3 Hacks For Scheduling Social Media Content
When it comes to social media strategy for brands, most people come to me with questions about struggling with being overwhelmed and inconsistent. If you’re looking to save time, implement better strategies, cut your content creation time in half, and actually enjoy social media, it’s time to start scheduling your content.
For beginners and experts alike, scheduling can take your business’s social media presence to the next level.
Here’s a few reasons why scheduling content is my best tip when it comes to social media strategy:
No longer will you be scrambling to post in the moment
You’ll save time hunting for content
You’ll create better content
Do more of what you’re passionate about in your business
Craft better campaigns, call to actions, and a more impressive feed
As you can tell, scheduling is my jam. As a social media manager, this is the bread and butter of what I do in my business. If you’re looking to start scheduling content, I suggest choosing a scheduler for the platforms you’d like to post content on.
For my clients and my business account, I choose Later for my scheduling needs. I enjoy scheduling content with Later because it’s free to start scheduling, their Instagram preview tool, their paid plans have valuable perks, their an Instagram certified partner, and the platform is user-friendly. There are countless schedulers to choose from, but I suggest using a scheduler that you enjoy using.
Unsure of where to start when it comes to planning your content in a scheduler? I’m here to share my best hacks for scheduling content for social media.
Bulk scheduling
Once you bulk schedule, you’ll never go back. Bulk scheduling is scheduling numerous weeks worth of content in one scheduling period. For me, this looks like scheduling 2-3 weeks of content out in an hour or two. The perks of bulk scheduling stems down to the fact that you don’t have to worry about your content for weeks to come.
When you’re ahead of your content creation game, bulk scheduling leaves your time for working in your business or preparing for a digital detox. I love to be ahead of my social media scheduled content to ensure I’m stress-free. Once you start a schedule of bulk scheduling, you’ll be ahead for weeks at a time and maintaining the content schedule is a breeze.
Content calendar
So you’re probably wondering, “How the heck do I bulk schedule when I have no content?” The key to bulk scheduling is creating a content calendar in advance. I am the first to rave about Airtable as my go-to for creating a content calendar for each platform. In my content calendar, I store photos, caption ideas, topics to repurpose, hashtags I’ve researched, and ideas for content I need to create.
Constantly updating my content calendar ensures I have content to pull and bulk schedule. It also saves time bulk scheduling because I don’t have to brainstorm a topic I’d like to cover or hashtags I want to include in my post. It’s already ready to be scheduled out! *cue angels singing*
Content creation mode
Content calendars, bulk scheduling, oh my. I know what you’re thinking - but don’t panic just yet. If you struggle to create all this content for your social media platforms and content calendar, I suggest finding your content creation mode. Your groove. Your happy place. Whatever floats you boat, name it and find it. This content creation mode is what makes scheduling and planning possible. This may look different for everyone, but for me it looks like a cozy coffee shop workday in the morning and some jazzy tunes in my earbuds. These settings allow for my best content and quite frankly - it makes scheduling fun. While you may not be planning a wild Friday night for planning Instagram content, finding these ideal conditions will help you crank out this content in a breeze. Set a timer, grab your favorite beverage, make a pillow fort in your home-office, and enjoy the content creation process.
A few tips to keep in mind while you’re in content creation mode:
Take breaks! I like setting a timer for an hour and then taking a break to walk or grab a snack before tackling more content.
Be sure to note the time and days you feel more productive and utilize this time for creating content.
Don’t force yourself to start or finish creating content. When it’s forced, the quality won’t be up to par.
Save time you can use towards engaging and connecting
Content calendar, bulk scheduling, and content creation mode will help you cut your social media time in half. Now that you’ve got this extra time to spare, you can use it towards engaging within your Instagram app for a few more minutes per day, testing out a new tool like Facebook Live or IGTV, and you can truly connect better with you audience. Scheduling content allows for better quality content, which results in increased follower and engagement numbers.
