Get your brand in order. Always good to start with great foundations! Get you house in order so that when you're creating content you're not wasting time trying to find your colour palette, logo or font styles etc.
Canva allows you to add your Brand assets to your account including your colours (Hex or RGB), font styles and logos. If your'e using the free version, use Canva to create a sheet that includes all those things in one place.
Take time to organise your images & files. This is time SO well spent and will make you feel amazing. Create files with pre sized images or image themes to make them easy to find. This could include seasonal images or product types or your own 'stock' images for your brand. If you know that your Insta content differs from your Facebook then file them differently too. Make these files easy to find and all in one place for easy content creation. Delete old, out of date images, old font styles & rubbish images so declutter your space!
Create a Customer Journey poster. I am super visual so this is particularly useful for me. Create a visual in your office or in your work book which includes all the reminders you need to stay focussed. Include the following:
Audience types & personas - who you are looking to attract!
Key messages for each social media platform e.g. Insta might be lifestyle stuff and Facebook may be entertaining videos.
Core content types that work on each platform
Key 'Calls to Action' that you want users to take e.g. sign up toy our email, visit your website, book your place...
Tip tips to yourself - when you know that your best Facebook posting time is or you best day for Insta - note them down for days when you're busy and need a quick reminder
Make a plan - SO obvious but easy to do once and give up on. Find planners in the Member Hub to try but which ever you choose, you need to have a diary with topics, content ideas and plans for each day.
Book TIME - we're all so busy with so much in our heads but it's important to make time to make content. Set aside a day a month, half a day a week or whatever works for you to add to your content diary, look at our analytics and create content.
Batch create - linked to point 6, create your content in batches. No one needs to know that your Christmas images happened in June! Re visit point 2 and place all your batched work into easy to find files. Batch creation could simply be filing or photography or collage images and Gifs.
Embrace new functionality - Reels on Instagram, Facebook's Business Suite and more are being introduced all the time. Use your set aside social media time to assess if they're right for you. Although I don't advocate stressing over each new shiny social media trend, I do think that new features are well loved and might be a new lease of life for your platform.
Introduce scheduling. Scheduling is a double edged sword in many ways. It can certainly help you plan ahead and manage your time but it can also remove you a little from the engagement and chat you're trying to create around your brand. Choose a scheduling platform you like and maybe choose to just schedule out your key weekly messages allowing you time to dip in and out more regularly with more spontaneous and last minute content e.g. stories etc. Scheduling options to look at:
Later
Hootsuite
Facebook Business Suite
Tweetdeck
Preview (for Instagram)
Create goals to aspire to. Goals are important in all areas of business but with social media, we can often just 'keep going' rather than really aim for something. These could be growing followers or improving click throughs to your landing place or improving brand visibility. Choose one goal to focus on for 3 months to keep a clear head and work towards just that - notice from your analytics what works, how things are improving and be patient!
Give yourself a break. Consistency doesn't mean being welded to your phone 24/7. It means having enough energy and focus to keep going and showing up. So choose regular times to check into your platforms and then put your phone down! Notice if there is an account you follow that make you feel inadequate or inferior and mute them or unfollow. If you want to be like them, don't follow their path but your own. Also avoid seeking perfection. What your audiences want is authentic interaction with a small brand they love. Give yourself some slack and take deep breath - we're all learning together and doing our best!
Want to talk about this more? Hop over to the Facebook Group and get nattering now - share your challenges, ideas or inspire others with your own tips that work.
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