Who here has felt, particularly the past few years like they have been sucked into the social media quicksand every time you go on social media? You get stuck there spinning your wheels and not feeling like you’re actually doing anything productive for your business.

My name is Stacey Watts I’m a social media coach and content creation strategist, and I have been where you are right now. Believe it or not! As much as Covid sucks, 2020 was a year of pivoting and restarting but I finally discovered exactly how to stay out of that social media quicksand for my business. 

Here’s a little bit of my back story I’m a wife, mom of two boys and I actually started by accident into social media in 2012. I had just quit my last corporate job, I was exhausted, my boys were two and four 1/2 and they barely knew who I was. My commute to work was between an hour and a half to two hours one way so I was spending 4 hours on the road and spending less time with my children. I decided to quit my job, focus on my boys and finish my degree in Media and Communication.

During this time I was asked to help out a local gym with their Twitter and Facebook. It was then that I fell in love with storytelling online. The gym manager wanted to share the stories of the gym members, not the weight loss stories, but ones like the dad who started at the gym to be able to keep up with his kids or the divorce who took Zumba to regain her confidence. It was then that I fell in love with social media and how we use it.

I wanted to create content that resonated with real people, not just trying to sell something. It’s the one thing I notice at the time and still to this day is sometimes missing from social media. I mean why do we go onto social media it’s mainly because we want to connect with other people.

Since 2012, I have worked for business owners, brands and non-profits as their social media manager, building their content and posting it for them. I also received my degree in 2016, it was a journey that was well worth it because it taught me so much about planning and processes for getting big projects done.

I celebrated 5 years of business in January. And although there have been some changes, one thing that has remained consistent is my love for storytelling online. 

The unfortunate drawback to social media is not only getting lost in the social media quicksand, of course platforms are designed to keep us on longer then we wish, and the other problem is there is no set rules. But that’s OK that just means that we get to make those rules based on what we can do, what we need and what we want from social media. So, we get to design it to fit our businesses.

Here are some tips that I would like to share with you that I think will make a difference on how you use social media as a tool and stay out of that quicksand. 

I have watched, listened to and learned from so many amazing experts. My biggest lightbulb moment was discovering what they had that I was missing. 

Not only am I able to spend less time on social media, but I am also able to use the time I am on social media to connect and grow my business on multiple platforms without feeling drained or overwhelmed.

I no longer have to worry about what I’m posting, my content is planned out and I can do it in less time than before.

This secret has made it possible to expand my reach without spending more time doing so.

Do you want to know what that secret is?

The secret has been such a game changer, making the effort I put into social media so much more worth it.

The secret is having a strategy when it comes to social media.

The process that I have in place is so simple that I went from doing fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants content to knowing what I’m posting week after week. 

This process now means I spend less time on social media and am able to connect in a meaningful and productive way.

My business has changed because I no longer am winging it on social media. Having a plan, a system, a process is making it possible to gain clients through my content, and not just followers.

Having a system in place has allowed me to use social media as a tool and not have it be all I do all day in my business.

I feel that I can now actually have goals for my business because I no longer have to spend hours creating content,

Grab your pen and paper, because I’m going to drop a few more nuggets that have helped me come up with a plan that works for my business and my client’s businesses.

My first ah-ha moment 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE ON EVERY SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM OUT THERE!

You really don’t have to do it at all.

Social media is my business but I did not start on every platform from day 1. I have focused on mastering one social media platform, before adding a new one.

Focusing on mastering one platform, this is critical if you want to stand out, serve at a higher level and grow an audience of buyers, not just followers.

With 128+ social platforms (as of January 2023) trying to do it all means spreading yourself thin. By focusing on one platform you can create impactful content.

You have more energy to focus on your business and your clients instead of feeling stuck.

Not sure which platform to be on, connect on the one(s) your ideal customer is on. This takes some market research but it’s worth the time. 

All you really need is a primary platform and (IF…BIG IF you are using a second or third platform) a supportive platform, use the primary platform as your main source of content, connection, and effort. The supportive platform(s) is where you repurpose your content and build it in conjunction with your primary platform.

My second ah-ha moment is learning about the 4 R’s of content creation!

Today for the purpose of time, we’re going to focus on one of the 4 R’s repurposing content!

Speaking of repurposing content, this is not just resharing the same thing on different platforms. It is sharing it in different ways. (For example, taking a video and transcribing/cleaning it up into a blog. or as I did with this blog post using speaker notes from a summit).

Taking that same video and breaking it into smaller videos. Taking the blog and breaking it into smaller posts.

Repurposing content simply means taking one asset and reusing it somewhere else. That sounds simple enough in theory, but it can get tricky in execution. To really make it work, it helps to produce content with repurposing in mind, so you can easily slice and dice it into different formats.

The third ah-ha moment I had is have a social media plan. Routinely rolling out highly engaging content because you have a plan, a system, and the know-how. 

With a plan, you can stay consistent, offer value, set yourself apart from your competition and grow your community.

A plan also keeps you from sinking in the social media quicksand of not knowing what to post, or when or even why.

Your plan should include a content calendar, a content vault to save all your ideas (I use Evernote and Google Drive), a scheduling tool (try Creator Studio or Metricool), and timers set up to avoid the social media quicksand. One thing you can do today is set the timer on your social media apps for 20 mins, go on with the intention of engaging with your audience and I promise you will feel lighter. 

Now I could talk about this all day, but for now, I’d love to hear from you, what questions do you have for me?