. You have to set aside time to design graphics and promotional content. You have to figure out what you will post to social media on which days.
All of this requires smart planning. And a calendar. Seriously, you won’t master this time efficiency without a calendar.
Here’s how I recommend you set up your days:
- One day a week for curating content. Bookmark or save articles you find throughout the week and then pick one day where you read through those articles and determine which ones are worthy of sharing. Then load these into your scheduling tool so that they’re already populated for the next week. If you do this every week, you always have fresh content scheduled and it takes less than an hour a week and only one time in the whole week.
- One day a week for reviewing and planning your own content strategy. Ensure that what you have planned that week is still good. Be flexible to add in fresh or trending content if it’s relevant.
- One day a week to create fresh content. Whether spontaneous photos, graphics, short videos, or other post content, take at least one day each week to devote to creating content for your social media strategy.
- One day a month for promotional planning. Determine what campaign you will run that month (sale, ebook download, webinar sign up, product launch, newsletter opt-in, etc.). Then plan your content calendar to determine what content will go out on what days to promote the campaign.
- One day a month for photo shoots. These are those staged, planned photo shoots. Whether of your products, your work space, or for your own stock photos, taking one day every month to create a photo database will ensure you have all the visual content you need at your fingertips.
- One day a month to review your analytics. You need to know what’s working and what’s not and you need to review your analytics to dive into this. Dedicate one time slot every month to review your data and profile. Make note of what you want to do more of or what you should change. Track your growth and celebrate the wins each month. When you see the smaller successes each month, you’ll appreciate how much time you’re devoting to the platform.
Please note that when I say “day”, I mean however much time you have that day. It may be as little as 30 minutes that day or up to a couple hours.
But aligning and bundling your tasks into structured appointments means you aren’t scrambling every single day to find new content. If you’re strategic with your content creation, it leaves you more time to effectively engage and create res
