Today's Mission: Scheduling Your Posts
Yesterday we talked about how important it is to promote your content and different ways to do that. Today our focus is on scheduling your posts ahead of time on social media.
Why?
Because you get busy, and it's so much easier when you set up promotion in advance for your posts. For instance, you can take an hour to sit down and schedule your posts for the week in your favorite marketing tool.
That way, if things get busy, as they often do, your content is still working for you. Your social media posts still publish, and your patients see you as an active online presence.
By now, I hope you've had a chance to look into 1-2 platforms you'd like to use for your social media. Along with that, you'll need to have a basic knowledge of what social media tools are available.
If you need more information on this, you can get it in our article How to Promote Your Pharmacy on Social Media. In it, we cover several different social media tools, including:
Once you choose a tool, you'll be able to auto-schedule your posts. But before you get started, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Expectations & Etiquette
Depending on the social media platform you choose, you should be familiar with posting etiquette for that platform. For example, posting on LinkedIn is very different from posting on Twitter.
LinkedIn allows for much longer posts, and it's often more business-oriented. Twitter is shorter, more succinct. Be sure you understand expectations for your chosen platform.
Look into Preferred Time of Day
Most, if not all, social media platforms provide analytics as far as the best time of day for shares. It's important to look into and understand this information.
You can combine this knowledge with what you already know about your audience. From there, you can make a judgement call on what times you'd like to start experimenting with.
Work within Relevant Timeframes
If you're promoting an article on an evergreen topic, this isn't something you need to worry so much about. But if you're promoting an event, your content may only be relevant for a specific period of time.
Be sure to schedule your posts with this in mind; you can share the post more often when it's needed. You can also pay to promote your posts during the event, which will help get you more exposure.
Post When You First Publish
It's a good idea to share your content the first time you publish it; that way, people know it's there. Yesterday, we went into how to pull between 5-10 snippets from each piece of content for posting. Don't forget to schedule these as well, for different dates in the future.
Later that Day
You can also share a new blog post a couple of times on the first day. Here's where your snippets come in; it's more interesting if you make your posts different. Plus, you'll learn more about what your audience likes by looking at engagement stats.
Try pulling facts out of the content and starting you post with 'Did you know...' Or offer tidbits of 'How to' information on health and other well loved topics.
And the Next Day
Slow it down a bit but continue to share your article or post the next day. When you do, tag any experts or influencers you've mentioned in the article, so their audience will see it as well.
Continue to Share
Continue to promote your content for as long as it's relevant. If it's something patients need to know about, like a clinic or an event, promote it more. If it's evergreen content that will hold it's value over time, post less but stay consistent.
Some people tend to get nervous when they first start with content marketing. They worry about posting too much, or being too active on social media.
By knowing the way the platform and your audience works, you should be able to post with confidence. According to CoShedule and Neil Patel, two giants in the industry, sharing more than once is not only acceptable, it's the smart thing to do.
If in doubt please check out CoShedule's article entitled Should You Share Social Media Posts Multiple Times? And Neil Patel's article called How to Easily Double Your Traffic from Social Media.
If you're adding real value to your patients' lives, and you know your audience, you probably can't go too far wrong posting 1-3 times a day, depending on the platform.
Your mission for today is to be sure you're aware of best practices for your chosen social media platforms. Also, look into the recommended social media tools and set up an account on the one you choose.
If you've already started creating content, great; go over each piece and pull out your snippets. Set up a time to sit down and schedule your posts in your scheduler; try to do it at a time when you're not feeling stressed. The more you enjoy this, the more that enjoyment will come across to your audience.
For those who haven't started creating content, keep your snippets in mind during the creation process. Pulling out your highlights or snippets as you go along can save time and help keep your oriented on the goal of each piece.
Have fun with this! And see you tomorrow for Day 25!
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