Do you have a hard time with social media?

Either you aren’t finding the time to get around to posting regularly or you are feeling discouraged by a lack of the results you want for the time you do invest. You know what I’m talking about. Your followers aren’t growing and when you post something only a small fraction of those people see the post.

It can be disheartening and feel like you have to pay to play by buying ads if you want your content to be seen. Thankfully that’s not true. What is true, however, is that consistency can help you grow your reach on any social media platform. It can help you with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and anywhere else where your ideal customers are hanging out.

Which brings up an important point. Before you dive in and invest a lot of time and effort on every single platform, take a look around. Where are your people hanging out? What media does your tribe prefer? For example, if you’re running a recipe blog, you have to be on Pinterest and depending on your particular niche, you may also want a Facebook presence, including a group, and possibly a YouTube channel.

If you’re into sourdough, you’ve got to be on Instagram… Do your research and do your best to determine where you want to be before you get started. Remember to continually remind yourself that you don’t have to do all the things. You just need to do the right things consistently. Pick a platform and stick with it. 

You don’t need to be on every platform. Consistently engaging on one or two well chosen and curated platforms will increase your presence and grow an engaged audience.

Once you have that figured it, it’s time to come up with a posting schedule. Remember, consistency is key. You’re better off doing fewer quality posts and shares more regularly, than overdoing it and burning out. Start with a conservative number that you’re comfortable with and write it down. For example, you may choose to do 10 pins, 3 Facebook posts, and one Facebook Live video every week.

Once you have your schedule, it’s time to schedule the actual content using a calendar. You can use Google Calendar or an old fashioned paper one. Here’s one that Hubspot created and offers for free. You don’t need a fancy content calendar, the key is being able to stay organized and having your social media goals in writing to ensure it gets done and posted regularly.

How far out should you schedule?

That’s up to you.

If you like to plan in big batches every few months, go for it. If you prefer to be more spontaneous, do it once a week. Play around with different time frames and see what works best for you. When you know what you’ll be posting about and have the text and images ready ahead of time, it’s quick and easy to keep up with social media. Need a place to find high quality stock photos, try Unsplash.

Personally, I think a Canva Pro account is a totally worthwhile investment. They have a great library and templates galore for all social media platforms. If you already have a blog, consider repurposing your blog posts as social media content. This saves time and creates consistency in your messaging. 

To save even more time and make social media content more hands off, take a look at some of the scheduling tools available. I like the native scheduler in Facebook for Facebook and Instagram and Tailwind for Pinterest.

Use them to schedule and loop posts that will go out without you having to log into your social media profiles every single day.  Instead, you can set aside time once every couple of weeks to do the bulk of your work.

Then check in from your phone throughout the week to respond to comments etc. Getting organized and figuring out a system that works for you can be such a game changer when it comes to being consistent on social media and growing an engaged following.

Now, you’ll have the freedom to pop in and interact as your schedule allows while having the peace of mind that your audience isn’t being left cold.