I know you're all laughing right now. I am not as consistent with my content as I would like to be. However, I am trying to become more consistent and get my act together! So I've come up with some ways to help myself plan out my social media posts, blog posts, and YouTube videos. I thought I would share those tips with you!
#1. Get Yourself a Calendar or a Planner or Both!
This might be pretty obvious to some people but when I was first starting out, I didn't have a calendar for my posts. I just posted it when I wanted to. This leads to inconsistency and low views/comments/interactions. I went in search of a social media/blog planner. I found a great one on Etsy (PurpleTrail Planners) and have been using it for about a year now I think. I use it for both work and to plan out my posts.
I don't just use my planner though, oh no friends, I also use my Google Calendar. I find that it's a little easier when planning things out to just write the title of the post I want to write/film and then maneuver it around the calendar how I see fit. I put my blog and YouTube posts on my Google Calendar, then when I've posted them or I'm sure I'm not going to move them to a different day, I put them in my planner. It's a little more work to also use the planner but I do love it, so I keep it.
#2. Sign up for an auto-post site for Social Media
I learned about this site from Sunny Lenarduzzi and have been obsessed with it ever since. I love being able to schedule my Instagram posts. I mainly use it for filler and to make sure my followers know when a video goes up without having to logon while at work and post a thumbnail. It truly makes my life easier.
So far I have used Apphi, which allows you to post to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter scheduling a post for a different time for each or to schedule one post for one time for all three. It's a good site but I just found the user interface wasn't what I wanted.
I tried Plann for all of a week and decided I didn't like it. It doesn't auto-post and the whole reason I was going through a third-party app was to auto-post and not have to work about doing it myself at the correct time. So that wasn't the app for me.
I settled with Planoly because I enjoy the UI. It will posts to IG and Facebook just like the Instagram app. But you can link your Facebook Page to Twitter and whatever you post on Facebook will show up on Twitter as well. So really you don't need to make a separate post for each.
The best part about all of those scheduling sites is that they tell you when the best time to post for your account is! I see so much more engagement now that I'm using Planoly!
#3. Set Aside Time to Plan
I work 40 hours a week in a nursing facility, I don't always have time to sit down and plan out what's going where and when. So I have to make myself schedule time between dinner time and bedtime to plan out what needs to go up and when. I know, as moms we tend to feel like there is something else that needs to be done around the house before we can focus on something for ourselves, but if you're planning to make money off of YouTube/Blogging/Social Media, you need to treat it like another job.
I give myself an hour to sit on my laptop and figure out how I can post and what's needs to go up. I prioritize YouTube because that's my passion. I love making and editing videos! Then I plan out Instagram posts. I like to take a thumbnail from my video or a picture from my blog post and post it as a new post announcement. I find that it helps people click through to my sites.
Sometimes I also schedule filler pictures. If I know I won't really be doing much posting that day (say I've got a busy day at work) I'll schedule a quote or a random picture with a random caption just to get something up for that time slot.
I try not to schedule more than a couple pictures for one day. I don't want all of my social media content to be preplanned. I like to make spontaneous posts also. If I plan out four or five IG posts for one day, there's no room to post a spontaneous one. You don't want to dominate your followers' feed. At least, I don't. I don't like that lol.
#4. Keep a Running List of Post Ideas!
credit: the verge
Guys, this is something I recently started doing and I don't know why I haven't been doing it all along. I keep a running list on my phone and every time I think of something I want to blog about or do a video about I add it to my list. It's great for times when I have nothing to post about! Right now I have a running list of blogs and YouTube posts.
And that is how I plan my posts! I hope at least some of this was helpful! How do you plan your posts?
-Kristin
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