This book is dedicated to all of my readers who signed up for my newsletter. I appreciate you so much that I had to do something just for you. This book is also dedicated to the Hubs. He told me to write a book years ago but I didn’t listen….now that I listened all I get is a whatever…..*side eye*
Table of Contents
Introduction Hootsuite Instagram Facebook Twitter Scheduling
Introduction Social Media is not a joke. It’s work……. The time that you put in to social media can and will drain you if you don’t stick to some type of schedule. Can you run your social networks alone? I do, but it’s not an walk in the park. I run three different sites. One for my magazine (Kokoa Magazine), one for my visual design company (Visually Kokoa), and one for Macaroni Kid (Conyers Macaroni Kid). With that, I also run a massive amount of social networks. Three twitters, two Facebook’s, Two instagrams, one pinterest, two newsletters, one tumblr, and occasionally I do Google +. I am not going to even touch on Google + in this book but I will tell you that it’s a must have. Running all these accounts takes time. Management skills are important to make sure you don’t burn out. In this book I am going to touch on each of the social networks that I use. How I use them, my thought process behind what I post, and my secret on how I manage each network by myself. Would I hire someone if I could? Sure I would in a heartbeat. Do you know what type of pressure would be off of me if I could hire someone? I would be in heaven but I can’t afford to hire out. So I go at it alone. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t manage, take breaks often, and don’t feel that you have to post on all of your social media accounts daily. Schedule out days or use a management system like I do… which is our next section.
Hootsuite I love Hootsuite! I used to do the paid version but decided that I didn’t need to spend the extra $10 bucks a month especially since I can’t schedule out instagram. Now if I could schedule instagram I would gladly pay the extra money a month. For now though I use the free account. The free hootsuite allows me utilize up to 3 accounts. I had a hard time choosing which account I wanted to use so I looked at the overall picture :which account would be beneficial for the growth of my business? My personal twitter I can
manage on my own because I post when I want and there is no need for me to have that in my hootsuite. Instagram photos can’t be scheduled out although you can use an app to help comment. Google + : I don’t utilize that platform like I should. My advice is to f ocus on the platforms that work for you. That left me with my other 2 twitter accounts and my Facebook accounts. I use the Twitter account for Kokoa Magazine for the both the magazine and Visually Kokoa. Visually Kokoa is an extension of Kokoa Mag , so this is a great way to cut down on multiple accounts and stay organized. This is also a great account to schedule posts via Hootsuite. One down, two to go. Next, I knew I needed to use a twitter account for my Mackid business. Mackid is not a blog/magazine but more of a newsletter for kids and parents in a certain city throughout the US. Since I live in the country part of town a lot of people aren’t on twitter. Which means I hear crickets on that account. I can’t even get someone to get a free giveaway over there…..smh . I am quite disappointed but I won’t give up. Instead,I I schedule everything from hootsuite. I get to still be active on MacKid but I don’t have to be on there. ( note: take out the yellow) Now I am left with one more account to add to Hootsuite. It can either be my Kokoa Magazine/Visually Kokoa account or the Mackid Facebook page. Which one do I do? First, we all know that Facebook has lost some of it’s momentum , so it’s like a ghost town over there. For that reason I felt I needed to do the Facebook page that I had the most likes on. That way I can continue to up those likes. I opted to do my Kokoa Facebook and then manually update my Mackid Facebook. Why manually? I am local, and I want to get to know my local folks around town. MacKid audience is more active on FB so staying in contact there helps me grow my following. Hootsuite is great and you will have to decide which accounts are the most important to use if you decide to get the free account. Now, as I have said the $10 a month account is fabulous and will work if you have contributors, a social media person, or you just want to manage more than one account from Hootsuite. The price is not bad for all that you get. Use Hootsuite or any other type of platform to make sure you stay active. Tips: 1. You can schedule on Hootsuite a week in advance. Be careful of your posts though because they may not show up on your Facebook feed correctly until it goes live. I actually schedule my Hootsuite the night before. It takes me 30 min to
an hour to schedule out my things every night. I normally do it around 9:30pm since my posts go live at 9:00 that way the picture that goes with the post is on Facebook. Scheduling at night helps me to be at least halfway authentic because you know you are at least getting my thoughts within 24 hours instead of a week. I will give you my schedule at the end of the book of what I post on each day and how I find the things I need to post.
