I post a huge amount of information on various social media platforms and some people ask me how I have the time – the answer is, I don’t! I use scheduling tools to ensure I maintain a visible presence every day – even when I am busy in training or meetings or just getting work done for my clients.
Occasionally someone is shocked to discover that I ‘cheat’ – but posting good quality content isn’t cheating in my book.
During the week I post:
- A variety of tips on the subjects that I know a lot about with links to longer articles on these subjects
- Invitations to get free stuff with links to where it can be found
- Promotions for useful business stuff like my marketing book and the membership website where people can learn how to improve their skills
- Recommendations for people I rate for their skills – and why
All these are automated and the material is mostly used many times. I also post in real time to comment on other people’s posts, like/share/retweet material or posts and respond to questions and comments.
This is all part of my marketing activity focused on the RAVE forumla (Reputation, Authority, Visibility, Expertise). I don’t consider it to be ‘cheating’ to reuse material – as long as it is good quality stuff that is of use to other people. I don’t know any business person who has the time to crouch over their screen waiting for the next words of wisdom I choose to publish – so I would be astonished is anyone saw all my posts or even if they were always looking at the screen at 12.05 on a Wednesday, for instance.
Writing high value social media content isn’t easy – it takes time and effort. It’s not the same as dashing off a quick comment or response. Every post has to stand alone and be understood in isolation; if you include Twitter in your posting schedule that means that you have around 115 characters to get your message across – around 20 words! Creating a sentence that says something useful in so few words is a challenge – even for me as a writer.
My Mum was a Yorkshirewoman – and they can run rings around the Scots when it comes to thrift – so I was brought up believing in recycling. The phrase ‘don’t reinvent the wheel’ could have been written with my Mum in mind! This means that I am always looking for another application for things I have created. So a blog becomes social media posts (or sometimes vice versa) and maybe the lead item for a newsletter too. A series of blogs becomes an article or ebook. Instead of landing pages I write blogs to bring people to my website. A workshops becomes a webinar or video tutorial.
You can repurpose many things with a little creativity – it’s not cheating! How could you use this idea in your business?
