While social media makes it easy for small businesses to market themselves, it also means investing at least 2-4 hours a week to create relevant content for your corporate social media pages.
It may sound like a small task but, the reality is, you really don’t have enough time to do that on top of your behemoth of a to-do list. However, you are also aware that not being active on social media means missing sales opportunities.
Here are a few social media tips and tricks that will give you back a few hours of your day:
1. Curate relevant content
While it’s always good to have original content on your social media pages, it’s also good to mix it up with content that other people have produced.
Many small business owners worry that if they’re not sharing their own content on their social media channels they’re plagiarizing; but the fact is, as long as you give credit to the author you’re in the clear.
Curating content allows you to save time by no longer having to create every single piece of content for every social channel you are on. Plus it’s a great way to build relationships with other experts like you—we’re sure that the authors of the pages you share on social media are happy to have their page cross promoted!
2. Social Media Management Tools
If you update every single one of your platforms all the time, this means that you’re wasting your time on the internet. This is where social media management tools can help out.
There are many platforms such as HootSuite and SproutSocial that can help you schedule all your content across social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest) in one convenient platform.
Additional tip: Don’t just schedule it and ignore it. If you have free time left thanks to these management tools, use that wisely by interacting with people on your community pages.
3. Go Mobile
Quick poll: Who here has a smart phone or mobile device? Even without asking that questions, we’re confident that majority of the people here have access to either one of those. With most of us owning a smart device these days, you no longer have to be at your computer to create social media content.
When you’re enjoying a cup of joe at the nearby café before your hectic day begins, why not pull our your mobile device and schedule content for your community pages before you become busy to even think about it?
Apps like Feedly can help you curate content. There are also apps like Pocket, which let you store all of the great content you find online in one place, until you’re ready to share it.
We hope that these tips will give you more time to create content and develop a social media strategy for your business. One of the biggest advantages to being a small business owner is the authenticity you can give your brand. Be yourself, be real, and be honest; you’ll find social media takes a lot less time when you just share what represents you and your brand.
