Are you spending a large portion of your day trying to figure out what to post?

If you find that posting to social media seems like a waste of time, take a look at the chart below that shows the growth of social media over time. Each bar on the chart represents the number of social media users in billions. That billions with a "B".  

Automated Social Media Posting Means Working Smarter Not Harder

When you see data like this, it becomes apparent that social media is not a waste of time. It's should be an important part of your sales and marketing strategy, and where you need to put a portion of your time and effort. Especially since signing up for most social platforms is free.

At the same time, it's important to spend your time wisely, working smarter, not harder. If you're spending all day posting to social media this article will show you how to be more productive by automating your social media posting. 

You'll also need a strategy that works to bring in new leads and sales. Solve several of the biggest media issues with the recommended tools and resources below.

Here are the problem areas we will discuss today to help you make the most of social media marketing:

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Listen to our podcast on the go, wherever you listen to podcasts. Listen on Spotify using the link below. Be sure to download your free checklist that walks you through the updates needed to capture more leads and build your list faster.

Are You Spending All Day on Social Media?

I think we all agree that it's easy to waste countless hours on social media to the point where you don't get anything else done.  And without a plan, you're right back in the same place the next day.

At the same time, social media is necessary, if you want to build an audience and sell products and services online. 

Social media posting can be a real hassle for business owners who are accustomed to only using it to keep in touch with friends and family.  In many cases, when it comes to making the transition to posting for business, they are lost. 

While they are totally comfortable blasting out a message to their friends and family about personal things, it doesn't work that way in business.

Relatives and friends who signed up for social platforms to stay in touch with personal contacts and relatives, don't want to be bombarded with your new business posts.

Additionally, many of your friends and family are not interested in receiving direct messages asking them to buy from you or join your team. On most social media platforms that is considered spamming.  We have included a whole section on spamming below. 

Consider that people you want to work with on social media, have no idea who you are, what you do or how you can help them. So, when you reach out to complete strangers with DMs or other communications, they are left with more questions than answers.

This means they will most likely meet your communication with skepticism, consider it spam and your message will be deleted. This is not the way to find loyal, engaged customers.

To learn about strategies you can use to connect with more people on social media channels, consider checking out our eBook Social Media Success. 

It can be confusing for business owners who are making the transition from personal social posting to marketing on the internet using social platforms.

Some business owners find out the hard way, by getting their accounts shut down or ghosted, that social media platforms don't want you spamming their users with your messages. 

Questions like what to post, which pictures to use, what fonts and colors will look best? Trying not to come across as pushy or salesy? At times it can be tempting to spam all your friends and family asking (and even begging) them to buy something.  It's much better when you know what to do. 

Spam Isn't the Answer

Spam is defined as irrelevant messages sent to a large number of Internet users without their permission.  In most cases the recipients are not familiar with the companies that send spam, they just see an email or message from a random company. Some recipients may open the messages, others ignore them or take steps to unsubscribe.  

If you have email and you've been online, you have probably received spam. Think of how you feel when you see an email from a company you're not familiar with versus how you feel when you receive email from a company you've signed up with.  

Instead of encouraging recipients to do business with you, spam has the opposite effect. It casts a negative shadow over your communication that you will have to overcome. 

Additionally, spamming is the fastest way to get kicked off your social media platforms. You have to find ways to "attract" your audience to reach out to you and sign up to receive your content.

There are also social platforms that will allow you to set up a business account where you can post your business related marketing content.

Would Your Favorite Brands Send You Spam?

No one wants to receive spam, and in reality, when you spam your friends and family it ends up showing the people closest to you how little you know about marketing.

You have to ask yourself if you would ever see the big brands you know and love, sending you (as part of their target audience) an unsolicited message asking you to take a look at their products? Of course not.

The big brands put their content where they know you're hanging out online and they re-target you until you buy something... :-0

It may not be quite that simple, but you get where I'm going with this story. The bottom line is that spam shows the world that you're new and you have no idea what you're doing.  It's best to avoid it at all costs. 

A Solution That Works!

There is a solution that works much better than spamming and begging, to help you build and grow and audience. More than likely, there are people who are actively looking for what you have to offer.  

They are looking for and are ready to buy products like yours to solve a problem, get ideas or to celebrate a life event.

Your goal as a business owner is to find the people who are looking for you and let them know who you are, what you do and how they can get in touch with you to buy your products. 

30 Days of Social Media Posting with Canva Templates 

We have a solution for anyone who is stumped with the whole social media posting dilemma. We have templates in our shop that can be easily updated using tools like Canva, Photoshop and InDesign to include your information. Once they are updated, they can be shared with your audience. 

Promote your business with a "done for you" image for each day of the month. The images are sized in a long format for Pinterest and Instagram Stories.  Make them your own by changing the colors, text, fonts and adding your images, photos and more.

You can answer the question, "what should I post on social media today?", with ideas and information you can use to attract an audience to your business.

Once you've gone through a month of posting, it becomes easier to know the kinds of content the resonates with your audience.  When you use a tool like Tailwind (that we'll discuss below) you'll know what works because it includes analytics tools that gives you data you can use to make decisions.

For the next 30 days, you can change up and use the templates or start creating your own images using your Canva account.  

If you don't have a free Canva account, it's really easy to set one up. We also provide you with tutorials that show you how to use Canva.

Once you purchase the templates you will be given a link to your templates with instructions on how to use them.  

You Need a Social Media Posting Strategy

Next create a plan (strategy) that will help you find your audience where they are. Start by answering questions like when do they get online? What platforms do they use daily? And how can you advertise or post on these platforms?

Look at online groups and forums, as well as offline places that would be good for advertising your brand. Get your messages in places where your audience can see your marketing message.

Use Free Social Media Channels to Reach Your Audience

And don't forget social media is a free resource you can use to connect with your ideal customers.  Sign up for a social media scheduling tool called Tailwind that you can use to plan and create posts with your branding.

Then and schedule them at the optimum time that your target audience is online. They also give you analytics you can use to determine when your audience is most responsive, and other analytics you can use to grow your audience. 

Tailwind automatically publishes your social media content and helps you nurture leads with automated email sequences. It picks the post times when your audience is most responsive, so you can get the most engagement out of every post.

Check out Tailwind, the tool we use for automated social media posting. Click the banner above to get started.