Have you ever stopped to think about what you get done throughout the course of a day? It’s actually pretty remarkable if you really think about it. Not only do you find time to make lunches, drop the kids off at school, go to work – and still make soccer practice as well as dinner, but somehow you are able to get all of this done in a normal eight hour day.
Whether you realize it or not, the reason you are able to accomplish so much is because you follow a routine. For a lot of people who are just starting out incorporating social media into their already long list of daily activities, having a routine should really be routine and here’s why.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. You’re all excited about implementing a social media strategy into your business that you go charging in and end up spending too much time posting content (and not enough time engaging with your community of fans) or you say you’re going to post updates and then after about a month or two, they fizzle…because it isn’t fun anymore or you think you’ve run out of ideas.
All in all, you’re missing out on opportunities either way – that’s why it is important to develop balance. So how do you find a mix that works? Just like you have a routine for your daily tasks, your social media accounts also need a daily routine.
Think about it. You get so many things accomplished in a given day and how? You cannot add extra hours to the day (tell me when you find the answer to that one). Instead, you put them on your list, you prioritize, and you get into the habit of doing them each and every day, without complaints.
This same principle holds true with social media. One think that I recommend is not to rush in and post everything you can think of. Part of being successful with social media is to try different things and to pay attention to what your audience responds to. Also, don’t feel obligated to posting everyday. If when you get started, you find you don’t have a lot of content, spend that time that you have dedicated to posting social media updates on coming up with different things you can post. Examples include status updates, links, photos, as well as videos that are related to your area of business. This way when you make social media part of your routine, it will become natural to you – no more forgetting or posting in spurts – we’re all guilty of that – and you’ll have some good ideas to post, so that as your routine becomes more of an everyday occurrence, you have lots of great things to talk about and share with your fans and followers.
By making a routine, routine, it will become a part of your social behavior – and you won’t have to think twice about what to post and remembering to post it. You’ll also get more exposure to the tools that are available as well. Before long, you’ll be able to master them – all because they’re something you do everyday, because they’re a part of your routine, just like everything else in your life is.
If you already have a routine that you follow, I would love to hear about it – leave a comment below.
