One of your colleagues recently asked:
Q: Where does someone find time to manage their social media accounts? Don’t they have actual work to do?
That’s a great question!
Running an accounting firm is no small feat, and adding social media management to the mix can seem overwhelming.
However, with a strategic approach, it’s possible to have an active social media presence without compromising your business operations. Here’s how:
1. Commit: Make The Decision
Before diving into social media, decide if it’s something you want to commit to.
Based on my experience and others, I’ve NEVER heard someone who has gone all in on building their online presence say that it isn’t worth it.
(But that’s the key – they went all in.)
You can’t partially go in.
So step one is to commit.
And know that doing so can open doors to opportunities way beyond just new clients. It can help recruit talent, create opportunities for podcast interviews, facilitate networking, foster mentorship, and more.
2. Develop a Sound Strategy
Assuming you’re committed, the next step is to formulate a strategy.
A haphazard approach will likely yield little result and waste your precious time.
If you or your team lack expertise in social media, I recommend working with a professional who can guide you in creating a well-thought-out strategy. This groundwork will make every minute you spend on social media count.
A common mistake I see practitioners make is spending all of their time on creating content, when in reality, that is just a small piece of it. Social media is meant to be social. Only posting content is not being social.
3. Time-Blocking: The Art of Scheduling
Allocate specific time blocks to social media activities. Scheduled time blocks ensure that you stay consistent without encroaching on your other responsibilities. Your daily schedule could look like:
- Reach out to 10 – 20 new ideal clients a day
- Respond to comments on your posts
- Leave 5 comments on other people’s posts
- Post your content if it’s a content-posting day
I’d recommend starting with allocating at least 30 minutes a day for this.
Then, of course, you need to schedule in time for content creation. The time required will vary based on your experience, type of content, and amount of content you’re producing.
After doing this for years, I’ve gotten pretty fast at writing captions and filming videos, but I still outsource all of the editing to my video editor and all graphics to my graphic designer. More on this below.
4. Batch Your Content
Batching is a game-changer. I used to post on the fly and as a result, I wasted a TON of time.
Now, I break down my content creation process into distinct batches, such as idea generation, caption writing, video filming, and post-production.
Why?
This approach is highly efficient and prevents task-switching, which is draining and counterproductive.
As far as scheduling goes, I like to plan all of my content a month in advance. If things come up or change, I can always move things around; however, with this schedule, I ALWAYS have something to post.
With this approach, I personally spend about 5 hours a month to create a LinkedIn post Monday through Friday (that even includes my time to record videos). I want to be honest with you though and say, it used to take me WAY longer than that. So, don’t get discouraged if you can’t do the same in 5 hours when you’re just getting started.
5. Optimize Your Workflow
Never stop looking for ways to enhance your workflow.
For instance, Terrell Turner shared an incredible strategy on my Dear Katie live session for editing podcasts in 15 minutes. Once you start getting into a process, you can find ways to optimize what you doing.
Start asking yourself: What processes can you streamline?
Then, look for shortcuts and tools that can save time and simplify tasks.
One thing we did internally at Leaders Online this year when it comes to video creation is for clients who provide videos, they submit them through a form. The form immediately then notifies our editors of the video, provides the specific instructions and streamlines the entire workflow. Everything gets tracked through our project management software as well to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
6. Delegate and Outsource
You don’t have to do it all alone. Delegate social media tasks to team members who can handle daily activities. Additionally, consider outsourcing social media management to an agency.
For example, our clients spend just an hour a month meeting with us to discuss topics, and we handle almost everything else for them.
They might occasionally need to respond to messages (if someone asks a very specific question we don’t know the answer to) or record videos (AI can’t create these for you…yet), but we take care of the heavy lifting.
They don’t have to worry about creating their content, posting their content, or managing their social media accounts (starting conversations with ideal clients, leaving comments on other peoples’ posts, replying to their comments, etc.).
Wrapping Up
Of course, managing social media takes time, but with commitment, a good strategy, time-blocking, content batching, workflow optimization, and delegating or outsourcing, you can make the most of every minute spent
Remember, social media is not just another task on your to-do list; it’s an investment that can yield immense benefits for you and your firm. Plan wisely and execute efficiently.
And, that’s a wrap on this Dear Katie question.
Now I want to hear from you. Do you have a question?
