I don’t think it’s any secret that Social Media can be a thief of time. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy platforms like Instagram where I’ve made so many connections with other TpTers and homeschool Mommas. It’s also an important asset when you run an online business, but it can easily become a huge distraction. To combat this, I’ve started to rethink the way I interact online.
Plan It Out
This is a concept I go back and forth with, but I think I’ve finally found a balance. (For now? Ha!) Personally, if I plan out every aspect of my Social Media experience it loses its fun. And while I want to be successful with it, I also want to enjoy it!
What seems to work best for me is to plan out one post each day. These planned posts are resources, ideas, blog posts, etc. that I’d like to get the most exposure and share during peak times. I jot these posts down in the “month” section of my planner to get everything planned out.
Schedule It
Now scheduling is definitely an interesting topic in the Social Media world. Some people believe that scheduled posts are not as successful in their reach as manually posted ones. I truly do not know. I haven’t done the research so please don’t take this suggestion as a guarantee that your posts will reach more viewers. What I CAN say is that scheduling one post each day allows me to stress less about what/when I’m going to post and to focus more on LG during the day. And to me, that’s well worth losing some reach if that happens.
My favorite Instagram scheduler is Planoly. I use the FREE version that allows me to schedule and automatically post 30 posts each month. This is perfect for me considering my goal is only to schedule one post each day! I schedule my posts for the week or month, include my hashtags and links for resources, and then let it do it’s thing!
Have Fun With It!
Although I schedule one post each day, I don’t plan them in any particular pattern. That way I’m free to post anything else I want in between scheduled posts. This has helped me find balance so much!! But most importantly, it keeps me from posting and browsing on IG (as much) and frees up my phone for more important things like taking this precious picture of my baby girl working on her school work outside!
Home and work time can conflict often. Thank you, friend, for shedding some light on how you manage them! I am going to try and schedule posts and schedule no-phone times to free up some of my time! With 5 kiddos and homeschooling 3 different grades, every minute counts!