If you’re like most people, you probably have at least five tabs open on your computer at one time. You may be managing your email, social media platforms, client information, and the live scores for the game on TV. With all this bouncing around, keeping your content organized is likely the last thing on your mind.
Luckily, establishing a routine for social media can help keep you organized and reduce the stress that can come when being your own social media manager. You don’t need to hire a team of marketers or a social media specialist to get your content strategy going!
Keep an Updated Content Calendar
It’s important to stay up-to-date with your social media postings, but unfortunately this takes time. One of marketers’ favorite tricks is a marketing calendar, which lays out a schedule for blog, social, and email posts. Here is an example of our marketing calendar:
Each type of post has its own color, fits in with a theme for that week, and is scheduled out in advance.
Schedule Your Posts Ahead of Time
Speaking of scheduling, another great tip is to schedule your social posts ahead of time. We suggest taking time on a Monday morning to schedule all the posts for that week. Facebook allows users to schedule their posts right in the website, while websites like HootSuite allow you to tie in different social media accounts.
By taking time to schedule a week’s posts ahead of time, you save yourself the hassle later on in the week when you will likely be busy with other tasks. Things come up, of course, and you may have to make changes to your schedule, but this way you will have a steady foundation for your posts.
Have a Healthy Mix of Content
Studies show that the lack of content creation resources is the biggest challenge of content marketing, and four out of ten people say that they lack an effective strategy. One way to combat this problem is to have a healthy mix of different types of content.
- Automated- Automated content is content that is provided from a service like FMG Suite, where customers can have readily available content always going out on their platforms. Our content library updates regularly on our clients’ websites and social media pages.
- Curated- Curated content is a great supplement to marketing strategies because it may be more relevant than automated content, but a service professional doesn’t have to come up with many new ideas. Some great content curation sites are Flipboard, Curata, and StumbleUpon.
- Personal- This is the content that is unique to you and your firm. These are the posts that are written by the service professional and their team and show a more personal aspect than curated or automated content. Although these posts are the most time-consuming, they are important to incorporate into your social routine.
Take the Time to Respond
One of the best parts of social media is that it’s just that- social! The more you post, the more engagement you will get. Set aside time every day to check your Mentions on Twitter, your messages and comments on Facebook, and your Connections on LinkedIn.
Remember, though, that not all social media interaction is approved by some broker-dealers. Check with your compliance officer first before implementing your social strategy.
Set a Time Limit For Each Task
As we are all aware, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of the Internet and quickly get buried in responses, to-do lists, and research. It may help to set a time limit for each task and have an alarm set to remind you to switch gears. Your schedule could look something like this:
- 2 hours generating content, including both curated and personal posts
- 1 hour scheduling posts for the coming week
- 20 minutes on each social platform responding to followers
Following this timetable may help you feel less overwhelmed by the amount of work that has to be done for a good social media strategy. Use your calendar to schedule out posts for the month, take time in the beginning of the week to make the posts for that week, and monitor your daily time on social media. You can be your own social media manager in no time!
