Six Keys to Consistent Social Media

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

If you follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn or Facebook, you may wonder how I manage to post such focused content 12–18 times a day. Since 2008, I have posted over 55,000 times (yes a lot of posts). In this article, I want to give you some basic principles I use week after week.

1. My Mindset is to act like I'm running a writing magazine. Your attitude is critical in this process. In my mind, my Twitter feed is like I am running a writing magazine about various types of publishing. My posts are targeted to my readers. If you read these posts, it's like getting an education in publishing. I've told you what my attitude and mindset is about my social media posts. What is yours? Your mindset is important to get the right mindset for this process.

2. Collect and read blogs from others—but not randomly—with a plan. I subscribe to a number of blogs about writing and publishing that come into my email box. I don't have to search for them and use these article in my social media plans. I have a plan and in general, I know where I'm going to put a particular type of article on my plan. I've made these choices to make it almost automatic and take little time.

3. Work ahead using Hootsuite (or some other schedule program). Throughout the week in focused times, I am working on my social media plans. Hootsuite allows me to schedule my posts. It has been a valuable tool in this process for me. Other people use buffer but use a scheduling program in this process. In general, I am filling out the bulk of my scheduled posts ahead of time.

4. Once a week, I fill out the remainder of my schedule plan. I keep a text file with various posts that I've used in the past. Some of them are in categories while others are random. It often takes me about 30 minutes once a week to fill in the remainder of my social media plans. Every day I take a few minutes to double-check my Hootsuite and make sure everything is going to work properly.

5. Always add the unexpected or current content. I read through my various posts and make sure they are relevant for where I am scheduling them. Often my current spot for posting them is weeks in the future. Sometimes an article will not be timeless and have information which needs to get out to my readers now—instead of weeks in the future. I add those posts to my scheduled plans. It is flexible—but I have a plan.

6. Consistency counts and people are reading these posts.  I intentionally do not spend a lot of time reading social media posts. Through my Hootsuite, I engage with people who do respond to my various posts. Without focus and a plan, social media can be a huge time waster. Your consistency will pay off and I can tell from the reactions that people are reading my posts and I know it has value for these readers.

Admittedly this process takes work, time, focus and planning to successfully execute. In my view it has been well worth it. In the comments below, let us know what I'm missing or other ways you achieve consistency with your social media. I look forward to reading your comments.

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