How to make social media less stressful?  

There is no doubt about it, social media is a fantastic marketing tactic to have in your marketing toolkit.  However, it can be a confusing, life sapping, time consuming beast as well.  I would say the number one thing I get asked about is social media (even though there are tonnes of other marketing tactics you can use).  Social media is free, it can help you get your message out there, show off your products and services, help you reach new audiences and sell stuff too.  But how do you get the balance?  How can you make it all a little less stressful and let’s face it more effective, because no one wants to spend all their time on social media for it not to work, right? So, here are a few things to bear in mind. 

1 – Make a plan 

One of the best things you can do with social media is to have a plan.  Think about the things you want to tell people, what products or services do you want to promote and when, what do you need people to know about you.  It is much harder to just post on the go as and when you feel like it.  We all know what happens, you start with good intentions, but then it falls by the wayside because you got too busy and there were more important things to be doing. I love spontaneity on social media, but to have a plan written down of what you are going to post and when will help you keep things on track. It also helps it become a little less overwhelming too.   

2 – Create content in advance  

Once you have a plan it is great to create content in advance.  Take an hour a month and actually write the posts, create the designs of find the photos and use a scheduling tool to plan out your socials, so you can get everything ready in advance.  Then on days when you are so busy, you know that your social media is taking care of itself.  You can then post the spontaneous posts as you go.  Even if you schedule one or two posts a week consistently this can have a huge impact on your social media.  

3 – Find your comfort zone 

However, one of the best things you can do with social media is to find what feels right for you.  If that is creating one amazing reel a week or Instagram or TikTok great.  If that is writing three business-based posts for LinkedIn brilliant.  Maybe you want to post across every social media channel and build your audience that way – whatever feels right for you then do it.  Get into a flow and be consistent.  Not everyone wants to post videos and you don’t always have to do that.  Find what feels right for you, find what works best for you and do it well.  That is when social media will become less stressful and effective.