10 Top Tips to keeping your Social Media Simple.

I'm always being asked "Sam what tips can you give me to help me with my Social Media" I could go on and on about how you can keep it simple, yet so many over complicate and think too much about what needs to go into their social media life.

Here are some tips to get you started:

1) Don’t Overwhelm Yourself

Everyone thinks that we should be on every social media platform. Yes if you have the time and know how to use them correctly. However why complicate things. I always explain to my clients that it’s better to give one of your social media platforms 100% than be mediocre on all of them and only giving 25% of your time to each one. Learn one, master one and then move to the next one and do the same. Within a few months you could be mastering all of your social media platforms. Trust me once you are all over one the others come easy. She says!

2) Be Consistent

Like anything if you’re not consistent with your social media then it won’t work for you. Posting daily to all your social media platforms can seem daunting, however that consistency will help you build a social network, after all Facebook was created all those years ago to help us become social networkers.

3) How often are you posting on your Social Media Platforms?

When I ask this question at the social media workshops https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/samantha-cameron-17340500727 I run I get varied answers, "2/3 times a week" "once a week" "I will do it daily for a few days and then nothing for a week" Imagine if you had the same principle for your business, would your business grow, would you get a regular growth of new customers and clients, would you have a regular income coming in each month, if you don't touch your business daily then NO it won't have any consistency either. The same applies to your social media, touch it every day and you will be amazed at the return. But what should you be posting and where. 1 - 3 posts to Facebook daily. 1 - 15 tweets to Twitter daily, 1 - 2 posts to Instagram daily, 3 posts minimum a week to LinkedIn. "That's a lot" I hear you cry, read on to find out how you can do this easily in a few hours each week.

4) Let People Know What You Do

Using your social media banners/cover photos are a great way to show people what it is you do. The banner/coverphoto is the picture/photo we add to our social media platforms, the long one across the top you know the one, they all have them apart from Instagram. Think of it as your free billboard to share with others on a daily basis. Don’t be afraid to give your business a plug or even add your mission statement or what you do to your banner/coverphoto. If you are unsure then feel free to have a look at mine for some inspiration. Ideally a photo of you or your business with your logo and some wording explaining how you can help people or what it is you do. This is a 3 second opportunity to sell yourself to someone who would be looking at your social media profile, your shop window.

5) Your Social Media Voice

"Voice" And you thought social media was about adding photos of what you had for dinner or showing off our legs whilst you sunbath in the garden and making the most of the few days of sun we have each year. People want to get to know who the person is behind the social media profile, people buy people not logos or branding, well not in the early days anyway. Your social media voice is the way you post, keep a theme, be you and keep that theme throughout, even on your website. It's a great way to portray you and should represent you and who you are. Try not to worry if your posts won’t be accepted by others or not of any interest to someone else it's your social media, if they don't like what your posting them they can unfollow you.

6) Plan Your Social Media

We all plan our diaries, meetings and workload for the week, so why not do the same with your social media. Have a plan around what you are going to cover throughout the week. Being organised and having social media plan will help with finding content and being consistent with your social media. Have your goals to what you want to promote, sell or the message you want to get out across your social media, what are you up to that week, let people know what's happening in your world and business. Putting a couple of hour’s a week say on a Sunday night can make all the difference especially if you then look at scheduling your social media, Plus it will help save time for you to spend more time on your business or with your family during the week. For me planning my social media on a Sunday night has become a ritual, it leaves me to get on with my week without having to worry about my social media presence and not having that panic at 8pm on a Tuesday night that I haven't posted anything that day. Yes we've all been there!

7) Don’t post for the sake of posting

Social media is about giving your audience value. Putting content out there for the sake of posting something won't work and won't get much engagement. Be passionate about what you are posting people will see that passion in your posts. Don’t be afraid to share with others the real you. If all fails everyone loves a meme that features a dog or cat.

8) No Idea What To Post

Picture the image, you’ve put a couple of hours a side to start planning your social media and your mind is blank around what content to put out there for the week. Think of a theme for each day of the week. Maybe have Monday as a Motivation day, Tuesday as a top tip from your business or industry, Wednesday why not step out of your comfort zone and do a video or a live, Videos are huge right now and will increase your engagement. Thursday's posts could be a review or testimonial, Friday ask for a recommendation, movie, book, restaurant and so on. Look at national days for the week ahead this is a great website to use https://nationaldaycalendar.com/and don’t forget to add post around your lifestyle. People will want to get to know the real you.

9) Saving time

Look at scheduling your social media. This will allow you to get all your social media content out there for an entire week just by sitting down and scheduling all your posts to all your social media platforms in a few hours even less. Not looked intoscheduling before or have and found it too complicated take a look at my scheduler https://2motiv8.social/ easy to use, provides content and trust me it will save you time and take the stress out of social media.

10) Become a social stalker

I'm not suggesting you sit outside people’s houses or start following them around everywhere they go. Find someone or a company that inspires you or is from the industry you are in and follow them on their social media. It’s a great way to spark ideas, help you with future content and will inspire you. Don't start coping and pasting their content or images but there's no harm in sharing what they are doing or putting your own spin on it. Create your own identity and you never know one day someone could be following you for inspiration and to give them that spark.