Hey you!
Yes – YOU the artist manager/label owner skimming through this blog. Have a hard time keeping up with your personal social media platforms when you’re in and out of meetings all day or on the phone? I hear ya! I’ll keep this short and sweet. Here are my tips for managing your social media when you’re mega busy, you’re not alone!
1. Identify Your Social Voice in 3 Words
What do you want your social voice to get across? Who are you speaking to and what appeals to them? What types of followers would you like to appeal to and how are you using social media to strengthen your larger picture goals? Get that out in 3 short words and share with a junior on your team who will assist you with the steps below so they’re on the same page. Example 3 words: music fan, social expert, entrepreneurial. It can be anything that suits you.
2. Create a Cheat Sheet
Use your browser bookmarks function and select 5 blogs, news sites, video feeds etc. where you will regularly pull content from for your social. Label them as part of your cheat sheet websites and keep them somewhere easy to click when you need em’.
3. Pre-Draft
Take 30 mins every week on the weekend or evening and draft your posts for the week ahead. Jot them down in the body of an email for one of your juniors to edit down for word counts and add tags. Hit your 5 cheat sheet websites, grab links with a quick intro to throw in to your post. Do a sweep through youtube and the local news sites to ensure you’re staying relevant and think personally – anyones birthday, event, wedding you should shout out for the week ahead. Jot it down sloppily and send to your assistant/intern to format, clean up, and pre-schedule in a social client like Hootsuite.
4. Line Check and Interact
Interacting is now woven in to your day. Take 3 mins when you wake up, 3 minutes while standing in line for a coffee in the morning, 3 minutes while standing in line for the toilet in the afternoon, and 3 minutes before you go to bed. Retweet, ask your followers questions, comment on their posts, and most importantly reply to their interactions. Use push notifications if you like to be alerted when someone has interacted so you can respond just as you would a text. Taking a minute here and there will seep right in to your day and you won’t even notice. Instagram is an easy one to use during the day, so snap a photo while you’re on a conference call of something on your computer, multi-task, it will take 3 seconds. Also be careful about auto-feeding. Twitter to LinkedIn is good, but Twitter to Facebook is no good. More on that in this great article by Kate McKinney and Kiran Ross. Also important: don’t let the aforementioned junior interact on your behalf. It’s important that this is you personally.
5. Follow Back
Get your oh-so-helpful junior to follow back new followers and thank them for their follow. Limit follow backs to new followers who are like-minded and stay away from spam.
That’s it 5 steps and voila you are ready to rock! It is important you find your own easy system but it doesn’t have to be a huge painful undertaking. Stop getting stressed about keeping up with your personal social and start finding a low maintenance plan that works for you!
What do you find works for you? Tweet me at @SariDelmar
Thank you for reading,
- Sari
Sari Delmar is the founder and president of Audio Blood, a full-service artist and brand development company based in Toronto, Ontario. Through unique media and promotional packagers, Audio Blood continues to be on the cutting edge of music marketing and promotion.Over the years, Delmar has held many positions in the music industry, including jobs at Wind-Up Records Canada, Nevado Records, and Third Estate Merchandise. Her industry blogging has been featured in numerous blogs and magazines. Sari has also been invited to speak on panels and conduct workshops at various industry events such as Canadian Music Week, East Coast Music Week, and Nova Scotia Music Week, to name a few.