Turn One Hour of Marketing Strategies Into One Month Of Content And Engagement

Planning Ahead On MarketingWe all have a daily task list, and it is fair to say that more often than not it leaves little to no time for staying active and engaged in social media and other forms of online marketing. Here is how I manage to juggle both and make life easier.

First I open a few tabs in my browser:

  • Tab 1) HootSuite
  • Tab 2) My Social Media Calendar (created to keep track of my scheduled events)
  • Tab 3) Internet Marketing Calendar
  • Tab 4) Calendar of National Days
  • Tab 5) My Web Sites (for copying/pasting links to blog posts, products and services)
  • Tab 6) Google Image Search and/or a site that provides free images for public use

In Tab 1 I have HootSuite connected to my social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn etc. I can create posts within the HootSuite dashboard and schedule them to broadcast over as many of those networks I choose, at the date and time I’d prefer them to be published.

I start by referring to my Internet Marketing Calendar, and addressing the dates I should be taking an action. If a blog post is needed I can set the timer for a previous blog that has already been published, or get it on my schedule to write a new one for the occasion if needed. If an Email Campaign is due, I can get that on my schedule and set on a timer as well.


Quick Tip

TIP:

Blog Posts and Email Campaigns that are repetitive create an archive that can be recycled. For example, last year’s Back To School Blog Post and Email Campaign can be duplicated, modified for the current year, and done in very little time.


Once I’ve addressed the Blog Posts and Email Campaigns I refer to the Calendar of National Days and browse for content that is related to my products and services. For example if I had a restaurant, a day such as National Cheesecake Day would give me an opportunity to apply a hashtag strategy and post something using the hashtag #NationalCheesecakeDay along with a link to my deserts menu. This begins to fill my minimum one post per day goal, and as I move along I record my scheduled posts on my social media calendar for reference.

After I have exhausted those resources I start filling in any days within the month that are missing content, and start getting creative using a methods of thirds:

  • 1/3rd Promotional
  • 1/3rd Personal
  • 1/3rd Reaching Out For Engagement/New Followers

Some days I simply post a compelling headline and link to one of my products or services, and I pay close attention to include my optimized landing pages frequently. Other days I link to previous blog posts. And some days I maintain the good practice of keeping my social media feed human and post a joke, funny cartoon, support my favorite football team or comment about a newsworthy subject. Sometimes I will check in at Twitter and #hashtags.org and see what is trending to jump in on a popular subject. Other times I’ll address an event such as sports, television and other areas of interest.


Quick Tip

TIP:

There are hashtags for every day of the week, here are some that trend regularly:


#MilitaryMonday – Show your patriotism

#MotivationalMonday – Get a good start to your week to motivate your followers with quotes and/or images

#MusicMonday – Share your musical tastes

#MondayMemories – Develop a history of your business


#TipTuesday – Address frequently asked questions or offer helpful tips regarding your business and processes

#TechTuesday – Showcase the technology you use for creating your products


#WisdomWednesday – Share something knowledgeable that relates to your industry

#HumpDay – Get creative with the exciting fact that the week is half over

#ThrowbackThursday #TBT – Share images of your business from the early days or showcase great work done from days past

#ThursdayThoughts – What’s on your mind?


#FeelGoodFriday – Welcome to the weekend, use this tag to share something that feels great

#FashionFriday – Perfect for apparel decorators, link to your landing pages

#FunnyFriday – There’s funny stuff to share everywhere you look

#FollowFriday – Encourage your followers to follow customers or accounts you are fond of

#FridayFun – Certainly there are some shenanigans going on in your workplace to share


Social Media Calander

Free Image Resources

Each social media post should include an attention-grabbing image, which is why I have a tab open for downloading and using the appropriate images for each post I schedule. Posts with images have been statistically proven to generate more engagement, sharing and clicks than posts with no images included.


Quick Tip

TIP:

Several different studies have shown the benefits of using images in social media. Every one of them reveals that images at least double the engagement in opposition to posts without images.


After seeing my social media calendar fully filled in with at least one post being published per day, it has been roughly an hours worth of work well done and I can walk away knowing that for the next 30 days I have much of my efforts on auto-pilot. This gives me the freedom of either skipping social media on a busy day, or posting throughout the month at my convenience, and keeps my accounts active no matter how busy I get.


Add HootSuite and Constant Contact to your tool box, and take advantage of the features such as timed events that can take your marketing efforts to new levels.

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