Hi, ladies! I’m Ashley Slaughter, social media content manager for creative small business owners. I personally work with Kendra, who I adore, so when she asked me to write a guest blog post for Girl Means Business… it was a definite YES!

 

As a female entrepreneur I completely understand the pressures of balancing a life and a business so if I can help you save time when it comes to social media marketing, I’m happy to do so!

 

Let’s jump right in with 4 hacks to help you save time marketing your business on social media:

 

 

One thing that slows many of us down when it comes to social media marketing is knowing what to post in the first place.

 

When it feels like you’re stuck, uninspired or just plain out of ideas, it’s time to go back to the basics and get clear on your ideal customers and clients.

 

Here are a few questions to help you gain clarity while getting your creativity flowing:

 

Who is your ideal customer?

What do they value most in life?

What are their goals, dreams and desires?

What does a typical day look like for them?

 

Once you’re clear on who you serve and what they value most, you’ll know exactly what type of content to create and in which voice will speak directly to them.

 

Now that you know who your ideal customers and clients are, it’s time to create drool-worthy content they will love!

 

The first step is to create a content calendar equipped with recurring weekly themes. This will help make the content creation process quicker and a lot more intuitive.

For example, Mondays are for sharing motivating quotes, Tuesday are for sharing tips that your customers and clients will find valuable, Wednesdays are for sharing behind the scenes and sneak peeks, etc.

 

Do you have to follow your weekly themes to perfection? Absolutely not! Recurring weekly themes serve as a guidepost for keeping you on track and consistent which ultimately will save you a huge amount of time.

 

 

Use a social media management system to help you save time by automating as much of your content as possible. When it comes to choosing a system, go for what meets your needs. This is a great rule of thumb seeing as there are hundreds of different systems available and it can be tempting to want to try them all.

 

Let me help you shorten your search with 3 social media management systems that I use and love:

 

Buffer- Buffer is a robust all-in-one system for managing your social media profiles. I especially love using Buffer for managing my client’s Twitter accounts. The system also offers a browser extension for Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari which makes scheduling blog posts, pictures or videos straight from your browser an absolute breeze.

 

Later- I love Later! Seeing as a majority of my clients use Instagram to market their business and connect with their community, Later is essential for Instagram management. Not to mention the features such as a library for uploading and organizing your photos, being able to preview your posts within the grid before publishing and the option to save comments for later make it easy to manage your Instagram without overwhelm.

 

Tailwind- Tailwind is my go-to Pinterest management system. With Tailwind you can schedule pins, save drafts for later, find your best times to pin and so much more. There’s also an extension which can be added to your Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari browser for saving and scheduling pins as they catch your eye.

 

As you’re working with your systems, remember not to automate everything! People love to talk to people and when we interact on social media, we like to know there is someone on the other end of the conversation who cares about what we have to say.

 

Take time to hop into your profiles each day to answer any questions your audience may have or to simply say, “Thank you” whenever a community member compliments or shares your content. It’s small daily actions such as these that will show big results over time.

 

Give your old content new life by repurposing it for social media. It’s a brilliant time saver when you need content in a pinch and it also helps increase viewer exposure and reach for your existing content.

 

Do you have an old blog post that you think could be valuable to your current community? Tweak it by refreshing the content and creating a brand new headline. When you’re all done, share it with your community.

 

While you were working on that old blog post, did you see a few quotes that you’d like to turn into tweets? Copy and paste them into your Buffer queue to share with your audience on Twitter or Facebook.

 

Are you just getting started with video or podcasting? Turn your older content into actionable and value-packed Facebook lives or podcast episodes.

 

There are so many possibilities when it comes to repurposing old content. The key is to just jump in, get started and have fun!

 

Did you see a time-saving social media hack that you can’t wait to try? Or do you have a hack of your own that you’d like to share? Leave a reply and let us know in the comment section below!

 

—

 

Ashley Slaughter

Social Media Content Manager for Creative Small Business Owners

www.ashleyslaughter.co

www.twitter.com/socialwithash

www.instagram.com/socialwithash

www.facebook.com/socialwithash

www.pinterest.com/socialwithash

 

 

 

Ashley Slaughter is a social media content manager for creative small business owners who want to spend less time stressing over their next Instagram post and more enjoying their life and business.

 

When your social media presence is thriving and you’re confident that each piece of content is supporting your bottom line, you can focus your attention on building your tribe, creating new offerings, having a glass of wine with friends or spending quality time with your loved ones.

 

If you’re looking for a right-hand woman to not only help you implement but execute your social media strategies, get in touch here.