“Feeling overwhelmed” is a regular response I get when I ask business owners how they’re going with their social media.
I get it. I found social media overwhelming for the first few years I was in the online space. It can be draining trying to come up with content, trying to engage, trying to create content to post across the different platforms… Yes, it’s draining.
But there is some good news…
With a few quick tips, that I’m going to share with you, social media will be less of a headache for you. That’s assuming you’re going to implement the tips I give you.
Of course, you will. Right?
One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make, is to try and be across all of the platforms, without having a strategy in place.
As a business strategist, and a business owner, I can tell you emphatically that you need to have a strategy. Because having a strategy helps you make sense of it all. There’s a purpose to what you’re doing.
It doesn’t need to be complicated; it just needs to be solid enough to get social media working for you and your business, rather than the other way around.
So back to the biggest mistake, the trying to be across all platforms. If you haven’t worked out the best platform for your ideal clients, and mastered your presence there, going to other platforms is just spreading yourself too thin.
#1 – Concentrate on ONE platform at a time
Don’t put added stress on yourself by trying to be all over the place. List your platforms in order of preference and presence of your audience. Where are they? Ask them what their top three platforms are. Concentrate on the top one, post and engage until you feel confident. Once you have mastered that first platform, choose the next on the list and go there. Rinse and Repeat.
As you become confident and streamlined, it is easy to repurpose your content so it’s suitable for all the platforms.
#2 – Create a Content Calendar
Seriously, this will reduce your stress levels and increase your productivity by a mile. Gone will be the lost hours as you try to work out what to post, where to post, when to post…
Give yourself the time to really focus, block out a morning or afternoon so you can plan out your content. Start with a number of major categories that contain pain points or interests for your ideal clients. From there you can drill down and add a number of sub-points for each category…
You’ll soon see the right content emerge.
You can also include regular promotions for your website or products, try to stick to the 80/20 rule so you’re feeding the platform with most of your content. The algorithm likes that.
With a content calendar in place, 1-3 months worth, you can bulk create images and copy, then preschedule the posts. Or you can create the content calendar and hand it over to a VA to create images and schedule for you.
Either way having that content prepared and ready to go will take a huge bite out of any overwhelm.
#3 – Don’t go it alone.
You can drastically reduce the overwhelm by utilising the support that’s available out there. You can hand off some of the work to a VA or agency, that can make an enormous difference. If you’re not at that stage just yet, there are other options with the lots of tools available to help you. Many of them are absolutely free.
If you’re not in a position to hire a VA just yet, I do hope you get there soon. Your time is worth more than the cost of a VA, you can and should be working on growing your business rather than managing your social media.
Social media posts can scheduled ahead of time, using any of a number of great tools available including, MeetEdgar, Later, Hootsuite, Social Bee… Or, you can set your posts ahead of time without using a third party tool, just schedule them inside the actual platform.
#4 – Repurpose your content
This is a biggy for me. It never ceases to amaze me how many business owners are creating awesome content, only to give it minimal mileage. By repurposing your content you’re not only getting greater leverage from what you’re creating, you’re also increasing your productivity levels. In a big way.
Seriously. I can’t stress enough how big of a difference it will make to you when you repurpose your content. I can tell you honestly that this blog article, like most blog articles on my site will end up being repurposed into at least a dozen pieces of social media content.
You can also add those pieces to your content calendar to be recycled at a later date. Truth be told, with the millions of posts out there competing for attention, nobody’s going to remember, or care, that you already posted something similar.
#5 – Take a Break
Honestly, when social media is getting to you, the best thing you can do is to take a step back. If you’ve prescheduled or outsourced your posts (you’re going to do that, right?) it is will all plod along just fine without you.
Taking a break can invigorate you on so many levels, and chances are you’re going to come back all inspired and ready to plan out your next themes and content calendar.
Being an online entrepreneur can be tough. There are many benefits to taking a break, especially when things feel overwhelming.
Do it. You’ll be glad you did.