Left to its own devices, social media can turn into a hungry beast that is impossible to tame! Here’s five ways to keep your social media under control, so that it will become a powerful tool for your business.
1. Embrace it
Many business owners still think of social media as something to fit in the cracks of their days around other, more “important” tasks. They don’t see the value in dedicating time to make it work.
The truth is, good social media takes planning – it is an essential function within a business, not just something to be tacked on or left as an afterthought.
It’s important to recognise that it takes time to do it well and to get results – just like a great hairstyle!
2. Show restraint
Exercising some creative restraint will help you develop solid guidelines as to what to post, rather than just using random images that could belong to any salon.
If you’re using Instagram as your main social media channel, it’s a good idea to develop a visual style guide for what to post.
Think of your Instagram feed as the visual voice of your brand – it should be distinctly recognisable as yours.
Start with your brand’s colour palette and then create and curate images that are consistent with your colours and the emotions you want to convey.
Check out Endota Spa, Morris Motley and Culture Kings for examples of brands who have a consistent feel to their Instagram feed.
3. Give yourself a schedule
Kill the dreaded “what am I going to post today?” sweats by giving yourself a posting schedule. Mix up a combination of educational, inspirational, promotional, cultural and behind-the-scenes posts to keep it interesting for your followers.
For example:
- Monday: Inspirational quote
- Tuesday: Trends we’re loving
- Wednesday: How to/DIY video
- Thursday: Product review/promo offer
- Friday: Celebrity/fashion/event/style/inspiration
- Saturday: Client hair example
- Sunday: Appointment booking reminder.
You could also plan your posts around events, or marketing opportunities that are coming up. We’re thinking Mother’s Day, new season’s fashion, holidays, celebrity weddings – the list goes on!
If you’re feeling stuck, download a calendar and list of dates here.
4. Use the right tools
If you’re using Instagram, you MUST get onto PlannThat – it’s a brilliant app that lets you upload a batch of images, drag and drop them into the most visually appealing order and then set reminders for when to post them.
Canva is another favourite for creating images that are on-brand and will stand out for all the right reasons. It’s incredibly simple to use, and you’ll be able to create gorgeous images without having to pay a graphic designer.
5. Be efficient
A mantra for all content marketers is: “One piece of content, multiple uses”. Tools like ifttt.com make it easy to get your one Instagram post to work harder for you by automatically sending the post to Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.
Whenever you are creating or curating content for one post, look for content for your next few posts as well. Anything you can work on in a batch will save youtime down to the track.
For example, if you’re creating one inspirational quote for next week, why not create four more at the same time and save them into a library to draw on later.
