Every blogger out there knows the importance of social media. Social media platforms are amazing tools you can use to get your voice out there and your blog heard. It’s also a way for you to hear from your readers; to know what they want or don’t like.
When people first get started using social media it’s fun and exciting. Unfortunately, as time goes on it can become tedious and time consuming. It’s something that gets put on the back burner when other important things come up. What you need to remember is that social media is important. It can’t be put on the back burner, it has to get done.
I want to stress the fact that social media doesn’t have to take hours to do. It is actually possible to get all your social media done in 30 minutes a day. The following tips will help you plan ahead for your social media so you can use it as an actual tool and get the most out of it.1. Get Rid of Low-Impact Social Media Platforms
Many bloggers get so caught up in social media that they sign up for every platform that’s out there. They spread themselves so thin that they can’t stay on top of their workload.
Depending on your blog there are certain social media platforms that you don’t need to be pushing. Pinterest and Instagram are examples of some of these. If your blog is based on ideas, business, teaching, self-improvement, etc., it can be difficult to find or create enough images to make using these platforms worth it. After all, you can only use so many memes before memes become you niche!
If images are hard to come by within your niche, don’t waste your time trying to force image based platforms to work for you, move onto other more useful platforms.2. Create a Posting Calendar
Once you know which social media platforms you want to focus on, decide how often you want to post something on each platform. Make a schedule, write down each platform and whether you will be posting daily, weekly, 3x a week, etc.
You also need to determine a time each day that you will spend 30 minutes working on social media. Try to make it the same time every day, this will keep it consistent and become more of a habit for you instead of an extra task you have to find time for.3. Plan Out Your 30 Minutes
Break up your time into 5-10 minute increments. Only spend a short time on each platform. Not every day will be the same. There are things that only need to be done once a week and others that need to be done daily. Write out your schedule and post it by your computer so you will be able to see it.4. Plan for the Next Week
Instead of planning for the current week, try to get ahead of schedule and plan your next weeks’ postings. Prepare a week in advance any comments you want to make, links to post, pictures to add and where you want all of them to go. This allows you to use your time posting instead of sitting there trying to come up with something on the spot.
When you are scheduling your 30 minutes, give yourself the last 10-15 minutes a couple times during the week to prepare for the next week. You will find that your posts flow together better and have a common theme; it will also follow your niche better.5. Use GremlnGremln is a social media tool you can use to schedule posts and messages to your major social networks. Once a week give yourself 5-10 minutes to get on Gremln and schedule your posts for the upcoming week. You can schedule them to from anywhere such as 3 times a day, down to 3 times a week, whatever works best for your blog.6. Stay on Task
This is possibly the hardest and most important step. The reason it’s so difficult is because social media is so distracting.
You see one article you want to read and then another and another. Two hours later you find yourself on YouTube watching clips of The Ellen Show.
You may try to justify your article hopping by saying you’re looking for something to link to on one of your social media platforms. Don’t justify wasting your time. Save your article hopping for your personal time.
It is possible to get all of your social media for the day done in 30 minutes. You just have to have a plan and stick to it. Use these tips to make sure your social media platforms are working for your blog.