Instagram This is quickly becoming the go to network. Why? It’s easy to engage with others by leaving a comment on the bottom of a picture you like. My rule of thumb for instagram…..Post at least…. notice I said at least ….3 times a day. Morning, noon, and night are good. Post a variety of things and make sure you include something that highlights your business. If you sell cupcakes….at least one of your photos for the day should include something that deals with cupcakes. It can be a cupcake by your computer while you work, you at the grocery store on the baking aisle, you doing a video about your cupcake, a selfie with a cupcake in the background, etc. If you do quotes...put a picture of one of your cupcakes in the background of the quote. Brand yourself so people know what you sell and what you do. For the magazine I make sure my quotes have my website on them and my customized hashtag that I use. I just started showing off my graphic/photography things so you will be seeing more of that. Tips ● Use Dropbox for your photos. Do them all pretty in whatever tool you use then upload the pictures to dropbox. I do this with all of my quotes for the week. On Sunday’s I sit for an hour and find unique quotes (or make some up) and I place them all on my graphic. I then upload about 5 or 6 of the pictures to dropbox. Then during the week all I have to do is hit that instagram picture thingy and select dropbox and place my picture on there. To keep up after I upload the picture I go to the Dropbox app on my cell and delete the picture I just shared.
This keeps me organized and prevents me from sharing a picture I've already shared. ● RT others. I use the repost it app (android) and I always try to RT someone’s business flyer, quote, or photo whenever I can. I always mention their name so that others can follow them ● For my Mackid Instagram I put our subscribe link in the bio for people to click on. Since Mackid is based as a newsletter they don’t have to go to the site. If you sign up through the link you will get everything you need straight to your email. Use that link wisely. For Kokoa I just use the magazine link. I know some people change links depending on the article or post they want you to access but I don’t have time to keep changing out the links. It’s time consuming to do that. All of my recent posts are at the top of the page…..once you hit the link in the bio you will see the exact same picture on my page. Link the page to your about page, business page, or just your reg. page. I prefer for people to see the entire magazine not just one post so you will hardly ever get a specific link from me unless I put my newsletter link up for a few hrs. I unfollow those who don’t follow me back every Friday. It’s not that I am particular with who I follow but I do want to make sure I follow people who take the time to follow me back. I do not follow a lot of celebrities because my magazine isn’t about them. I think I follow maybe 3 accounts that are well known. Inc. Magazine is one of the three…. I follow them for inspiration/ business ideas. I also try to utilize the video aspect of Instagram...I only do this if I am doing a sponsored post, an ad, or I am trying to sell something of mine. Pictures of my family or me won’t grace my Instagram often but we pop up enough to let others know someone real is handling the account.
Facebook Ahhhh good ole Facebook. I have a love hate relationship with Facebook. I have wanted to get rid of it but I still get clients from Facebook and overall I do get likes and a solid reach on there. Facebook is ….weird so I have to break this down. Let’s start with the timing of your posts….
People say post mornings, some say post midday, others say nights are the best. I say post where you see the most reach. For example I did an experiment of my Life Lessons in early January. I normally post my Life Lessons in the evenings between 57pm...so in Jan. I thought why not post it in the mornings see if I get the same reach. I posted it and I barely reached 20...I post them in the evenings I get at least a 300 reach. Huge huge huge difference. Mornings are great to post but I get my best reach after 5...that’s just for me. You have to figure out what’s your best time to reach. Research your stats and study them so that you can get the best timing down. Next what to post Some people say quotes get the best reach, others say questions, others say contests, etc. Posting a question gets me the most engagements. People want to feel engaged and answering thought provoking questions help them do that. I had one of my questions on Facebook reach 520 (the most reach I have ever gotten since they changed the algorithms). Again look at what you post. Which post has the best reach? Take the time to study your posts to determine what does the best and stick to that. I have never bought ads on Facebook….not quite sure I want to spend the money but if I have the extra coins one day I might check it out because hey you always need to try something at least once. Scheduling……… I usually schedule all of the FB post for Kokoa Mag via Hootsuite. I just started experimenting with posting directly to FB and with using the FB scheduling option. I will let you know of my findings in my next book :) For MacKids, I post and interact early in the morning and in the evenings after work hours. These times work because my audience is mainly parents many of which work during the day. I make sure to post activities during the day and so more interacting with my followers at the times I know they are online. The page has grown from 120 to 700 likes from just sharing events and pages my audience can relate to. Tips: ● To gain likes I share pages that I think my audience would love. I go into Facebook once a week and share a quote or a business from someone else. I also make it a point to speak on at least two Facebook pages (Fan pages) per week. I do this with my own fan page so that people can see it. I know I don’t get
the notifications when someone comments but I still try to go back at the end of the week to see if anyone made a comment. ● If you follow someone from your personal page and don’t want to see their Fan Page in your TL hover over their name. Uncheck the following button. That way you still liked their page but you don’t have to see anything from them. I do this at least once a week. I don’t want people to lose likes but I also don’t want to see what they are posting. Quality people who truly want to see your posts or what you are doing will sign up to your newsletter to keep up with you. Newsletters are the only thing guaranteed to keep up with your audience. Keep Facebook around and don’t just get rid of it. It’s still a free tool to use and people do see your post even if your reach is low. I only post 4 times a day on FB. Early Mornings, Around 5pm, Again around 6, then I do my last post around 8:30pm. Could I post more...probably but why when you won’t get the reach you want. Spend that time on a social site that truly gets you interaction.
