Real Entrepreneur Mums RealMag Jan29 2018 | Page 19

For certain platforms, it pays to use software that will allow you to pre-schedule your social media posts. I recommend scheduling 1-2 weeks in advance. Often the software will come with an inbuilt calendar (see below), which gives you a clear picture of what you are posting, when you are posting it and to which channel you are posting to. You can then easily fill in the gaps. If you don’t want to use a third-party calendar, make sure you create yourself a template that allows you to quickly see what you have posted and what you are scheduled to send live. Allocating Days to Themes If you want to focus on different aspects of your business, I suggest you allocate themes. • If your business is service-based, you might focus on different business streams on different days of the week. • If your business is product-based, you might want to talk about your product and other related products. Don’t be afraid to promote other people’s products, as long as they are not your direct competitor. This then provides value to your clients and demonstrates an attitude of goodwill. For example, if your business is within the bridal industry, you can theme Mondays on photography, Tuesdays showcase dresses, Wednesdays will be about makeup, etc. Your clients then become familiar with your posting pattern and know when to check out the posts they are most interested in. “ REMEMBER: Be Consistent ” You don’t have to focus solely on business. Platforms like Facebook and Instragram allow you to be more creative and inspirational, giving clients insight into your life and connecting with you on another level. Think about allocating special days in your social media calendar, before scheduing the business posts. For example, use Sunday as inspirational quote day, or a hump day post for Wednesday. Don’t forget the importance of holidays, events and special occasions. Acknowledging and sharing posts about these create and build engagement. It’s not always about the sale. There is so much you can do on a social platform. Repurpose and Recycle It’s perfectly acceptable to recycle your posts! You don’t need to create brand new content, every single day. As your profile continues to grow, there will be new people to your platform who have no idea what you posted six months ago – let them see it! If it had great engagement and reach, reuse it again – you never know whose attention it will attract this time. It takes a bit of time to start regular posting. Once you build the momentum and pre-schedule your social posts, you’ll find it much easier to manage. Remember there’s no single formula for being successful across all social channels. You’ll need to test and adjust. It’s good business practice to build testing capabilities into every action you take on your social networks. One of the easiest ways you can do this straight away is checking your click link by using Google URL Shortener (https:// goo.gl/); this will show you how many people have clicked and viewed your post. Managing social media accounts is an involved task. To be successful, you have to invest the time to write content, schedule posts and review your data. By doing this on a regular basis, you will have a very clear idea of what is working for your chosen social media channel. And if it isn’t, you have the data to give to a professional to review. Happy posting! Vanessa Choi - Wizardpreneur - 0419 490 368 [email protected] - www.wizardpreneur.com wizardpreneur - vanessa_choi_wizardpreneur - Vanessa_S_Choi 19