Social media is a lot like exercise. You get out of it what you put in. The more you do it, the more comfortable you get. The longer you do it, the better your results – and you feel better about it too! Or at least, you’ll learn to hate it less.
So, with that in mind… If you are marketing your business through social media and you want results, there’s one thing that you’ll need to do: use social media regularly. Not randomly, not occasionally. Regularly. Like every day regularly.
In other words, to get the most out of social media, you’re going to need to make it a habit.
Here are five action steps to help you create & maintain your social media habit:
- Sign in every day. This is where the habit starts. Even if it’s only for five minutes, checking in even just once a day will get you headed in the right direction. Even weekends? That’s up to you, but it isn’t a bad idea.
- Every time you sign in, engage. To get any results from using social media, you need to do more than log in. You need to post your own content, and you also need to respond to other people’s content by liking, commenting, and sharing. This is the “social” part of social media – engaging with other people on line.
- Put it on your calendar. Schedule the time just like you would a client meeting or a doctor’s appointment. (If it isn’t already there, put your exercise schedule on your calendar, too. It’ll increase your chances of following through!) Allot the time you’re going to need, and then don’t skip the appointment!
- Get yourself an accountability partner. If someone else is expecting you to check in with them, it increases the likelihood of you following through. Maybe you say “hi” to them online once a week, or maybe you like each other’s posts as a “check-in” activity. However you work it out, it’s a great way to create your own habit and help someone else build theirs as well.
- Schedule some of your posts. The operative word here is “some.” Use a tool like Hootsuite or Buffer to pre-schedule some of your content so that you don’t have to worry about it all week, but don’t let that replace your live posting. Nothing is better than timely posting and engagement throughout the week.
Getting results from social media comes from spending quality time there and building your social media habit. Much like exercise, the longer you do it, the better your results – and you’ll feel better about it too! (Or at least, you’ll learn to hate it less.)
