One crucial component of running a small business today is having social media,
right but posting on social media is a huge time suck
and it's pulling you away from doing things you enjoy more in your business,
like designing new products.
So today I'm going to tell you all of my secrets
for how to schedule a whole month of Instagram
and Facebook content in one day to save you hundreds of hours.
Hi, my name is Mei and I help makers artists
and designers make a consistent income from selling their handmade products online.
So first let's get up to speed and on the same page with social media.
If you're selling online, you have to be on social media.
It's just become expected of online shop owners.
Chances are you're probably already on social media.
Right? One thing you need to know first is with all of the social media platforms.
You're rewarded for recent content.
So if you put up a Facebook post The go it's not going to get any traction to date.
So this is very different from the world of content creation,
like blogging or making YouTube videos where you would put up a
post and it would take some time to actually gain traction.
Social media posts have a very short life span.
It's very fast-moving. Once you post something it gets some views for a few hours.
If not for a few minutes and then it gets buried by the content published by
all the other social media accounts out there.
Of course, there is the very rare 0.001% exception of content that goes viral
and that can resurface months and even years later.
So for the most part they're really is sort of a treadmill to posting this content,
but it doesn't have to take up too much time. Okay.
So let's talk about our secrets secret number one is you're going to need some software.
Yes scheduling out your content needs some scheduling software.
There's two that I've used later and plan Olli.
I recommend both of them both of these pieces of software allow you
to upload your photos right up your captions
and pick a time that this content goes out.
So the whole idea behind scheduling is that you'll sit down on one day you'll assemble all of this
content while you're kind of having some writing Mojo
and the meter it out over the course of the month.
So what you might do and I'm going to go into more details about
how to do this is you right up one caption
and say post this on Monday right up another one.
Okay now post this On Tuesday, and so the software's allow you to do that.
Okay. So now let's talk about how to create this content quickly
so that you can get this all done in one day.
Now, we're going to need three things.
You're going to need photos. You're going to need written descriptions of your posts
and you're going to need hashtags,
especially for Instagram. So the first secret for the first ingredient,
which is photos is I encourage you to develop a photo library that just means if
There are photos of your products on your computer.
So you probably already have a lot of those photos.
If you've got a website with your photos of your products on it,
you've got photos you can use it's good to have both lifestyle photos
and photos of your products on a white
or plain background lifestyle photos are of someone holding your product
or someone wearing your product
or your product being used out in the real world photos on a plain background can be helpful
for more focused promotion.
Of your products on social media. I recommend using a mix of both types of photos.
I do this with my tiny hands social pages and based on my own stats.
Both types do well to get all of those photos done in the first place.
You have two options. You can hire a photographer to do it for you.
And if you're organized with which products need to be photographed,
it doesn't have to cost too much
when you break it down to a per photo cost especially
when you consider that your photographer can probably shoot Hundred
or more photos in an hour that's easily three months worth of content.
Right? But if you're going the DIY route
and you don't want to hire a photographer you can do this yourself.
I definitely recommend taking some photography classes and practicing in your own time first.
So you get a sense for how to shoot good-looking and clear photos.
If you need some help check out Amy eaten who specializes in
teaching product photography to handmade Crafters,
so I do this myself for my jewelry business.
I just snap photos using my iPhone.
So for example, if you sell stuffed animals
or blankets or clothing or whatever take some photos in your bedroom.
Take some photos on your sofa do some photos out in the backyard have a few
changes of clothes if you've got a friend to help
you and she's your model.
You don't need a fancy camera,
but the most important things to your photo is that it staged in a way that complements your product
and doesn't distract from it.
It has good lighting. So don't shoot under the direct sunlight
and that Photos are not blurry
and their crisp and clear your photos don't have to look like super
high fashion editorial magazine quality photos
because it's been proven that those kinds of photos actually get
lower engagement than photos that look authentic
and real it's also a good idea to have in mind the image that you want to convey to your customers.
When you shoot these photos have an idea of what your brand is like.
Is it soft and romantic and pastel or is it hard and edgy with?
With like spikes and whatever it is,
it might actually help you to write it down
or to go into Pinterest and create a secret board for product photography inspiration.
So at the end of this quick photo shoot you should have dozens of photos
and you only need 30 photos to post every day
for the next 30 days and these aren't even going to be all of your own content.
So you probably only need like 15 of these photos to get you through a month.
We'll talk more about this later. Another thing people don't think about
but it's been true when you In business all of these photos are reusable.
That means that even though you're posting this one photo today.
There's no reason you can't post it again a few months later.
And then again another few months later. No one is on social media who's going like,
oh she just posted that photo two and a half years ago and she's reusing it.
No one says that because no one's watching that closely.
So keep these photo libraries around because you'll be able to use them later.
You want to take some photos of your Works in progress as well?
So for example, let's say in October.
I did a whole photo shoot of just in progress photos.
I set aside all my in progress pieces and photograph all of that.
I don't have to use all of those photos that I just took then for that month.
I can use to photos and distribute the rest of the work in
progress photos throughout the whole year,
right? I like to mix things up with different kinds of photos
and content because Noah It's to hear about a waffle necklace 30 days in a row,
right? So the more you work to develop your library the more you can mix
up different things like an in-progress photo
a customer photo a lifestyle photo maybe a repost of someone else's content.
Yes, you don't even have to use your own photos on your own social media.
Another great source of content to post is other people's content or what.
I like to call OPC. I'm going to talk about how to use other people's content in a minute.
So I'm going to put put this to the side because this is going to be so helpful.
So not everything has to be you you all the time
and that really helps alleviate the burden of creating content off your shoulders.
Okay. So let's talk about secret number two,
which is the written descriptions.
