I recently started my adventures in public speaking. This included doing a presentation at a couple of networking groups called “How to Cut Your Social Media Posting Time in Half.”
Public speaking doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s always nerve-wracking but I’m slowly getting better. Also, it’s funny how after you’ve done it, you get a real buzz and want to do it again! Although I still find it hard when people don’t look you in the eye.
After the talks, many people asked for the slides. So I thought I’d put this article together, summarising the presentation and giving you a copy of the slides as well.
The reason I chose this topic is it seems to resonate with a lot of people. It’s something I see lots of business owners struggling with, feeling stuck on the content hamster wheel, struggling to constantly come up with new ideas for content and spending way too much time doing it. There’s a much better way, and it’s all about following a system.
In my talk, I gave a behind-the-scenes look at how I manage several of my clients’ social media profiles without losing my mind. If you think managing your own social media profiles is hard, imagine having to do it for several businesses at once!
If you take only one thing away from this article, it’s the importance of being prepared in advance and following a system.
So on that note, here’s the system I personally use. Feel free to steal it or take what works for you. I almost guarantee there’ll be something in here that can help speed up your posting workflow.
So here it is. The system is made up of four parts.
1. Research.
The biggest problem for most people is coming up with a constant stream of new ideas. Here are some ways to get an unlimited supply of content.
The first option is to answer your clients’ questions. There are lots of great tools to help with this.
Keywords Everywhere is a Google plugin that will tell you the most popular topics and questions searched for in Google.
Answer the Public is another great tool for finding the most popular questions on a particular topic. Put in a seed term, such as “accountant”, and it will tell you all the questions asked for on that topic online.
You can even get great ideas straight from Google search by typing in a word and looking at the suggested searches underneath. Look under ‘Related Questions’ and the ‘People Also Ask’ sections for even more ideas.
Also, don’t forget to actually ASK your existing clients yourself!
Next, follow the latest news in your industry. Google Alerts gives you a daily summary of the top stories relating to any topic.
You can also get a goldmine of ideas from your competitors’ best posts. Look for posts that have had the most engagement, such as likes, comments and shares.
Once you’ve got lots of ideas, put these into a content calendar so you don’t forget them. Trello and Notion are two great free tools for doing this.
2. Words
Step 2 is to write your captions. Start by writing the outline of your post in bullet points.
Next, use speech-to-text. Speech-to-text is a great way of writing quickly because speaking beats typing. Use the dictate feature in Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Also, try AudioPen – it’s a great speech-to-text tool that fixes your spelling and grammar automatically.
Finally, consider using AI tools like ChatGPT, although remember to always rewrite the output in your own words.
3. Design
Next we’ll create the visuals for your posts. Create a brand stylesheet so your brand and design stays consistent. To keep things simple, I would suggest using two fonts, three colours and a logo.
Use Canva to design your social media graphics as it’s the best tool for fast design. It also has lots of professional templates. Update these based on your brand fonts and colours but don’t just copy them.
Then create a set of templates, five or so, for all different types of posts so you have these ready to go.
4. Automation
This is the final step where we speed everything up.
Firstly, batch all of your social media posts on a single day to save time.
Next, use tools like Buffer or Meta Business Suite to schedule and automatically post for you. Both are free, although Meta is only for Facebook and Instagram.
By doing this, your posts will be going out on a regular basis without you having to think about it.
Summary
Here’s a summary of all the steps.
1. Research using the tips above to fill up your content calendar.
2. Quickly write captions with speech-to-text and ChatGPT.
3. Use Canva and templates to speed up your design.
4. Batch and schedule using Buffer or Meta Business Suite.
As I said right at the beginning, the key takeaway is to have a system. Don’t just wing it! If you follow these steps, I’m confident you’ll be able to create great posts in a fraction of the time.
As promised, here are the full-size slides from my presentation that you can refer back to at any time. Download them here.
Good luck with your social media posting!
P.S. Fancy cutting the time you spend on social media content almost down to zero? Or just need some help? Get in touch about our great value social media packages, designed for growing small businesses.