5 Ways to Make Social Media More Manageable - International Coaching Federation
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5 Ways to Make Social Media More Manageable

Posted by Lisa Cunningham (USA) | March 30, 2018 | Comments (0)

Social media can be overwhelming due to the innumerable channels available, the seemingly endless flow of information, and the pressure to be available all the time. As a coach and business owner, you don’t have time to waste getting bogged down in the overwhelm, so here are five ways that you can make social media more manageable.

1) Understand Your Audience and Stay Where They Are

Chances are your audience is not on every social media channel, so you don’t have to be either. Find out where they are and meet them there. To make social media even more manageable, start with just one platform. Once you’ve gotten into a routine and are posting on a regular basis, you can begin building your presence on another one.

2) Create Google Alerts for Curated Content

Social media is about connecting with people and drawing them in by their interests—not about shameless self-promotion. You should only use about 20 percent of your social media content to promote your brand; the other 80 percent should be made up of curated content. Finding the right content to share with your audience can be rather time consuming. To cut down on the time, consider setting up different alerts through channels such as Google Alerts or RSS feeds.

Alerts for what? Consider your coaching niche. If you coach people in organizations, set up alerts for “coaching in organizations” or “coaching cultures.” Also, consider what your audience is interested in. If you coach millennial leaders, you could share content that focuses on tips for first-time leaders, insights that might be useful for high potentials, or trends related to that age group in the workforce.

If you’re on Twitter, Twitter Lists are also a great way to find and collect curated content. Add thought leaders and other related accounts to a list, and then visit it any time you are looking for curated content on that specific topic.

3) Strategically Follow Others

Another good source of content is the people you follow, so get strategic. As a starting place, consider following ICF and/or your local ICF Chapter for general content that shows the value of coaching. If you coach entrepreneurs, Entrepreneur and Inc may be of interest. A couple other rich resources for content are Harvard Business Review and Success. (Hint: If you’re on Twitter, you can also add these accounts to a Twitter List.)

4) Use a Scheduling Tool

So, you’ve found all this great content to share, but what do you do with it? You don’t want to bombard your followers with 10 articles in the span of five minutes. Instead, space your content over time. A scheduling tool can make this easier, and it can help ensure that you are posting on consistent basis. You may find it helpful to block off a small chunk of time each week to find and create content. Then, you can upload a week’s worth of messages into the scheduler all at once. Buffer and Hootsuite are two of the most popular scheduling tools, and they offer free versions.

5) Check Social Media Once a Day

Plan to check social media notifications once a day, or periodically throughout the day, but don’t feel pressured to be attached 24/7. It can be overwhelming and could lead to burn out.

If you’re worried about social media followers getting discouraged that you are not available every hour of the day, add a line to your profile bio or about section that says, “It may take up to 24 hours to receive a reply.” And, if you have a Company Page on Facebook, you can go even further and set away messages.

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Lisa Cunningham (USA)

Lisa Cunningham is director of marketing content and communications for ICF. She holds a master’s degree in professional writing with a focus on web content development from Chatham University and a bachelor’s degree in English writing and communication from the University of Pittsburgh.

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts featured on this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the International Coach Federation (ICF). The publication of a guest post on the ICF Blog does not equate to an ICF endorsement or guarantee of the products or services provided by the author.

Additionally, for the purpose of full disclosure and as a disclaimer of liability, this content was possibly generated using the assistance of an AI program. Its contents, either in whole or in part, have been reviewed and revised by a human. Nevertheless, the reader/user is responsible for verifying the information presented and should not rely upon this article or post as providing any specific professional advice or counsel. Its contents are provided “as is,” and ICF makes no representations or warranties as to its accuracy or completeness and to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law specifically disclaims any and all liability for any damages or injuries resulting from use of or reliance thereupon.

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