We all know how important it is to be active on social media if we're trying to grow our online business. The thing is, creating content takes sooo loooooong!  How on earth are you supposed to stay active on social AND have time for anything else.... ever?

Oh, and as for creating content that actually gets any kind of engagement or reaction (other than from your friends and family!) - well, that's just not possible.  It just isn't. 

If this sounds all too familiar, then fear not! Social media needn't be so hellish - or so time consuming. I'm going to share how I use my blog to create social media posts - and not only that, how I manage to get more engagement with them than channels with 10x the followers.

I've said this before and I'll say it again; if you're just starting out with your online business then for goodness sakes, don't try to be on all the channels.  You'll spread yourself too thin, you won't get any momentum, you'll feel completely discouraged and you'll have no time to do anything else.

Choose just one or two channels for now.  Pour all your efforts into building an engaged following on those channels and you'll see results faster, feel less overwhelmed and a whole lot more motivated!

One of those channels needs to be Facebook.  The other will depend on your niche and your own personal preferences.

If you don't already have a schedule for your social media posts, do it.  Do it now.  It's going to be a game changer for you! 

One of the keys to success with social media is consistency.  One great post isn't going to cut it.  It doesn't matter how viral it goes, if you don't post again for a month - even a week, then people will forget you and you'll have to start again from scratch.

Creating a schedule for your social media posts allows you to stay consistent and it also makes it much easier to plan ahead and stay on top of your content.

The frequency of your posts will depend on the channels you choose and your audience so it's generally best to experiment until you hit the sweet spot.  A good place to start is to post daily.

Oh, and if you're not sure where to begin, take a look at my Facebook live below where I share all my social media scheduling secrets! ?

Variety is the spice of life!  Don't bore your poor audience to death by posting the same old posts again and again.  They'll soon find somewhere else to hang out online.

Experiment with a variety of different post types and see what hits a note with your audience.  What gets them hitting the like button and joining the conversation?

Here are a few ideas for you to try:

Tips

Quotes

Memes

Mini blog posts                           

Statistics

Personal Stories

Questions

Polls

Video and Live stream

Sharing other related content

Sharing your previous content

Always, always, always remember that if you're going to spend your precious time creating content, then there should be a purpose to it.  What is it you want to achieve with your social media posts?  By planning this in advance, your content will automatically be more focused and more likely to have the desired effect on your audience.

Here are a few common goals that you might have for your own social media:

Reach and attract your ideal clients

Give value to your ideal clients

Increase your credibility

Promote your stuff (blog posts, lead magnets, products and services)

Build community

Engage your audience

Build your brand

This is the really awesome part.  Before we dive into the good stuff, let's recap;

You now know:

The channels your posting on

When you're posting (and so how many posts you need to create)

The types of post you're going to use

The goal of each post

Pretty cool, huh?

Now, prepare to have your mind blown!  Your latest blog post is going to provide ALL the content for you.  Yep!  You've already done the hard graft when you created the post.  Now is the time to reap the fruits of your labour.

All your tips, quotes, mini-posts, stories - everything can be based on the content you've already written.

... see how easy it is? Ready to get started?  I've made it super easy for you by creating a downloadable Social Media Schedule for you - plus a cheat sheet of post type inspiration so you're never short of ideas!