To Schedule or Not to Schedule. That is the Question! The Answer is up to you....

When many people come to me asking for help with their social media, as their engagement has plummeted or they are just simply not getting the conversions they want, one thing often crops up.??“I paid for a course on Social Media in 2010 and I was told to schedule and promote.”

I slowly roll my eyes back and wait for the resistance.?It’s common in Churches, the Parent Teachers Associations, local community councils, this same resistance.?We’ve been doing it this way for decades, and although it no longer works for the community it works for me, and the community need to get on board with ME.?Here comes all the jokes, “How many Vicars does it take to change a lightbulb??Change!!!!!! We don’t change, we glow”.?

As a business owner YOU need to let go of all the rules you think should work on social media, just because someone told you that was the way to do it.

Let me let you in on one of the worst kept secrets, social media does not have a rule book.?They are social platforms, think of trying to “tame” and “predict” the behaviour of a toddler, sometimes it’s all smiles and boom, out of nowhere you posted the green cup, when IG wanted you to post the blue cup.?Yes, they have algorithms that you need to figure out, there’s no set rule.?If I tell you to post at 7am British Time, that’s the best – it might be the best for me, but if your audience are GenZ then it will tank.?

So, should you schedule or not??There’s a lot of scheduling apps out there, you can utilise free ones, or pay a fortune, they all do the same.?Let me take you through some of the pros and cons

Pros of Scheduling

·????????Saves time in the long run

·????????Helps you feel in control

·????????Reduces stress

·????????Stops the arggghhhhhhh what on earth shall I post

·????????Keeps Consistency

·????????Gives you the head space to generate awesome content

·????????Can help you identify the best times to post to maximise views

Cons of Scheduling

·????????Takes away some authenticity

·????????Can feel overwhelming

·????????Reduces your algorithms in the long run

·????????Makes it easy to be a “poster Ghoster”

·????????Reduces opportunity to build relationships

·????????Easily becomes monotonous and irrelevant

·????????Can look lazy to your audience

Pros of Winging it

·????????Keeps it authentic and in the moment

·????????Helps build meaningful relationships with the audience YOU want to connect with

·????????Can be great fun

·????????Focusing time blocking in your routine to ensure you have opportunity to engage with others first

·????????Maximises visibility

·????????You are more likely to respond to comments

·????????More relevant to the day

·????????Easier to build a story of your “back office” life

Cons of Winging it

·????????The need to be prepared with a theme

·????????Can be stressful if you aren’t running with a theme

·????????Sometimes it can get a little inconsistent when “life” happens

·????????Less control

·????????Overwhelm

·????????The necessity to time block for daily social media

Now I’m using the term “winging it” very lightly, as Business Owners, we don’t ever simply wing success.?If you are not scheduling here are my top tips

1.??????Have a monthly theme, broken into weekly topics.?Each topic should have 1 point that you are covering, an aim.?Immerse yourself in your theme, listen to podcasts, read books, have conversations, be comfortable with it. ?Leave a minimum of 6 months before recycling your themes.?If you feel able to within your niche do a 12 month rotation.

2.??????Use daily “mind hashtags” to help you with your content.?For example:

a.??????#MondayMotivation

b.??????#TopTipsTuesday

c.??????#WingwomanWednesday

d.??????#ThrowbackThursday

e.??????#FollowFriday

f.???????#SocialSaturday

g.??????#SelfCareSunday

3.??????Time block for each social media platform that you are on and do a daily “blitz” on each platform.?Think about what times your audience are most likely to be active on each platform and if you are a global or national business, the difference that makes.?Don’t try and post and comment on all platforms at the same time it will do your head in.?

4.??????Commenting on other people’s posts will always generate more results than banging content.?If your time restrictions for the day is to either post or comment, choose to comment on others.

5.??????If you miss a day or two for any reason, the world will not end.?It won’t.?Drop the stick, stop being so hard on yourself.

6.??????Do have a 24-hour break once a week from posting anything to your stories.?When you then post again, your followers will receive a notification from IG or FB “X has posted a new story”.?

7.??????Do use cross sharing in stories – DON’T cross share between posts onto different platforms.?Copy the text, have a short “hang out” time of a few seconds, change a couple of words then repost.

8.??????“Engagement” groups, are not a good idea, especially with Instagram, although you will have an initial upturn in engagement for a quick boost, done daily will have a major negative impact on visibility and WHO sees your post.?If you have found yourself “politely” stuck in an engagement group and want to remain, you need to ensure that you are doing DOUBLE the number of comments on peoples posts outside of that cell.?

9.??????Do use an app such as Canva to set up templates, a branding board and to store some fab selfies and images

10.??If you get a quieter day, do “batch cook” reels on your niche and save as drafts.?

Looking forwards to digging into this a little deeper on Friday at noon, at Pause for Breath, it would be great to hear your thoughts on it too.?Are you a scheduler or a winger?