How to Manage Social Media (and Still Enjoy Summer!)

Susan Tucker

Let’s face it, managing your social media marketing is hard enough to keep up with on a regular basis, but with summer around the corner it can be downright impossible to keep it going. Social media does not take a summer vacation. However, there are things you can do to be sure you can manage social media… And still enjoy a break.

Here are some tips…

1. Really hone in on where your customers are

Top marketers across the globe continually stress the importance of understanding your customers. By gathering key details about your customers, you can build a Buyer Persona. This will then help you really understand where they interact and engage online. Perhaps your customers will be spending much of their summer vacation on Facebook rather than LinkedIn and if so, you can use that info to target your (limited summer) social media marketing efforts.

2. Build a content calendar (and stick to it!)

The easiest way to manage your social media marketing this summer is to create a content calendar – and stick to it. Think through the next couple of months and pre-schedule timely, and relevant posts.

The relaxed vibe of summer also gives small businesses the opportunity to layer in fun, casual posts, introduce behind-the-scenes content and to test out contest ideas.

3. Invite team members to share responsibility

It’s great to pre-schedule posts, but you still need to have some organic engagement. Customers these days are using social media to communicate with brands on a more regular basis. Not only that, they are expecting a 60-minute or less response time (gulp!). If you’re enjoying a wedding on Cape Cod, you certainly do not want to be replying to tweets. Find a team member who may be willing to share some of the responsibility of monitoring your channels. Don’t have team members to share with? Hire a summer intern to work remotely.

4. Cut back on posts

I know, I know, I’m all-content-all-the-time, but trust me, it’s ok to cut back on your posts. Rather than posting daily to Facebook, perhaps you schedule out only 2-3 per week. The important message here is that you do not let it go completely dry. You never know, you may find this is a good strategy to implement year round.

It is totally possible for your small business to maintain a presence and still get the much needed break you deserve. It just takes a little planning!

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