The Eternal Reluctance to Make Social Media Easier on Yourself

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of conducting a marketing training for about 35 restaurant owners from the Oregon coast and the Columbia River Gorge — two highly touristed areas in Oregon.

These folks were business veterans, not newbies.

I asked one of my favorite questions: raise your hand if you use a social media scheduler (e.g., Social Bee, Later, Buffer, Meta) to post to social media?

Three hands raised.

Three.

Then, I asked: raise your hand if you forgot to post a special to social media, and race to your phone to quickly post something….

Everyone raised their hand.

I then went on to explain the benefits of planning and scheduling your social media posts.

It’s a simple recipe:

• Set aside time once a month.

• Plan and create social media posts.

• Schedule.

• Spend 15 minutes twice a day engaging with your community, and replying to comments.

Planning isn’t sexy. But your sanity is.

I get it, there was a ton of bluster a few years ago that scheduling posts resulted in less organic reach.

Yes, anecdotally, you might increase your reach if you schedule inside the platform (i.e., Meta (FB + Instagram), LinkedIn, TikTok), BUT getting it done consistently is more important.

Because ... I’ve got news for you. Organic social media reach is abysmal either way.

Save yourself the headache (and stress) — plan and schedule your social media posts because you have better things to do.