Creating content to share on social media can be a major time drain. According to Social Media Examiner, 33% of study respondents report that they devote 1 to 5 hours weekly to social media marketing; however, a robust 25% spend 6 to 10 hours each week.
That’s a huge time commitment!
Fortunately, if you’re strategic about how you do it, you can save a ton of time without sacrificing any quality. This post will look at seven ways to save time producing social media content while still being effective!
#1 Have dedicated brainstorming sessions
Coming up with content ideas can be the most frustrating and time-consuming part of the whole process. It can seem like every topic you think of has been covered a thousand times before!
One of the best strategies for finding new content ideas is to set aside time each week to brainstorm with colleagues and co-workers.
Set aside time each week to brainstorm and identify topics your audience will love!Click To TweetYou can ask questions like:
- What happened in our industry this week?
- What questions have our customers been asking lately?
- What topics have been coming up regularly on social media?
- Which blog posts on our site have been getting the most attention from our readers?
Based on the answers to these questions, come up with a list of all the topics you’re going to cover. This will not only save you time, it will help you identify topics your audience is likely to love!
#2 Set up alerts
Instead of constantly tracking down content ideas, how’d you like them to come to YOU?
I highly recommend setting up alerts for topics in your industry with tools like Google Alerts and Social Mention. Set alerts for online mentions of:
- Your brand name
- Your products
- Breaking industry news (Set up an alert for [Keywords] + [news])
- General industry keywords
These alerts can act as inspiration for new social media posts, or you can even just directly share news or links as they happen. Either way, this strategy will undoubtedly save you time and effort!
#3 Create micro content to use in a variety of ways
Have you heard the term “micro content”? It’s a hot topic among marketers right now, and for good reason. Micro content is simply short, easy-to-read/view bits of content that your readers can quickly scan through.
Some examples of micro content are:
- Short bit of text
- Memes
- Headlines
- Quotes
- Quick tips
- Images
- Micro-videos (think Vine or Instagram)
As part of your social media marketing strategy, start compiling a document full of these “quick and easy” bits of content. Then when you find yourself with nothing to post, pull it out and simply cut and paste from your list!
#4 Pull tweetable quotes from your blog posts
You’d think it would be easy to know what to post on Twitter, given the restrictive character limits. But sometimes coming up with a short – but memorable – tweet can be harder than you think!
One of my favorite strategies for coming up with tweets is to pull quotes from my website. After writing a blog post, I simply read it through and pull out one or two excerpts I think my audience will find most meaningful.
Pull quotes from your website by simply reading through and selecting quotes you think are meaningful.Click To TweetThen there are two things I can do with these quotes:
- Tweet them out myself along with a link to my blog post, or
- Use a plugin to create “Click To Tweet” boxes within my content.
This gives me a way to quickly find content ideas I can share, and it also gives my readers a quick and easy way to share content they find useful.
#5 Republish older content
If you’re like many business owners, you might assume you can only post the same content once. This couldn’t be further from the truth!
Republishing old content can save you a ton of time, and can give your old stuff a new lease on life. Also, keep in mind that many of your fans and followers will have missed your post or tweet the first time…so you’re actually doing them a favor by re-posting!
#6 Batch it
Studies have shown that when our work is interrupted, our productivity goes down. In fact, one study found that after a single interruption (even if it’s you interrupting YOURSELF), it takes the average person over 23 minutes to get back on track.
It takes the average person over 23 minutes to get back on track after being interrupted! #batchitClick To TweetThis is where social media batching can come in so handy. Instead of creating content multiple times a day, batch all your work into one set period of time.
Mark it on your calendar. It can be once a day, or even once a week. But set a time for creating all your content at once. Then you can either schedule it using a tool like Hootsuite, or document all your upcoming content in a spreadsheet or document.
You’ll likely be surprised at how much more quickly you can produce content when you have a dedicated, uninterrupted chunk of time!
#7 Look at your analytics for content ideas
One of the struggles of coming up with social media content is you never know how well certain posts are going to perform. However, there is one strategy that can significantly boost your chances of getting visibility and engagement: mining your social media and website analytics.
Look for posts that have proven to be especially popular with your audience in the past. While you can always just re-share those posts, you could also use them to inspire new post ideas.
Mine your social media and website analytics to inspire new posts!Click To TweetLooking at your social media analytics, you can also identify different post-formats that typically do well. For instance, if you find that your Facebook fans seem to prefer image posts, you can post more memes and info-graphics. Or, if you find your Twitter followers are most likely to click-through to your blog posts, you can share more links.
Final thoughts
It takes time and effort to succeed at social media marketing. However, being smart about what you post – and how you come up with ideas for your posts – can make all the difference. The seven strategies above should help!
What would you add to this list? How do you save time when it comes to producing social media content? Share below!
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I always enjoy reading your posts…this was particularly helpful! Thank you!
Really helpful line thanks!