So here's what I would like for you to do and you don't even have to do this every month.
Once you get started. It's going to become easy make a list of questions.
Your customers ask how you make your products
what ingredients you use how to care
for your products what your products are good
for what makes them different and then just like brain dump all of these on paper.
All of this stuff is your content right?
You can write short answers to all of these questions.
Of course without giving away your Trade Secrets.
Let's say we have a photo of my pancake necklace from my jewelry shop Tiny Hands.
There's so much to say about it. Right
so I can post that photo and I can talk about it like a simple product description.
So just describe what it is. I can talk about how each one is scented
and what sent this pancake necklace has maple syrup for the record.
I can also talk about who it would be great
for I could answer a question about how fast they should I could tell
people that it takes ten steps to make each one.
I can copy and paste a review from a customer who recently bought this necklace.
I can talk about how many units of this pancake necklace I have left to really
give people urgency to go buy it now like there's just
so much to see I can talk about pancakes in general
but you don't even have to talk about the product itself specifically a bonus secret
for you is to ask questions.
Like I can ask. What's your favorite breakfast food?
Or I can ask are you a pancake or waffle person?
See? It's not even really talking about the pancake necklace.
But it's in the general Ballpark and that is great too.
So I promise you if you start writing all of these things down.
You just realize oh my gosh,
there's just so much you could say right writer's block happens
when you haven't made that first step of brain dumping
once you've taken that first step it will come easy.
So here's another little bonus secret
just because of photographer gives you a finished photo or you've taken a photo of on your own.
It doesn't mean you have to use that photo exactly in this state.
You can zoom in to get a different view you could actually end up using the same photo
like two or three times over a few months just by taking different levels of zooming
in and out of a photo because they will all look different every time in addition.
Maybe think about rotating the photo a little bit to to make it look a little bit different.
Now, let's talk about the third important piece you need for a scheduling your content.
Aunt secret number three hashtag research.
So hashtags are how Instagram sort of allows you to organize and search content.
So if you sell knit hats using a hashtag like hashtag knitting
or hashtag instant or hashtag Knitters going to knit those will allow other people to find you.
So these are really important to use you'll want to use hashtags that your ideal customers are using
so get in the minds of your customers and think about what they're using.
And what they're talking about on Instagram.
So like those three knitting hashtags that I just use probably
not a good idea to use if you make knit hats
because if your ideal customer is talking about knitting they
probably already know how to do it themselves
and they probably won't want to buy a finished knitted product from you.
Right? So really think of your ideal customer,
what are they posting about you want to get in on that conversation
and get your photos to appear in those hashtags?
Once you found some good hashtags Instagram will start recommending other hashtags that are
similar so write those down as well.
Another tip for finding hashtags
is when you're looking through posts
when you're doing your research
note what other hashtags people are
using and then put those into collections of hashtags in your scheduling software plan.
Elite has a little hash tag button, which allows you to save
collections of hashtags to use in the future
and you can just use them over and over again.
So then when you're creating your post Written this great post about your knit hats
and then you want to pop in all of your hashtags that you know will attract knitting lovers
or knit product lovers so that then you're connecting with
people who are interested in knitted Goods.
Now, let's get back to talking about how to use other
people's content to help with content creation.
People are putting out content all the time and it's great.
If you can learn to harness that if you find a great post like a quote post
or a beautiful photo that you feel Would add value or resonate with your ideal customers?
You can reach out to the owner of that photo to ask permission to use that photo
and of course give credit back to that person
when you post it on Facebook instead of searching for hashtags.
You can search for Facebook pages that you know,
your ideal customers like to go on
and then share the best content that those pages have just by using the share button
that Facebook already has you can even schedule those out in your scheduling
software remember social media shouldn't All about
you and your products you want to also be of service right entertain educate support be a source of
content your ideal customers might like that includes sharing articles
or videos from other sources.
If you think your customer would enjoy that another source of OPC is your customer photos.
So if a customer sends you a photo being like hey,
look here. I am on the ski slopes wearing.
My knitted hat ask them if you can use it
for Your social media that's amazing
for social proof and shows to your audience that you have
real-life customers who love your products.
You also want to tell people to post their photos on social media
and encourage them to tag you
so put a call to action in your e-mail newsletter put it in your packaging
and say hey tag us on Instagram.
You'll see a lot of really successful brands do this
and they're getting droves of people tagging them and keeping them free content.
You can share a customer photos in your See you can share them in your stories.
You could pop them in your newsletter. These are amazing assets for your business.
Another idea for OPC is Partnerships or brand exchanges.
So you can work with another small business owner who maybe has a similar audience to you
and just say hey,
do you want to do a swap?
So one idea and let's just stick with the knitted hats thing is to work with a local ski lodge
or a homemade hot cocoa shop and you can post about each other and In cross-promote,
these are things that matter to both of your audience's right?
And also let's not forget influencers.
I have a whole other video on working with influencers
and the media so influencers are people with huge audiences
and if you can connect with them
and have them create some photos or videos of them with your products,
then you can also start building out a library of influencer generated content.
So if you want to post every day now instead of needing to come up with 30 photos
and captions that you create from scratch yourself.
You can go down to needing only 15 of those
and the other 15 photos or posts would be from using other people's content.
I hope you feel really inspired. My dream is that you sit
down for like four hours on one day
and you can crank out all of the photography
and all of the content for your entire month so you can set it and forget it.
You shouldn't be spending too much time on social media in fact if you're spending hours.
A week on social media. There's a chance. You aren't spending that time on other things that can
make a bigger impact on your business like with media outreach.
If you're interested in how to do that. I'll link a video here for you to watch after this.