Now we all know businesses should be on social media these days.  If you aren’t there exciting your future customers, your competition will be.  But how can you work smarter with social media so that it gives you better results and saves you time?

This is the number one question my clients want answered!  And while I won’t be able to give you all the tips I give my clients, I’m going to lay bare my top 5 tips!

Number One

Create a strategy!  Know who you are talking to, which social media platforms they are on, what key messages will capture their attention, how often you want to be on social media, what outcomes and goals you want.

Now this is all easier said and done, but some planning and research at the beginning will save you lots of time in the long run.  You’ll have a clear plan of what you’re doing, who you are targeting and what actions you want them to take.

Think of it as the what, why, when and how.  Imagine you were going to pass your social media management onto someone else, how would you be telling them to run things?

Number Two

Use your time wisely.  This is 2 fold.  Use the scheduling tools of social media, so you can plan your posts in advance – but remember to be present when people interact with you.  So you could post all your twitter content for the week on a Monday morning.

Prepare content in advance.  If you’re going to use blogging as part of your strategy (and I’d advise you do for many reasons), don’t leave writing your blog until the last minute.  There will be days when you feel inspired and days when you don’t.  So, if you’re in a writing mood, write one blog and map out 2 more.  Have a note taking app on your phone (I use google Keep) and as inspirations grabs you write down blog ideas and titles.  Map out areas of expertise on a mindmap (I like mindmeister) so you can quickly see many topics you could create blogs about.

Measure the time you use on social media, or if you find you drift into a big social media hole, set a 15 minute timer, so you limit your time flicking, reading and searching.

Number Three

Images are everything on social media.  So spend an hour once in a while searching the internet for images that will compliment your brand.  I love pexels and unsplash.

Number Four

Investigate social media tools that will save you time and make your social media even more slick.

I use the following:

Tweetdeck – only for twitter, helps me to schedule tweets, keep an eye on my lists (so I’m building engagement with the right people), follow #hashtags relevant for my brand.

Buffer – for twitter, Facebook, Facebook groups, Instagram, google+ and linkedin. I can schedule tweets and posts, measure the effectiveness and repost popular content.  Also supports me to share other people’s content from across the web with my social media accounts.

Ifttt – creates marvellous recipes across the web, my phone and social media, so posting and sharing is automatic.  Works with most platforms.

Audiense – for twitter and Instagram.  Measures analytics, manages my following and can automatic post on twitter.

Google analytics – for measuring traffic to my website, where the traffic comes from and how customers move around my site – amongst other things!

Number Five

Measure, measure, measure.  How do you know if you are doing a good job, or if all the effort you are putting in is working?  Look at the analytics that are free with most social media platforms to see what worked and what didn’t.  Copy what worked, ditch or change what didn’t.  Check out which social media platforms are most popular and check out some interesting mobile apps statistics from Cell Phone Deal.

Look at your google analytics and see where the traffic to your site is coming from.  If you are spending all your time on Instagram, but more traffic is coming from Facebook, maybe it’s time to alter your strategy?

I empower amazing women across all sorts of businesses, from product based to service led businesses, from social enterprises to charities to leverage the amazing marketing tool that is social media.  If you’d like to make the most of social media for your business, I’d love to hear from you!