don't panic! time management advice for social media professionals.
Social media marketing is, without a doubt, a powerful marketing practice and incredibly fast-paced. But when you’re managing multiple different accounts on different channels all at once, it can sometimes get a little manic. The key to not dropping the ball is effective time management - a skill crucial to anyone working in social media. Not only do you need to create and schedule content in advance, but you also need to be responsive to comments and messages from followers in order to further increase engagement on your posts.
> 5 tips to help you manage your time effectively when working in social media:
Set clear goals: Before you start to plan out your content, take some time to think about what you want to accomplish. Do you want to increase engagement on your social media platforms? Do you want to drive traffic to a specific part of your website? Is there a new product or service you want to promote? Having clear goals will help you focus your efforts and make the most of your time. Deciding on what objectives and goals to focus on is, in most cases, largely informed by your overall marketing strategy, so it’s best to start there if you’re ever uncertain.
Create a schedule: One of the best ways to manage your time is to create a schedule and stick to it. Decide when you will work on creating content, interacting with followers, and analysing your results. Having a schedule will help you stay organised and ensure that you are using your time effectively. Blocking out entire days in your calendar so your team is aware can be really helpful, allowing you to dedicate complete focus to planning out and drafting your content. In my personal experience, I find it’s best to plan out just the topics of posts a month in advance, share it with the team for thoughts, and then proceed to draft copy for the social posts. If you’re working with a graphic designer on your posts, the planning of topics and sharing them with your designer gives them ample time to produce the graphics you need, even if you haven’t yet finished drafting the social copy. This allows efficient use of time so you’re not waiting around for graphics after drafting your posts.
Use tools to help you manage your social media accounts: This goes without saying and is standard practice in social media marketing. There is a plethora of social media management tools available that can help you manage your social media accounts more efficiently, some of which are even free to use - friendly on the marketing budget. Examples include; HubSpot, Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social or Later which you can use to manage multiple accounts from one dashboard, schedule posts in advance and pull useful and well-presented analytics. There are also a lot of other purpose-built tools out there which can be used to aid your social media content creation, such as hashtag generators, UTM link builders for campaigns and landing page creators, the latter of which is of particular use on Instagram should you wish to house multiple URLs on one page.
Take breaks: It's important to take breaks and step away from your work to recharge. It’s a well-known fact that staring at a computer screen for a lengthy amount of time will damage your eyes and increase tiredness, but in the creative sense of taking breaks, you will occasionally find yourself getting writer’s block. Get out of your chair, take a 5-minute walk to clear your head and give your eyes a break and work on something else for a bit before returning to social media content creation. Not only will this help you stay focused when you are working, but it will also help you avoid burnout.
Delegate tasks: Drawing upon the previous points mentioned, if you have a team, consider delegating tasks to other members. Need graphics and have a graphic designer on the team (or even just someone who knows how to use Canva)? Delegate. Hit a brick wall with social media post topic planning and need someone else to weigh in and give you ideas? Delegate. Gone '“word blind” and need a fresh pair of eyes to check for spelling and grammar? You get the idea. Essentially, if you ever get stuck or find yourself in a bind, ask for help. This will help you manage your time more effectively and allow you to focus on the tasks that are most important to you.
By following these tips, you can improve your time management skills and be more productive when working in social media. Just remember one thing - don’t panic. Learning how to streamline your workflow with proper planning, effective use of time, finding the right tools and knowing when to ask for help when it’s needed will all contribute to great time management all while ensuring work output is of a high standard.
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