Let’s face it, it’s a lot of work to plan time off from your business. Not only do you need someone to manage your onsite business, but you need someone to manage your online presence as well. Why? Because prolonged absence from social media does not make the heart grow fonder. With the amount of online businesses vying for your followers attention, a sudden stop in regular postings may cause your followers to forget about you or worse, think that you are no longer in business.
While onsite personal can handle the day to day activity, don’t forget that your online presence needs to be maintained as well. If you’re a small business and you follow a set schedule in your social media postings, you don’t want your customers to experience an extended absence.
Fortunately, you have options when it comes to scheduling posts so that no one is aware you’ve gone offline for a while and taken some well-deserved down time.
There are a few social media platforms that allow you to schedule future posts directly from your business account. If you have an account on Facebook and Instagram* or Pinterest, you should be able to schedule posts from each account. Just click on the “schedule” or “publish later” button and schedule future posts according to the dates you plan to be gone. Depending on the length of time you’re away, you may be able to schedule all posts for the duration of your absence. (*Note: Instagram scheduling is not available without a Facebook account unless you use a third party social media scheduling platform.)
If you have several social media accounts or you are on platforms that do not allow you to schedule future posts directly, then I recommend using a third party platform like Buffer, Hootsuite, etc. A current list of top 9 social media management sites according to Zapier can be found here.
For business owners who have accounts across multiple platforms and/or have multiple businesses and several social media accounts, odds are you already have or you could greatly benefit from hiring someone to manage your social media.
A social media manager can manage all of your social media accounts on one scheduling site, keep up with time sensitive campaigns across all platforms, as well as acknowledge customer comments.
Regardless of your business size or the number of social media accounts, hiring someone to manage your social media wil give you more time to dedicate to other aspects of your business.
Scheduling time away from your business and catching up once you’ve returned are two sides of the same coin. Both require double time and attention. Whether you schedule your social media posts before you leave, hire a social media manager, or use a scheduling site, it’s important that your followers stay connected to your brand and your business.
If you have questions regarding social media management or would like further information regarding my services, please contact me at dean@deantriolodesign.com
