I’m all about the social
scheduling. I like the one-and-done apps when I can share one link and it will
post about nine different ways or more. Especially when I can use my Smart
Phone to get things done. I have all the social media world I need in the palm
of my hand.
But scheduling posts doesn’t
always keep me on track. I rely on my memory from day to day, only to find the
occasional overbooking has occurred with media posts and social events. What’s
This Girl to do?
For years I’ve carried around
my Day Planner with good intentions. But until recently, it was used as a diary
of what had happened; not upcoming events. It makes for great coffee table
talk. “Oh, I see you attended this conference,” or “Your book came out last month?”
Life shouldn’t be lived in
the past. Neither should our social media. Just as a book launch and holidays
are set on a specific date but the prep work begins much sooner, so should we
plan our media posts.
Of course those instant
“ohmagoodness look at this cupcake I’m having for breakfast!” posts offer
whimsical spontaneity and grab the likes, but the overall content calendar
should be plotted like a carefully constructed, well, plot.
Working backwards from the
Big Event or just a regular weekly/monthly schedule, make a list of the
important posts, and how you plan to share them. Are there sub-level items you
want your Swarm to know? How will you take your readers and fans on your
journey with you?
You can share ongoing
updates, book launch steps, weekly recipes, Bible verses, commentaries. The
trick is to be consistent and move forward. Have a plan, and a planner. Keep a
To-Do List and set those follow-up alerts.
I now use my Day Planner with
month-at-a-glance and week-at-a-glance pages. The month lists the highlights
and the weekly pages gives more room to write details. Deadlines? Flagged with
red Post-its. Guest posts on other blogs? Highlights and yellow stickees for
the submission date, with purple stickee follow up on the post date.
Now when someone asks what
I’m doing this holiday season, I know
how much time and effort I need to set aside for my writing and media tasks,
and how much I can invest in that eggnog fellowship.
With some sweet tea, a spoonful
of honey, and a back-up plan,
~ Happy writing.
TWEETABLE
How my Day Planner recently became my #socialmedia best friend - @RealMoJo68 (Click to Tweet)
Her current work in progress, NOLA, is a location mystery set in New Orleans and is scheduled for publication in late 2016.
You are so organized! Great tips. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI used to have a planner, and referred to it as My Brain! Once my kids were grown and life was less frantic, the planner went by the wayside. Then I jumped into this writer pool—excuse me, writer ocean! I revived my blog (one prior post, and that not on writing, LOL) and as it got busier, I had a harder time keeping up. I write notes on anything, ANYthing, and was losing track of who and what was scheduled when. I now have a master excel spreadsheet, with my calendar, and a tickler system that works for me, tabs for contacts and site links to refer to, contest winners and addresses, word count for current WIP, and sales.
ReplyDeleteLike Robin, I had a planner once, then I retired. I like your suggestions, so I guess I better dig the ole planner out.
ReplyDeleteExcellent advice, and I love the idea of using the sticky notes as a mental flag!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Molly Jo! Thank you for the great ideas and motivation. I set up a "Day Planner" type calendar in Google. I call it KSMoore-Social Media. I have access to it on my phone, my mac, my work PC. (I have a fairly demanding day job, as many of us do.) I can set reminders/notifications and get a day-at-a-glance or week-at-a-glance and I have it on all my tools. My goal for 2017 is to use it to remind me to post and include in the calendar entry the content to post. That way, I can use my off-hours and weekends to tee everything up and then "just do it" when prompted throughout the week.
ReplyDelete