5 Time-Saving Hacks For SM Management
If there’s one thing we could use more of, it’s TIME! Whether you’re a Social Media Manager (SMM), content creator, or entrepreneur running your own social channels, you know these positions require multiple skill sets (read: everything from strategy and community management to part-time hand model) often dictated by strict deadlines. With years of experience working in agencies - from small to mid-size - we’re no strangers to creative time-saving solutions and we’re sharing our top 5 time-saving tips and tools below:
Quarterly Strategy: While it’s valuable to set yearly goals, we find that getting even more specific on a quarterly basis ensures we stay the course and are aligned with client brand values. Our quarterly strategy outlines any business launches, announcements, and national holidays, as well as guarantees we’re mixing up our format (video, graphics, photography) and content (educational, entertainment, promotional). We suggest starting here if you’re looking to save time and make a greater impact across your social media.
*In need of some guidance? Our VIP Days are 1:1 intensive sessions, designed to provide you with the tools and knowledge you need in order to support your specific business goals. You’ll finish the day with a thoroughly researched and custom strategy, crafted by trusted experts, to create real-world solutions you can start implementing today. Click here to learn more.
2. Templatize: With your strategy in place, it’s now time to produce content. To make this process as seamless and time effective as possible, we love to create branded templates that we can easily pop new content into and update as needed. Canva is our go-to platform and we use this for in-feed graphics, Instagram Stories, and even Instagram Reels. With thousands of templates, fonts, stickers and effects available, Canva offers endless options to totally personalize your creations.
Want our designers to juge up your social? We’ve got you! We’re excited to help support you (and save you TONS of time) by creating custom IG templates.
3. ReelTok: As you’re likely aware, video is the content format of choice right now. While it’s possible to be successful with pre-planned Reels and TikToks, the most engaging video tends to be dictated by trending audio that changes weekly. This means more spontaneous creation and last minute posting, which we know first hand as SMM and content creators, can be incredibly overwhelming.
If you’re looking for help keeping track of the latest trends, check out our newest subscription service, ReelTok here. ReelTok delivers 4 trending audio links for Reels and 4 for TikTok to your email every week, and also includes tips on how to adapt the trends to work for your brand.
4 .Schedule: Once your content has been created, consider saving time from posting live by scheduling it. We absolutely love Later and use their platform to schedule across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. We find it particularly helpful for visually planning our feeds, and for scheduling stories and Reels. Bonus: Later also offers a completely customizable link in bio experience, connecting social media content with direct website links and shoppable opportunities.
5. Time blocking: Our final tried and true tactic for managing it all as SMMs is realizing that it’s often best to actually not do it all - at least not all at once. If you haven’t tried time blocking yet we highly encourage you to do so! Simple yet effective, this productivity tool involves planning out your daily (or weekly) schedule in advance by allocating set amounts of time to different tasks, wherein you focus on only one task at a time.
This assists with visualizing where your time is going and how much bandwidth you have (if any) to take on additional tasks. From experience, it’s a great tool for ensuring the top tasks are completed and also helps avoid burnout. As a business owner, manager or contractor, it’s so important to control your time, and time blocking helps you do that.
Et voila! Our 5 tried and true time-saving hacks working as SMMs (and content creators, and everything in between). Tag us on Instagram @springmediaco and let us know which tip is your favourite, and follow along for more insights on everything social.