At some point or another, it happens to us all. Managing social media becomes this time-sucking beast of your business that you didn’t see coming.

One day you wake up and find yourself running two websites, multiple blogs, 3 Instagram accounts, 2 Facebook pages, and a whole slew of other log-ins/accounts you can’t even begin to keep straight.

Overwhelm is knocking on your door – hard – making you think: Something’s gotta give.

Or maybe you’re starting a new brand/blog/business and wondering whether to create separate accounts or keep everything mixed in with your existing personal accounts.

 

The questions here can be rather mixed:

How do you know when it’s time to split accounts?

How do you know when it’s time to merge accounts (maybe even again)?

How do you know when it’s time to pause or delete one of your social media channels entirely? (Gasp!)

How do you know which platform to focus on?

How do you know how often to post?

 

…the list goes on. It can be nauseating just thinking about it! My goal here is to help you discern and decide the best strategies for you – as it’s your brand, your business, and no one knows it better than you. There is no one-size-fits-all prescription!

Know that you will inevitably evolve, grow, and change over time; needing different things at different times. It’s ok to grow slow.

Especially when ‘slower’ allows you to make the most informed and intentional decisions for your goals.

 

Bearing all of that in mind, here are some key indicators to help you decide what’s right for you when it comes to managing your social media accounts.

 

KEYS TO SOCIAL MEDIA CLARITY:

 

Key #1: If you’re feeling crazy trying to keep up with managing it all, that’s a pretty good indicator.

You could outsource and hire some help if your budget and situation allow for it. Or you could focus on the channels where the energy you’re investing is generating the highest return. Similar in theory to this is the 80/20 rule – where 20% of your efforts produce 80% of your results.

For example, if you’ve been tweeting all day everyday and never hear a peep in return, but people flock to your Instagram after a few posts a week, then considering let the little birdy fly for the time being and focus on growing your Instagram.  There is no rule that says you have to be everywhere all at once. In fact, the opposite is true. Which brings us to my next point…

 

Key #2: Remember that less is still more.

Less busy-ness = more business. There are only but so many hours in the day – I don’t care if you’re Beyoncé or President Trump. If you’re taking on any sort of entrepreneurial venture, prepare for that time to just keep dwindling. Add on being a wife, a mom, a dog mom, your third job, whatever it may be; you just don’t have the time to carry the team in every position. Some of the most successful digital marketers will tell you their primary success started on one platform. Sure, they have a presence on some of the others, but they started by remaining focused on generating results from 1 or 2 platforms at a time.

Personally, I’m currently focused on Instagram and cultivating Pinterest strategies to funnel more traffic to my website. Once I expand into product-based sales, I’d certainly look at investing my efforts into Facebook and even Twitter.

That being said…

 

Key #3: Let systems and scheduling go to work for you.

Managing my second IG account became a lot easier when I started using PLANN &  Planoly to dump all of my content (photos, captions, hashtags, ideas, etc.) and plan it out in advance all at once. Rather than wondering what I was going to post every single freaking day, stopping mid-day to source or curate a photo, or coming up with witty captions on the fly, I simply have a bank of intentional, outlined posts to pull from!

You could also use HootSuite, HubSpot, Buffer, BoardBooster, Tailwind, etc. All of these platforms have features to help execute content posting for you so you can be elsewhere and on with your day! I know you know they exist but are you taking advantage of using them? If you need more insight on this or a little assistance, get in touch and I’d be happy to show you the ropes with a month of planning!

 

Key #4: Don’t worry so much about numbers.

i.e.: You don’t need 10K followers if you’re a solo, service-based graphic designer. How many requests can you possibly process in one week? In this instance, 10K followers is a vanity metric. Yes, it is wonderful to be highly praised and recognized in your industry and follower count is one way of coming to that conclusion, but realize that it is not definitive of whether you’re successful or not.

Too many entrepreneurs in the creative industry give that number too much credit. It doesn’t necessarily tell you the quality of their work, their personality throughout their process, or the depth of their experience. Now, if you have a product or course-based business and your systems can process thousands of purchases and inquiries, then awesome. Network & grow those accounts away!

Start with why you’re doing what you’re doing and the rest will come.

Think: Focus on the metrics that make the most sense for your business’ bottom line.

 

Key #5: Make social media an extension of your blog and vice versa.

The two should work in tandem. You don’t have to feel like you’re constantly scraping for content to post on Instagram, Facebook, your blog, and so on. Think of the blog as the long-form text, the Instagram as a short snippet visual preview of it, and Facebook as the happy medium that allows you to create great looking hyperlinks from right within your viewer’s feed. Each channel is essentially its own language. You want to speak it clearly, with graphics/links that are tailored to that platform but you don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel. Heck, even play with repurposing old content – especially if you’ve been at it for a while and may have a lot of new followers. For example, you can take strong parts of old blog posts to highlight on social media captions.

 

Key #6: Value quality over quantity.

If you can only handle 3-4 solid social media posts a week, whether that’s because you’re a solo-entrepreneur, doing a side-hustle, or you don’t quite have the content for more yet, know that consistent activity is better than no activity. And heaven forbid posting just to post! We are in an information overloaded world as it is. The most important thing to focus on is delivering value to your audience. Even if your aim is just connection, do it well!

Think: Are you solving their need or satisfying your own?

…

My Dad always used to say this great quote: Do all you can to de-complicate your life – and in this case, your social media.

Go with your gut. Do what feels natural and brings you the biggest sense of peace in the chaos. And most importantly, learn to throw comparison out the window by creating more than you consume.

Whatever you decide to do with your social media strategy, remember “clarity not just content is king”.

Want to chat it through a bit more? Get in touch &/or book a connect call and I’d be happy to help chat through it all more with you!

x

Kaitlyn