Twitter I love twitter the most out of all social media channels. How can I love such a fast moving site you ask? Twitter Lists…….if you don’t have lists then twitter will be just a bunch of stuff and you will burn out fast. I have private lists and I have public ones. My private lists are lists to help me see what my competition is doing and find ways to do it better. My public lists are for me to keep up with my favorite tweeters all in one spot. I do not go down my TL unless I am absolutely bored…(which isn’t often) Here are some lists you can make: Bloggers Who show me love Bloggers in your hometown Favorite tweeps Media PR lists List of people who go to certain conferences List of your favorite niche blog (photography people etc)
I post to twitter a total of 8 times per day. For twitter anything after 2pm seems to get the most attention. Joining Chats are the best way to up your followers without having to pay for them. I use to do a chat a week but got away from it. Try doing at least one chat a week. You get to meet new people, chit chat, and build your following. Tips ● Use pictures in at least one of your tweets per day. Pictures can get you a lot of views. ● While you are sitting watching tv...follow at least 20 people. Pick people who are in your niche or you enjoy. Out of the 20 at least 5 will follow you back and you have built your followers while watching tv. ● When you click on a person of interest that you would like to follow go to their followers. Normally if they are following ...they will follow you. I find that to be the best way to gain a solid following. Overall you can run your social media by yourself with a schedule. I use google docs for my schedule and this is how my schedule looks Instagram Post 3 times a day Mornings….. post a screenshot of something from your site. It could be your post, a picture, words, etc. Noon...post a quote or something that deals with your business. Night…. do a video of your day or post Things to post during the week: ● Picture it random picture of the day ● Monday mingle tag someone for a post they wrote and show them some love this can also be done with rt’s ● Utilize your other social media platforms and post something you may have pinned, tweeted, or a story from Facebook ● Ask questions. Questions of the day keep people active on your account ● Do a product of the week or something that signifies you and have fun ● Do hashtags. My favorite one is #WIDN What I’m Doing Now where you can tag people and ask them what are they doing now. Great way to get to know people and have fun at the same time. Twitter 8 times per day...which may move up to 10 soon
1. Always say good morning and start off with a tip or a quote or something to get the people going 2. Tweet out a link to your post 3. Say something funny 4. Tweet out a question of the day 5. Put a quote up of the day or use this time to tweet your post again. 6. Put up something newsworthy that deals with your blog niche (for me since I do real life I always put something up that deals with the real life of people) 7. Tweet out your post again for the day with a picture from the post 8. Promote something from your site (your about me page, newsletter link up, other sites you were featured on, your contact page, an affiliate link, etc. always promote yourself so you can drive traffic to your site) 9. Use hashtags and keep your posts at a good length so people can respond via "quote tweet" Once a day go through your twitter lists and rt at least one person from each list, answer a question someone asks so that you can be engaged and not just tweet links out all day long. Overall you can run your own Social Media but it takes time. I recommend you use a scheduling service and then schedule out everything. Take breaks on the weekend to recoup and rest or take the weekend to schedule out for the week. Use google drive to organize and create your calendar it’s a great tool to use. If you need help on creating your calendar I will give you a one hour session on how to use it for free. Email me below and let’s get started. Of course if you hire me to do your site I can help you with social media and give you tips too. I hope you enjoyed this ebook look for more to come about different topics. Kita Bryant www.kokoamag.com www.visuallykokoa.com Kitab@kokoamag.com