5 ways to save time with social media scheduling
For those who dive head-first into social media marketing, it doesn’t take very long to realise that growing and maintaining your brand through social platforms can be a full-time job.
It’s difficult to find time to post while running a business, especially when you’re still trying to learn the ins and outs of a particular social platform.
The last thing you want to be doing is wasting time, spending hours switching from channel to channel, and having to excuse yourself from important meetings to post in real time.
That’s why we’ve put together these five incredible time-saving tips.
1. Choose the right social platforms for your business
It’s important to understand that you don’t have to be on every social channel – just the ones that matter to you and your target audience. It takes time to build your profile and a following, so you need to choose wisely and commit.
Once you do, it’s important to know that people use channels like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook very differently and at different times. You can save a lot of time by understanding the nuances of each platform and posting in the most active times:
- Pinterest – Friday afternoons & Saturday mornings
- Twitter – Mondays to Thursdays, 9am-3pm
- LinkedIn – Tuesdays to Thursdays, noon and 5pm-6pm
- Facebook – 1pm-4pm
- Instagram – 2am and 5pm
2. Budget time each day to find content
Try not to get sucked into the social media vortex by spending hours searching for inspiration and content. Instead, be strict and budget say 30 minutes each day. You’ll find you’ll work faster and be more productive.
Here’s what you can do. Try splitting your 30 minutes up across different sources. For instance, spend five minutes each on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, then ten minutes Googling for news, then spend the final five minutes on a niche blog or website. You’ll be looking for articles, infographics, topical tweets, images, quotes, news stories or press releases.
Another tip is to set up Google Alerts on a range of keywords or topics, and ideas will be sent right to your inbox.
3. Use a social media management tool
Here are three examples of social media management tools that we love:
- Hootsuite. Probably the largest and most well-known tool that lets you manage numerous social networks, schedule messages and measure ROI within a single interface. Connect with over 35 popular social networks.
- Schedugram. Saves you time by letting you upload and schedule images posts on Instagram.
- Viraltag. A great tool for sharing and scheduling images on multiple social media platforms. Mainly image-focused.
Depending on which platforms you use, social media management tools such as these save enormous amounts of time by automating the entire process for you. It also helps you maintain a regular schedule and streamlines your efforts across different platforms.
4. Assign someone to respond to enquiries
Social media sites are often where customers raise questions or problems, and it takes time to respond to each one. So, if there is someone in the company whose role is dedicated to customer service, save yourself the time and assign them this task. However, if this is your responsibility, we recommend budgeting time to it each day.
5. Analyse metrics and measure ROI
Try not to get bogged down in how many people viewed, liked or retweeted particular posts. What you want to know is which posts generated the greatest return on investment (ROI). This one thing alone could save you the most time, as you learn to spend time on what makes you the most money.
If you use a social media management tool, such as Hootsuite or Schedugram, they come with these types of reporting features. If not, you can purchase a reporting service elsewhere.
Engaging with your customers through social media is a must these days, and we hope you find our time saving tips useful. If you need a little help with your implementing an effective social media strategy, contact iFactory today for a “no obligation” consultation.
