Social Media Tips Archives - Bold Red Creative

An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Managing Time on Social Media

August 11, 2016 by Stefanie

Anybody who has scrolled through the news feed of their favorite social media network knows how easy it is to lose track of time. The next thing you know, what you planned to spend 5 minutes doing turns into 20. I personally had to cut back on Pinterest when I first joined, because I would get lost in all the inspiring and creative projects and recipes and waste hours of precious time browsing.

When you’re trying to grow a business or ministry and serve more people, there are so many demands on your attention both inside and outside of the business. Every minute needs to be used wisely and purposefully. So, how do you make sure you’re not wasting time when you hop on social to connect with followers and grow your community?

How to Manage Your Time on Social

1. Plan a Content Strategy

Take some time quarterly or semi-annually to look at the weeks and months ahead to plan out themes, blog post ideas, and notable events. Hootsuite offers a great template here. Also, determine what topics and types of content you plan to share with your community. This will help to prevent you from scrambling at the last minute and will help you provide value consistently.

2. Batch Tasks

Repetitively doing a specific task will allow you to get more done in less time. Set aside blocks of time throughout each month to:

search images to use in posts
create graphics with text
film or design tutorial videos
curate beneficial and interesting content to share
write blog posts
build relationships and follow targeted accounts

3. Batch Schedule

Use the Facebook scheduler or other scheduling tool to set times for posts to publish throughout the week. This should be a combination of curated and original content. Evergreen content can be shared routinely in the future, as well. This should free you up to spend more time engaging with followers and influencers on social media and to focus on other responsibilities.

4. Set a Timer

When replying, commenting, and scanning content on social, be sure to set a timer. If you only have 10-15 minutes to designate to this per day, use the timer app on your phone or even use a kitchen timer to keep you on track!

5. Stay focused

Social media is full of noise and distractions. Sometimes you turn off your phone or computer only to feel drained and disappointed with the loss of 45 minutes of your life to social media. It’s easier said than done, but try to be intentional about what you are trying to accomplish with social by setting goals to complete specific tasks.

It will take a little time to get adjusted to new scheduling habits, but a little planning will help with taming the social media beast.

How do you manage your time on social? Share your tips in the comments!

For more free resources and tips on working smarter (not harder) when it comes to social media, check out my Streamline your Social Quick-start Guide!

Comparison of Free Plans for Scheduling Social Media Posts

August 5, 2016 by Stefanie

If you’re looking to step-up your social media presence to promote your message more consistently, you’ll likely need to schedule posts in advance unless you plan to be on social media 24/7. And who has time for that?! If you’re hesitant to add automation to your social media strategy because it seems impersonal, read 5 Ways to Humanize Social Media Automation.

Some social media platforms have native scheduling capabilities, like Facebook and more recently Twitter (via Twitter Dashboard iOS app). There are other social sharing tools that can assist with publishing posts at a later time. This allows for batch scheduling and can save time during the day or week, depending on how far out you will be planning your posts.

If you’re exploring your options or focusing on growing just one or two platforms right now, I recommend starting off with a free plan. Below is a comparison of free plans from scheduling tools that I’m familiar with.

Note: some less familiar third-party apps are not in compliance with the guidelines of certain platforms and could result in the suspension of your account, so be careful about what you use. The ones on this list follow guidelines to use for posting. Also, at the time of this writing there aren’t any approved tools that I’m aware of that allow direct scheduling to Instagram. Instead these tools allow you to set up your posts and then alert you when it’s time to publish directly to the network.

Free Social Scheduling Plans

Buffer

Free Scheduling Available for These Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and Instagram

Number of Social Accounts: One account per network

Number of Scheduled Posts: 10 posts per profile

Analytics: No report, but will show top tweets and posts

Link Shortening: Yes

Pros: Browser extension for adding articles easily to content queue, available on desktop and mobile app, Pablo image creator, and video and GIF uploader, ability to “re-buffer” previously shared content.

Hootsuite

Free Scheduling Available for These Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, and Instagram

Number of Social Accounts: 3 social profiles

Number of Scheduled Posts: Unlimited

Analytics: Basic report that shows follower growth

Link Shortening: Yes

Pros: Ability to interact and monitor mentions, people, and topics from the Hootsuite dashboard, Hootlet add-on for Chrome to share articles, available on desktop and mobile app

Post Planner

Free Scheduling Available for These Social Networks: Facebook and Twitter

Number of Social Accounts: 1 profile

Number of Scheduled Posts: 5 per day and 25 total

Analytics: None

Link Shortening: No

Pros: Gives status ideas and shows viral photos and top articles to help boost engagement on posts

Later

Free Scheduling Available for These Social Networks: Instagram

Number of Social Accounts: 1 User, 2 social profiles

Number of Scheduled Posts: 30 photo posts per month

Analytics: No

Link Shortening: N/A

Pros: Schedule posts on desktop or mobile app, view overall layout of scheduled grams with rest of Instagram feed, search and re-post

Summary

Buffer and Hootsuite are great as overall social media management tools for multiple channels. I personally think that Buffer’s format is more user-friendly and find the browser extension to be extremely useful. I also love the “re-buffer” option. However, Hootsuite’s ability to monitor keywords, hashtags, and other conversations is very valuable.

Post Planner is a handy supplement to a more robust scheduling tool to find out what articles and photos are getting great engagement, so you can share the relevant ones to your niche and message. Even though you can plan Instagram posts in Hootsuite and Buffer, I love how you can preview your feed in the Later app.

