Managing social media accounts for your business, no matter how big or small, is not easy — and one of the biggest and most consistent challenges is staying organized.
From creating images, to staying up-to-date on social mentions and trends, and posting relevant and engaging content on a regular basis, being social can be overwhelming.
So how on earth do busy people keep their social media ducks in a row?
In this Coaching Blog I will share a few tips on staying organized and staying sane.
1) Keep an updated content calendar.
Planning out social media posts is time-consuming, so keeping track of it all with a content calendar can help cut down on time. I keep an updated content calendar that includes all of my social networks and the types of content that I will be posting on each one. I then create both a daily and weekly to-do list based on the calendar. I make sure there’s flexibility because something always comes up and you have to be prepared to fight some fires.
2) Schedule social posts ahead of time and in bulk.
Scheduling posts saves a lot of time, and it allows you to focus on other parts of your social media instead of being constantly distracted by the need to publish at certain times of day.
I post to my Facebook account 4-6 times per day. To save time, I use Hootsuite to schedule posts in bulk by uploading them from a spreadsheet.
3) Know where to look for timely and relevant content.
What’s trending right now? What content are people posting on each other’s Facebook walls? Which news stories are people talking about? These are all questions that you need to be thinking about — not just when you arrive at work in the morning, but all day long. By staying on top of rising trends, you can be posting content that will more easily engage.
4) Maintain an “Inbox Zero” mentality.
For most people, high productivity comes from closing out of email or social media accounts for several hours at a time. This couldn’t be less true for those who need to stay alert to incoming requests.
I make it a priority to stay on top of comments and mentions throughout the day. How do I do it?
I maintain the ‘Inbox Zero’ mentality so that I know what’s new and what needs my action. That way it doesn’t get lost in mountains of unimportant messages, notifications, emails or assignments.
It can be easy to lose important items if you push them off for later, so it’s important to read communications as they come in, and answer them appropriately. I also suggest keeping your sound on so you can hear every time you have a new notification.
5) Have a dedicated “Social Content” folder in your email.
As a business owner utilizing social media, one of your many jobs is to constantly be collecting new content ideas that you can later use to create social posts. But with so much content to sift through, how do you make sure you don’t overlook or forget about the important stuff?
When it comes to sifting through and bookmarking content, I suggest creating a specific folder in your email dedicated to social content, and then having a routine for putting new content in and removing published content from that folder.
I have a Gmail folder called “Social Content” where I put any emails that I have received with content ideas or any general inspiration that I have sent myself to use later.
When it comes to publishing content from those emails, my routine consists of going through every single email, and scheduling posts for the following week.
6) Use Canva to make batches of similar images.
Canva is a wonderfully simple image editing tool that anybody can use to create images for posts on social media. It’s especially useful for creating multiple images for one campaign so you can organize them all in one place.
I use Canva to create images in bulk. Anytime I run a campaign to promote an ebook, webinar, or other valuable piece of content, I want to have at least five creatives to test on my social media platforms. To create those creatives, I only have to design one image on Canva, then I use the “copy” tool to copy the image — then, I can make small tweaks like changing the text while keeping other design elements the same.
7) Organize your windows and tabs in a specific order every day.
When you’re juggling your email, calendar, social streams, post requests, links, and so on and so forth, you can easily lose track of which tab is where. I suggest keeping windows and tabs open in a specific order that you’ll get used to and memorize quickly.
I also suggest getting into the habit of closing out of tabs as soon as you’re done with them. I get sent so many links that, if I’m not careful, I’ll have 30 articles open at any given time!
8) Set a time limit for each task.
We all tend to have jam-packed schedules that don’t allow us to do one task for too long. It’s easy to get lost in the endless streams of to-dos, research, and meetings, so it’s important to schedule time limits for each task so you can stay focused and not spend too much time on one.
In Conclusion,
Organization takes time and the development of systems that fit your personality. So practice a few of these tips and see which ones work for you! And finally, don’t forget to blink!”
