Content – a word that can strike fear into any business owner’s heart! I often hear it – “I don’t have the time, I don’t have the manpower, I don’t have that creative flare, I am not a social media expert, I have no clue!”
Trust me, as a business owner myself, I get it. You feel like you just don’t have the time to sit down and focus on producing amazing social media content. But I am here to tell you that it doesn’t need to be so complicated! I have put together a few tips from a strategy that I have developed over the years that has helped my clients get better control of their content, stay consistent and not lose their minds trying to produce “amazing creative” content!
1. Pre-Plan Your Content
My first tip and I think the most important one, is do not just wing it. Have a plan and develop this plan a month in advance. If you are a small company that doesn’t have much time to dedicate to social media content and you don’t have a plan, I guarantee you that your content will be forgotten and won’t have a purpose.
Have a content calendar that lays out what content you need to develop. You can stick to a theme to help stay consistent, such as Monday is meme day, Wednesday is a Reel, and Fridays are an image or carousel post.
Once you have your basic ideas down, start making notes about what you need to do to make this content – do you need to come up with some tips, do you need to shoot a how-to video, and if so, what.
2. Create a Month’s Worth Of Content
Block out a day each month that is dedicated to creating your content. Use the content calendar you made earlier and start developing your content. I know a day full of just creating content may seem unrealistic, but if you need to split that out into a few hours over a week, that’s fine too. Just make sure to get these done well in advance, so you do not need to worry about it!
3. Don’t Overthink Captions
I see this often, people overthinking what to say, that it needs to be perfect. Remember this isn’t a business document, an ad or a blog. Social media is a place to be casual, show your personality and share some of your knowledge with your audience! Do not waste hours contemplating your captions and writing an essay-long caption!
4. Graphic Templates
Develop graphic templates that you can simply rehash and change minor details. For example, if each week on a Monday you want to post a tip using a graphic, make a template and use this for each Monday Tip! This will save you a lot of time!
I usually will use templates for 2-3 months and then try changing them up and see if engagement gets better or worse, and then decide if I should switch back or continue with this new template.
5. Scheduling Posts
There is a lot of software that lets you schedule social media posts. My favourite is Hootsuite as I haven’t had many issues with it, unlike some other software. Whichever program you go for, they should have whatever platforms you need (Facebook, IG, Pinterest etc.). In my experience, Hootsuite has given me the least amount of issues regarding posting on IG.
Buffer, for example, doesn’t let me post unless the content is 1080×1080, and sometimes, I like to use 1080×1350 to take up more screen space. Hootsuite allows this, but Buffer doesn’t for some reason. I have no association with Hootsuite, and it’s just my preference.
If you do not want to pay for a program, each platform has a form of scheduling. Even TikTok does now. Facebook does have a scheduling system called creator studio/planner – and I will say in the last few months has gotten a lot more user-friendly. But if you are posting on other channels, I would suggest just getting a scheduling software as you can schedule one piece of content for multiple platforms simultaneously, aka saves you time!
Unfortunately, you still can’t schedule Reels. You can, however, pre-make all your Reels for the month within Instagram and save them as drafts, then set reminders on your phone to simply go into your account and post them!
6. Rehashing Content
Many content creators will usually suggest you MUST not rehash content across other platforms. While I’d say it would be better not to rehash, there are too many social media platforms now that are relatively similar. Such as Reels and TikTok, Facebook images and videos that can be used on Instagram and Pinterest. If you do not have the time, then do your best with what you can do!
I hope some of these tips help with your content management! If you are looking for a few ideas on what kind of content you can post, check out my blog on Social Media Content Ideas For Businesses!
