Social Media 101 – Keeping Social Media from Taking Over Your Business

When using social media to market your business, it is very easy to get caught up with creating posts and engaging with followers.

As many know from our own personal accounts, social media can be a huge sinkhole for your time. ⏰

Let’s look at five ways to set some social media boundaries and avoid this trap.

1. Have a bank of post ideas. It’s a very good idea to use a handy ‘Notes’ app to take note of ideas when inspiration strikes. Trello and Google Keep are two good examples, both of which are available on (and sync across) iOS, Android and your browser.  That way, you’re not scrambling to find an idea to talk about. 🗒️

2. Schedule time for creating posts. If you’re posting 5+ times a week (for example, on Instagram), creating posts daily can become a chore. Instead, scheduling a few hours on the weekend to create the week’s posts can save you a lot of time through task batching.

3. Use a social media scheduler. Many business accounts aim to post on a set schedule so that their followers remain engaged. Sometimes, though, real-world activities get in the way of that, especially for a side hustler or freelancer. Social media schedulers such as Hootsuite and Later allow you to schedule your posts ahead of time, saving you from having to log on just to post. 👍🏿

4. Schedule time for engaging with followers. On social media, engagement is key. Followers expect that the comments will be replied to and that you will respond to their DMs. Does this mean you should be a slave to comments and DMs?

No way!

What you can do is schedule a set amount of time each day, perhaps 10-15 minutes two to three times a day to respond to comments and DMs, with more time being set aside if any of these comments and DMs are leading to direct sales.  💵

5. Treat notifications with caution. Notifications can be very distracting. 🔔If you can work with them, they can be very useful for keeping on top of your social media strategy.  However, if a single beep causes you to go down a 20-minute rabbit hole checking out the latest cosplay or dance video, it may be time to turn off notifications for the social media app (or use the “Do Not Disturb” feature on your phone).
 
In a future article, we will bounce up some other social media platforms you may not have considered to market your side hustle well.