When you are planning a vacation or time off, you may be wondering how you are going to keep your social media marketing up and running without you being there. Many business owners will just neglect their social media marketing for the 2 weeks while they are away. They figure, if they are not around to do business, they don’t need to be posting updates either.
But the algorithm never takes vacation.
Suddenly not posting for 2 weeks straight actually has a negative impact on your social media accounts. Like taking a 2-week hiatus from the gym, if you suddenly stop posting and go dark, you lose a lot of your progress. The algorithm will penalize you for not showing up and make it tough for you to reach the same level of people with your posts when you come back from vacation.
We have some tips to keep your social media going while you are on vacation.
To make sure your social media efforts do not wash away with the beach waves in Hawaii, we have put together a couple of tips not to miss a beat while you are away. These methods will also ensure that the algorithm will not notice you were ever gone.
1. Plan Your Content Ahead of Time
To make social media posting less time-consuming, we highly recommend you plan what you are going to post ahead of time. Have your topics and images ready in a folder, and give yourself some notes on what copy you would like to use. This way, when you post, all you have to do is research your real-time hashtags and hit “post.”
2. Set Up Auto-Reply Messages
Like setting up your auto-responder on your email, be sure to set up auto-reply messages on your Facebook messenger. This way if people direct message you, you can let them know you are going to be hard to reach during a specific period and will get back to them when you return. Try to avoid mentioning that you are on vacation!
3. Set Reminders on Your Phone
Take advantage of calendar alerts or reminders that prompt you to share content in the moment. At KWSM: a digital marketing agency we think it is best practice to log in to social media 2x per day. It should not take you more than 15-minutes to post, respond to your notifications and engage with your audience. (Note: Be sure to check the time zone difference, so you are posting when your audience is awake!)
4. Schedule SOME Posts
It is essential to try to post authentic content that is relevant to your audience in real-time. However, if you know there is a day you are not going to have internet access, you could schedule your post for that day. Facebook has an option to schedule your post and you can also schedule on Twitter.
5. Hire Someone To Do It For You
If you know you are not taking your laptop on vacation, it may be in your best interest to hire an agency or freelancer to post for you while you are away. Make sure you also provide guidelines on how to respond to messages so that they can be ready to reply for you.
Need a little help?
Consider working with KWSM: a digital marketing agency. We help business owners make high-quality content, fully manage the posting, and implement strategies to grow your followers and engagement over-time. Click here to learn more about our content creation services.
More than 50 million small businesses are now using Facebook.
To make your content stand out, you need to be developing high-quality content, posting regularly, and strategically engaging with your audience. KWSM has an in-house content team that will completely manage your social media channels for you.
CONTACT US for a complimentary 30-minute social media audit to discover how your social media strategy can improve.