The end of the year shouldn’t have to be a great rush to reach the finish line.
The end of a year should make you feel like you’re organised and ready for what is coming next year.
It is a great time to pause and take stock, take a look at your social media and marketing progress for year that’s been. Did you start the year with the greatest intentions, but still haven’t made the progress you wanted, or felt you should have?
Here are 5 things I’d suggest that you take a look at for the new year
1. Review Your Platforms
If may have been a while since you’ve looked at your various channels, so now is a good time to do that:
Are there any channels that aren’t working that we should let go? Its worthwhile remembering that people will move platforms because their interests and methods of interaction change, so you need to make sure that you’re on the same platform that your audience is on, even when they change. Are the platforms you are using providing the right sort of interaction experiences that your audience is looking for?
Are there new high performing channels or opportunities we should explore this year? Consider Instagram Stories, Reels, TikTok, Facebook Fundraising tools to name a few.
2. Are you Engaging Your Ideal/Target Audience?
To get above average results on social media, you need to be really clear on exactly who the ideal audience is for each of your social media channels. You need to be across the demographics of that audience:
Do you know how old they are?
Where they live?
Their financial situation?
What do they worry about?
What gets them excited?
What platforms and channels are active in?
If you don’t know - put an Ideal Audience Avatar planning activity on your to do list. This will help you get clearer on who you’re talking to and what they want to hear from you.
3. Set Your Content Planning Process
The best thing you can do is to set up a good content planning process. It will save you hours every single month.
Have a process for collecting new post ideas. Each time someone makes a suggestion or you have an idea, write it on a post-it note, in a Notes app, on a spreadsheet, or in a journal/notebook, so you can go back to it each month
Schedule a strict monthly deadline for content ideas. Look for examples of the types of content you’d like to see and use that as a basis to generate ideas for yourself.
Make some content planning checklists to maximise your time. This will help you keep your content focused and on track each month.
Book out half a day to a day each month (depending on number of channel & frequency of posting) for planning your content for the next 30-days. Make these days non-negotiable!
Set a schedule and make sure your posts are ready to go for the month - then they will happen, no matter how busy your week gets. This can be done ahead of time, so that way when you have some time you can create content and schedule it for the regular posting date and time.
Book time in your diary for engaging with people on social media, as well as monitoring and responding to comments. It’s not just about creating content, but also about responding to your audience.
4. Review Page Guidelines
When was the last time you looked at your Page guidelines or rules for your Facebook Group? A lot of things have changed in the past year or so and this might be a really good time to go through them and make sure they still cover everything they need to.
5. Book Some Training
If you’re not where you want to be with your social media yet, I would recommend upskilling yourself. Find someone who has done what you want to do, with a proven track record and find out how they do it. Get them to make recommendations on quick and cost-effective strategies or find the opportunities you might have missed. A fresh perspective makes a MASSIVE difference particularly if you only small business.