Schedule Your Social Media in 5 Minutes or Less?!

As I sat down at my computer to work, it felt like an alternative universe.  I looked at my to-do list and all that was listed was “create.”   Hmmmmm – that’s weird.  Normally when I sat down, my to-do list showed that I needed to schedule 20 Facebook posts for the next week, plan out the 7 Instagram images I needed, schedule the blog post I just finished to be pinned regularly for the next 12 months, post to Google Plus, and schedule the post to be tweeted several times over the next month.

Then I woke up.   HAHA.  It was a dream unlike the usual crazy business nightmares I normally had.  {Anyone else ever dream that your computer has self-imploded with all your unsaved files on it?}

Believe it or not, there was a time earlier in my blogging career when there were NO schedulers at all.  As in – everything HAD to be done manually by hand!  I know for those that are new it sounds crazy, but each and EVERY day I was usually scheduling social media posts for up to an hour.  7 days a week.  Unless it was a holiday – then I usually posted once in the morning to say hello and took the remaining part of the day off.

Doesn’t sound like a big deal to post one post after waking up on Christmas Day, but it literally meant I could never be away from my computer for extended periods of time.  It just wasn’t feasible.

Not to mention, that was an activity that wasn’t necessarily making me a profit either.  But I knew my loyal fans (and purchasers) were depending on me to be consistent in my posts.  If I slacked off, I noticed the sales slump almost immediately.

Although it was a dream, it got me to thinking…how can a teacher blogger have updates going to fans and followers and not spend the entire day prepping it all?  And still have time to work on the creation part:  blog posts, products, and promotions?

What is a social media scheduling plan?

For me, I like to maximize how effective my work is.   I need to know I am getting the most return on my investment – whether that is investing in software to help me make my products look and sell better – OR – whether that is in time trade.

I know that the more time I spend on income-producing activities, and less time on non-income-producing activities, equals more cash sitting in my bank account at the end of the day.

Don’t believe me?  I can guarantee that the majority of your sales have come from you being able to cross-promote a product with other bloggers or from running a promoted pin.  Many fewer sales come from posting on social media.

So why should I even spend time posting to social media then?

Your readers and potential buyers will only buy something from someone they know, like, and trust.  Social media accounts allow us the fastest way to set up that scenario.

First:  They learn to KNOW us from our “voice” in our posts both on our websites AND via social media.  My messaging will be far different from another favorite blogger you follow.  And that is ok.  I like to throw in some personal details about my life or behind the scenes from time to time.

Really – the key is regularly posting to those social media accounts.  People are not fans of change or the unknown.  By just being there and showing up, they begin to know you.

Next:  They want to LIKE you.  HOW do they know whether or not they like you?  Social proof.  If they notice their friend has “liked” or “shared” one of your social media posts, they are far more likely to feel the same way.

Herd mentality is a real thing.  How many of you would be able to walk past a huge gathering of people cheering at something on the other side of the road?  Wouldn’t you be drawn like a tractor beam to see what everyone was so hyped up about?  I can promise you there is no way I am NOT finding out what is going on.  🙂  This is simply social proof.

The more social proof you can harness, the more it continues to grow.  And that is really only done via social media.  I am not sure how many product pages go viral, but I know for a fact that thousands of social media posts go viral every day.

Last:  They want to TRUST you.  How do they trust you?  By you showing up regularly and sharing things with them.  It might be a freebie – or it just might be a great post that teaches them something.  This is a huge part of the creation piece we need to be doing MORE of and more often!

If every blog post you have revolves around the same 3 things:  link-up party, a product post, and a link to your latest freebie (with no context and a link right to another site), then you should not wonder WHY your traffic to your own blog site is not big.  You are sending people AWAY from your website!

Give them a reason to trust you by sharing the best not-for-sale ideas you have!  This can take on many forms:  freebies, videos, written blog posts, eBooks, podcasts, and so much more. But the goal is to drive people to your website.  Not away from it.

What activities are Income-Producing vs Not?

Here are a FEW examples to get you thinking about your blogging business activities.  Some ARE necessary by the way.  But the goal is to simplify, reduce, or even eliminate the non income-producing activities to as little time spent on them as possible and increase the time spent on the Income-Producing Activities.

When you make that shift, you will find that your stress level decreases (because you aren’t feeling like you need to fit it all in) and your income increases.  Win-win!

Non Income-Producing Activities:

• posting to social media accounts
• redoing covers on your current posted products
• changing your store banners
• making all new graphics for your blog
• updating products (*This CAN be an IPA only IF you have buyers waiting to pay for an updated version)
• weekly linky parties
• lurking in teacher seller FB groups or forums and spending hours a day just reading others’ posts
• creating Facebook ads for the pure goal of sales {FB ads should be used instead to build the know, like, and trust}

Income-Producing Activities:

• creating/posting a new product
• writing a blog post that contains a sales funnel
• personally emailing another blogger to do a joint promotion (bundle for sale, workshop with a sales pitch at the end of it, etc)
• contacting companies that will donate prizes to a huge giveaway – where at the end you will email all those who did not win and offer a product of yours at a discounted rate
• creating a freebie that is hosted on your site and drives traffic back to your site only {higher page views = higher affiliate income, Google Adsense income, or email signups which can result in immediate sales}
• creating and interacting in a FB group you have created for your fans and readers that give you new product ideas and are begging to buy it after they have helped to create it via their feedback
• designing a video series (live or recorded) which gives great content, but sells something that the end which correlates to the series topic

Do you still need to post to social media?  Absolutely.

Does it need to take a lot of time?  Nope.

In fact, I am hosting a FREE 5-Minute a Day Social Media Scheduling Event for Teacher Bloggers!  Get signed up for this free event where by the end of 5-days you will have YOUR system set up so you aren’t spending any more than 5 minutes a DAY on social media posts!  Seriously!

The question then becomes, “Which Income-Producing Activities can I focus on TODAY instead?”

Have a great rest of the week,

~Charity