Stick to the Schedule

Social media expert Debbie Lewis outlines how to create a workable social media plan you actually have time for.

R unning a successful business and keeping up an active social media presence can feel like taking on two full-time jobs at once. However, these two roles are becoming more and more inseparable –a standout Instagram post can gain you countless new clients, and your regular patients will love it if you’re interacting and answering their questions regularly on Facebook, for example. But, what’s the key to this necessary balancing act? It’s all in forward planning. Here’s how to get ahead while keeping your clinic’s content tailored and fresh.

TAKE A DAY

Regardless of where your business is, you always need a sketch of where it’s going, especially digitally. This is why I always have up details and hashtags. I use a simple template on Canva that includes my branding, so you can tell at first glance who the post belongs to. Then, I’ll tweak the content slightly for each post, as the algorithms on social media platforms don’t like duplicates. If you’re going to use a template, switch up at least 20–25% of the wording to make it fresh each time. Other great apps that have templates include Dazzle and InShot.

USE SOCIAL ROCKS

“Repeating content isn’t ideal but, let’s face it, if you’re a solo entrepreneur, it’s better to have content out there than radio silence”

“Rocks” are replicable pieces of content with a twist that can be posted regularly. The “customer buy-in” journey has three stages: awareness, overcoming objections, and the sale. We spend a lot of time in the “sale” portion when we’re trying to get people to book, but we only need around 20% of our a strategy day each November to think about the upcoming year. We consider the important events of each month and the type of social content that would work around those times. The planning you do in November for the rest of the year is a rough draft, then every month you should take an hour or so to narrow it down, scheduling at least a month ahead to ensure everything is ready in time. You could do this as a 90- day plan with an equivalent of three-hour planning instead if this suits you better. On top of the annual and monthly planning, I then hold a morning marketing meet-up every Monday to discuss the upcoming week.

WHIP UP A BATCH

“Batching” is collecting all necessary information and imagery for your posts together in one place, including sign-content to reflect this. Instead, balance this with lighter content that is interactive with the audience, rather than just “buy this” messages.

DON’T STRESS ABOUT REPETITION

Repeating content isn’t ideal but, let’s face it, if you’re a solo entrepreneur, it’s better to have content out there than radio silence. The latest statistics show that less than 20% of your content is seen by your followers on Facebook, for example, so you’re pretty safe to repeat it every three or four months. However, remember that social platforms hate repetitive behaviour such as prescheduling and copying hashtags because it’s not true social behaviour. So, make sure you act like a human and not a business or they will try and monetise what you do through ads and boosted content.

DEBBIE LEWIS

Debbie Lewis is founder of digital consultancy Salon Socials and an entrepreneur acceleration manager for NatWest. Salons Socials offers planners, printable tools and content ideas for salons and clinics.

Follow her on Instagram: @salon_socials