Social Media Scheduler: 4 Steps to Quick Start

Let’s add time back to your calendar with my 4 steps to a quick start using a social media scheduler.

Why I Needed a Social Media Scheduler

My word for the year is Visibility. To increase the visibility of LBDS I needed help sharing content. I was looking for a tool that would help me accomplish this and save me time. I’ve used several other scheduling tools in the past and heard of MeetEdgar, but never tried it. This year I started using MeetEdgar to share more leadership content on a consistent basis.

I started with their 30-day free trial because I was curious about the platform and type of results it would generate. For my business, results mean bringing social media followers to my website for increased traffic and subscribers. Upon signing up for MeetEdgar, I was immediately impressed with their customer service, onboarding, and a note from the founder, Laura Roeder. Her welcome note 💌 made me want to use MeetEdgar.

Step 1: Connect Your Accounts

Earlier this year I made the choice to focus my efforts on platforms where the audience is more inclined to consume the type of content I share. As a B2B service provider, my content is primarily text-based instead of visual.  I only use LinkedIn and Twitter.

If you are simplifying your marketing strategy or getting started for the first time, pay attention to the behavior and habits of the users on each platform.

Do the user behavior and habits of this social media platform support your business goals and marketing strategy? Click To Tweet

Social media platforms are not a one size fits all. Do what works best for your business regardless of others’ success or challenges.

Step 2: Create Your Content Categories

I learned about content buckets (categories) several years ago from Ashley of Yakkety Yak, Chicago based small business. For MeetEdgar, I chose to create content categories to support each LBDS business offering.

Then I added categories for content that supports LBDS business values. Celebrate is one of my business values. When applying this to content I ask who can I celebrate or support? I look at my clients, members, and colleagues to find shareable content.

“How I Built This is my favorite podcast of all time because I don’t walk away thinking of the 5 things I need to start doing, but instead I enjoy an awesome story of an entrepreneur that pushed through their barriers and became who they are today.” https://t.co/6XcXKTXxHv pic.twitter.com/a6KTT8Dynk

— Melissa Jones ✨ Lead With Excellence (@theCEOffice) July 2, 2019

Step 3: Add Content

MeetEdgar makes it easy for a quick start with bulk importing. You are able to import content via your blog’s RSS feed. Once you connect your RSS feed then MeetEdgar automatically pulls in any new content you create to the queue. 

You will need to review and approve the new content before it is scheduled to post.  This “review and approve” step acts as a filter or quality control to make the content is accurate before going live in your social media feeds.

I love this feature! 🙌🏻 Adding my blog’s RSS helped me create two weeks worth of content based on my scheduling frequency.

Your content queue may be more or less depending on your posting frequency and amount of content.

Step 4: Schedule Content

You have a weekly calendar to create time slots for content. For each time slot, you have the ability to choose the platform(s), day, time, and content category. 

I created time slots based on the type of content I’m sharing and the user behavior for each platform.

For example, I want to share a motivational quote so when will this most benefit my audience? Twitter followers are most likely to check their feed early in the morning. LinkedIn followers and connections are most likely to check their feed when they log onto their computer. Based on these observations I created (2) morning time slots, one for Twitter and one for LinkedIn.

For your business,

• What type of content are you sharing?
• When will it most benefit your audience?
• What time of day will your audience most likely take action (click through, respond, etc.)?

Key Benefits

One of the benefits I love on MeetEdgar is that it auto-generates additional variations of content for you!! This saves me so much time! MeetEdgar scans your blog post to find share-worthy content and then suggests it for your content queue. I review each variation to see if I need to make any changes or edits. 

An additional benefit under Advanced Settings is the ability to expire content. This is a great feature to use when adding content which has limited or seasonal use. Limited use includes events, launches, promotions, seasonal offerings, holidays, affiliate links, etc.

I used the content expiration setting when adding Mastermind enrollment and special event content to the queue.

Are you curious how MeetEdgar can work for you?

*I’m a MeetEdgar paying customer and used affiliate links in this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Best Practices

Create a Baseline

I recommend documenting your engagement numbers prior to a quick start with a social media scheduler. These numbers are your baseline. Baselines are a ruler for which you can compare changes. Once you have the baseline created you can then better determine what is and isn’t working as you implement MeetEdgar.

Test and Tweak

Start by uploading content for one week. Trying the process for one week allows you to see how your content posts to each platform. Then you can make tweaks to image sizes or copy as needed for the remainder of your free trial. It also gives you time to see how your audience responds to each post and if they are engaging (leaving comments, click-throughs, etc.). 

YOUR TURN

Share your quick start experience with a social media scheduler in the comments.