Social media has changed the way we do business. While small business owners were once limited to their own networks, social media has opened up a global audience. The result? An unlimited potential for growth, profitability and success.
While we know that social media is important, it is also time-consuming. More and more platforms have come to the forefront, each with its own quirks and algorithms. So how can small business owners balance running a business and managing all their social media channels? Here are four tips to help you save time.
1 Hire a social media guru
If you have the funds and can afford to invest in your business, it may be worth hiring a social media expert or virtual assistant. You only have so many hours in a day and if you don’t want to spend them managing your social media accounts, it’s better to hire someone who can, rather than neglect them. There’s no doubt about it, managing multiple social media accounts is time-consuming work and if you can hire someone to help, even just part-time, it may be a wise decision for your business long term.
2 Learn how to pre-schedule
Many social media platforms pride themselves on capturing live moments, however most offer ways to schedule posts ahead of time. Take advantage of this functionality and schedule your posts ahead for the week or month. You may find using social media tools can help you save serious time when scheduling, especially for platforms like Pinterest and Twitter.
You can schedule posts directly into Facebook, but not Instagram at present. You can use a pre-scheduling tool though and have all your Instagram posts written and ready to go, and then simply push them live from your mobile phone using notifications.
3 Make the most of automation
Social media scheduling tools can take all the heartache out of your social media planning. Not only can they help you schedule ahead of time, but their smart algorithms can take all the guesswork out of your planning. They can tell you when’s the best time to post and which posts received the highest engagement or click throughs. Most importantly, many tools offer automation, helping you to automatically reschedule your best performing content at the right time to reach the right audience.
4 Focus on the right platforms
The truth of the matter is, not every social media platform will be right for your business. You may still have an active account, but instead of spreading your time across five or six different platforms, try to focus on one or two that really work for you. Don’t give your time equally to every platform, but spend most of your time on the one/s that give the greatest return. If you’re seeing unusual growth on one particular platform, spend more time and energy in that space.
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