What’s your favorite scheduling tool? Which features do you find to be the most valuable?

For more tips on how to Streamline Your Social. Get my FREE Quick-Start Guide here!

Takeaways from my First Facebook Live Video

July 1, 2016 by Stefanie

If you’re anything like me, the mere mention of doing live video puts a knot in your stomach. The fact is, though, anyone with a message to deliver most likely needs to get on board with video as part of their social media strategy. So, of course, that means that I need to jump on the train, too!

Facebook Live is the best way to get organic reach on Facebook right now, especially after news broke this week that it’s going to be even harder for Pages’ content to be seen in the News Feed. The real-time interaction with followers is fun and valuable. It’s also a great way to engage with others online in a genuine way.

Still nervous about getting started? Here are a few suggestions to make your first Facebook Live video go more smoothly!

3 Tips for Doing Facebook Live for the First Time

1. Do the first video in a casual, comfortable setting from your personal profile.

Forget your Facebook Page for a minute and get personal! I decided to test out my first FB Live video at a CMA Fest concert in Nashville. It was a relaxed atmosphere with a great energy and I thought it would be an interesting event to share with my friends and family. I had something fun to talk about and felt like I could shift the attention off me and make it more about the artists that were performing.

2. Go live with a buddy.

You don’t have to do this solo! I attended the concert with my cousin and a couple friends. Having them be part of the video took some pressure off and definitely made me feel more comfortable while I tested out the “live video” waters!

3. Value each viewer.

Whether you have 1, 10, or 100 viewers, focus on making each person feel like their time and presence matters! The one regret that I have about my first video is that I made a comment in jest about how I “only had five viewers.” Honestly, I was happy to be interacting with each one of those family members and friends, and having any more viewing live wouldn’t have made a difference in regards to the experience.

Have you done a Facebook Live video yet? If not, do you plan to use it as part of your community-building strategy in the future?

For more social media tips and free resources, download my free Streamline Your Social Quick-Start Guide!

5 Awesome Typography Apps for Mobile

June 20, 2016 by Stefanie

For those times when you don’t have access to a desktop, but need to knock out some graphics with text overlay for social media posts, the following mobile typography apps can come in handy on your smart phone. Some are free and some are paid.

1. Over

Over has so many great options for adding text and artwork to photos. I’m most familiar with this app as I’ve been working with it since it launched about five years ago. It’s intuitive to use and you can even select stock photos from Unsplash or Pixabay if you don’t have your own photos to work with. Over is currently free with in-app upgrades, for additional font packages. Over is available on iOS and Android.

2. Adobe Spark Post

Adobe Spark Post is the newest of the apps. I like how easily you can change the format of the image based on what social media channel you are posting to. Very, very handy! Such a time-saver! Another thing that I really like, is that you can pull up Adobe Spark on desktop and pick up right where you left off creating on the mobile app! Currently Spark Post is free, but offers paid upgrades. I believe the app is only currently available for iOS devices.

3. Word Swag

This app is ideal for creating quote images quickly, since it creates a design layout with the words you type in. Word Swag even generates some quotes for you, if you’re having trouble coming up with your own. The cost of Word Swag is $3.99 with in-app purchase options. It is available for both iOS and Android.

4. Font Studio

Not only does Font Studio allow you to add customizable text to images, it also lets you edit photos and add stickers and a variety of shape frames. The popular Font Studio app is free and available for iOS and Android devices.

5. Phonto

Phonto offers over 400 fonts to choose from, but if they don’t have the one you want you can install the font of your choice. Phonto is free, but displays ads. To remove the ads, it costs $.99. Phonto has optional in-app purchases and is available on iOS and Android. The developers have also created a free video text app called Vonto.

What is your go-to app for text overlay? Do you have a favorite that’s not on this list?

This Mistake is Hurting Your Social Media Engagement

June 17, 2016 by Stefanie

If you’re just starting to grow your following on social media, chances are that you are clinging to every like, favorite, re-tweet, and comment as you look to expand your visibility and grow your online community. And with special algorithms in place on certain social networks, it may be even harder to get your content in front of the people you want to see it. Let’s make sure you’re not overlooking easy opportunities to build relationships.

Don’t Ignore Content Praise

In my own experience doing social media management for other creatives, I’ve been surprised at the lack of acknowledgment from others when sharing their work. These are not necessarily well-known creative entrepreneurs with huge followings who can’t keep up with the love that their posts are getting, either. Maybe some people aren’t comfortable with accepting compliments, but ignoring fans is a big mistake!

Not responding to followers discourages them from trying to interact with you on social media in the future. With so much noise online, they may just forget about you.

People are more likely to continue to comment and share your awesome content if they feel appreciated and develop a genuine connection with you.

3 Ways to Foster Engagement and Build Relationships

After you “like” a comment, be sure to reply.
If someone mentions you, shares a post, re-tweets or re-posts your content, be sure to acknowledge this gesture with a comment. At least say the magic words, “thank you.” 🙂
Share the work of others’ who are sharing your stuff, if their content aligns with your mission and message.

After reading this, you may be thinking, “duh!” But you’d probably be surprised to know how often post engagement gets overlooked. Maybe you’ve experienced this yourself.

There are several who are gracious and great at responding. These are also the people who have built a strong core following. Learn from these leaders and emulate their successful social strategies.

What’s your favorite way to engage and interact with others on social media?