Creating an Effective Social Media Post Schedule

The mere thought of having to come up with content to post on social media several times a week can feel very overwhelming, especially when you have a million other tasks to do each day that always seem to take precedence over posting content. Additionally, social media can become extremely time consuming if you don't plan out exactly what you want to post. The solution to beating overwhelm when is comes to social media is developing an effective social media posting schedule. I created a posting schedule worksheet for my online hair boutique to organize my ideas for the types of content I wanted to include on this account to best represent my products. Here are some tips that helped me successfully develop my posting schedule.

• First, decide what you want to accomplish through developing a social media presence. Your goal will depend on what your business is and what you want to promote, but this will determine that type of content you need to post, and how often. Some businesses just want to increase brand awareness, while others want to reel in more customers using social media.

• Determine what days of the week you want to post, and what you want to post on those days. When you recognize what your goals for social media are, it's easier to come up with meaningful content to post, for example, if your goal is to increase sales it might be a good idea to launch a new promotional campaign each week. There are several free apps that help you determine which days of the week and times each day you should post to achieve the greatest post engagement. My favorite is WhenToPost.

In addition to planning out what you want to post and when, it's equally important to draft your postings weekly so when the time comes to post based on the schedule you created, you're not scrambling around trying to create what you planned. For my personal accounts, I dedicate one afternoon a week to pulling graphics, coming up with captions, updating hashtags, and taking new pictures. This saves me time during the week so I don't have to start from scratch every time I post.

Have questions or comments about social media posting schedules? Comment below or contact me!