Social Media is a time suck. There is no disputing this fact. So how as a Startup or Small Business can you successfully use Social Media to promote your product/service without hiring a full time Social Media person or paying for Marketing consultant?

I got you covered with 4 simple and easy tips that will allow you participate on Social Media in a meaningful and profitable way while still having time for your day job and a social life.

So, let’s get started in the order within which you create and post content.

4 Ninja Tips for Small Business Social Media Management

1. Batch work

Batching tasks is not rocket science or new, so why would you not use a practice that is tried and true? Not only can you batch your uploading of posts to 1 – 2x a week, but you can also batch your research and writing times.

I highly recommend breaking up those 3 tasks into different days. If you’re like me and find that you are a more productive writer between 6am – 9am, a better researcher at 3pm and can upload whenever, schedule yourself for those times and DO IT!

For example I create meetings for myself – a Jedi Mind trick – each week that look like this:

• Monday, 3:00-3:30: Twitter research
• Tuesday, 6:30 – 7:15am: Twitter writing.
• Wednesday, 2:00-2:30 Twitter research
• Wednesday, 5:00 – 5:15: Batch uploading
• Thursday , 6:30 – 7:15am: Twitter writing.
• Thursday: 1:00 – 1:15: Batch uploading

As you can see in 3 hours a week max I can research, create and post all my Social Media content.

I also recommend using the Pomodoro method to power through them. By setting a timer I find myself less likely to check my email, refresh Twitter or do any other time wasting vices I have.

Again this isn’t rocket science, but sometimes just using simple techniques to trick yourself into being productive is ridiculously effective.

2. Schedule posts

In today’s world there is NO reason to not pre-schedule your posts. Don’t fall into the trap that if you don’t live tweet you aren’t being authentic. Bull s&^!

The only reason to live post is if you are attending a conference, reporting news as it happens, or having a conversation with someone via Twitter.

The 1 touch rule should not just apply to Inbox Zero practices but also Social Media posts.

Another great advantage to scheduling your posts, is that you can very easily and quickly see which audience segments you are missing content for. It not only saves you significant amount of time but also acts as a reliable double check.

Create a spreadsheet of reputable sources to troll for content.

We all have a list subconscious or written down of reputable online sources we love to read/listen to content from. Codify this and create a spreadsheet, Evernote file or Text document with the links to all these sources.

Once you have this list you can give it to anyone to troll for new and interesting content to share on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

                 ***Bonus Points if you organize your spreadsheet according to content category.

Your Social Media presence should be adhering to the 80-20 rule –

• 80% content from others, and
• 20% content from you.

In reality, this very rarely happens, so strive for a 50-50 split.

With this spreadsheet you can consistently find and share relevant content from reputable sources with your audience.

By sharing other’s content you not only demonstrate your willingness to help your audience but it’s also a wonderful way to show your personality and connect with other’s in a more meaningful way.

For example, let’s just say you follow a boring software company on Twitter. Sure, they are industry leaders and put out a great product but their feed only shares their press releases and very inside baseball blog posts once a month.

While there is nothing wrong with that per say you don’t have any feeling for their company culture or make an emotional connection with them. When it comes down to it if you found someone else selling the same service for cheaper you would happily buy it from them.

Emotional connections sell! As a startup or small business one of the advantages you have is selling your company’s culture. It’s a differentiator – use it to your advantage.

By sharing posts from your favorite sports team, a funny meme from a popular TV show like Game of Thrones, or a TGIF post from your local brewery you are showing your personality. It proves your company is human and not just another droid selling widgets.

Sharing other’s people’s content is a win-win situation. You win more time, more business and a larger audience.

3. Reuse Your Own Content

Reduce, reuse, recycle. If it’s good for the environment it’s good for you.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that your Social Media profiles are feeds. Feeds = moment in time.

Your audience will never see all your Tweet, Facebook post, Instagram post, Linkedin share. They won’t even visit you the same time every day, or the same day each week.

The other thing people don’t generally think about are time zones. If you’re on the West Coast don’t forget that your East Coast audience members are 3 hours ahead, and vice versa.

Also, don’t forgot London or the MidWest. You’d be amazed at how many followers from both of those places can be picked up, IF you tweet at times they are awake and viewing Social Media.

Therefore, reuse your content over the course of a month or several months. As long as the content is:

• Still relevant and up-to-date
• Shared at different times of day and days of the week
• Shared at different times of the day to accommodate for audience members in time zones other than your own.
• Have enough content shared in-between each of the recycled posts

The last thing you want is someone visiting your Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook page and seeing the same content recycled over and over again. So, just me smart about and vary it.

4. Test and review your metrics!

You would be amazed at how many people don’t test their Social Media content.

It’s like your freshman orientation in college. “Look to your left, not look to your right.” One of the three of you doesn’t test! If you test your posting times and days of the week over the course of a month or two (depending on how much content you are sharing) you will be able to figure out what the sweet spot for you is.

Then, you can cut down how often you post, and just post at the times you get the most engagement.

This is not a set and forget moment. You will need to periodically re-test to make sure you are still getting the right and best audience engagement for you.

You can also test:

• The type of content you share
• How you write your content (tone, sentence structure, hashtags, etc.)
• The 3^rd party sources you choose to share

While it might sound tedious and time-consuming it’s actually not. It also saves you tons, and tons of time in the long run.

Conclusion

I promise if you follow this blueprint you will not only get hours back in your day and week but also higher ROI on all your Social Media accounts.

Please share below any other time saving tips you may have. I’m always looking for more time saving techniques.

• About the Author
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About Andrea M. Fuller

With 15 years of experience in the technology industry, Andrea has worked with local and national non-profits and Fortune 500 companies. Over the years, she has worked for tech start-ups, CTIA-The Wireless Association, website development shops and Ketchum, before starting her own company in 2014.

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