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When it comes to getting organized with your social media, you’ve done the harder things already. So far this year you have:
✔️ Taken an inventory of your social media channels.
✔️ Created a content calendar.
✔️ Started scheduling your posts ahead of time.
As those pieces fall into place, you’re now in the phases of being “social” on social media, as well as making sure you’re staying timely and relevant.
What do you do if you have your social media calendar filled out and scheduled, but something trendy happens that you want to be a part of? Say, for example, a fun “challenge” starts popping up that you think your audience would love to see you join. DON’T ignore those things.
‘But, I have something scheduled already’
One important thing with all of the steps of getting organized with social media to remember is to BE FLEXIBLE. When it comes to trends, what’s hot today may be as cold as ice tomorrow. Remember how quickly things such as the “Broom Challenge” in early 2020 disappeared.
For any of your social media posts that you schedule ahead of time, be flexible to move posts to another day, or several hours later in the day, if you want to hop on a trend.
You also want to ask yourself if you HAVE to post it right now or that day. Sometimes those trends are fun, but not timely for YOU. It could be something that fits nicely a few days later without missing out on the trend.
Where to find trends
As we mentioned, trends come and go quickly. As you start or end your day scrolling through feeds across social media, pay attention to what your friends are posting. If you start to notice a pattern, you may want to explore that content further to see what’s really going on.
You can also find trending topics across most social media platforms:
- Twitter has a “What’s Happening” area for the desktop version. On its app and on desktop, the “Explore” area will find topics that are “For You” based on your followers, as well as links to “Trending” topics, as well as other news, sports and entertainment updates.
- Facebook has moved away from “trending” topics a bit, but you can customize content you see in the “News” section. This includes being able to easily save stories for viewing later.
- Pinterest, which continues to grow in popularity in 2021, has a web page devoted to trending topics. When you search for a topic, you can see how often it has been searched for the past year. Pinterest is even in the game of predicting what will trend in the coming months.
- You can search easily for trending topics on a special Google search page.
- TikTok also has a “For You” section on its app.
You feel organized, but now what?
This five-step process of getting organized with your social media isn’t a checklist to mark off and forget about. The final steps never actually get crossed off — you will now find yourself in a routine of organizing and scheduling your content, and occasionally making changes for timely topics.
Every so often, though, you’ll want to take a quick inventory of your channels. You’ll want to refine the social media calendar that you chose to stay organized. You’ll also want to make sure that the time of day you’re posting really works.
Nearly every platform offers free, basic insights to your data. Other third-party tools with paid plans, such as Agorapulse and Tailwind (for Instagram and Pinterest) offer more robust, detailed analytics. Free trials are available with these tools, and others, for you to test before making a commitment.
The Social Ginger is also here to be your partner as you continue to dive into and learn more about social media. If you’re looking for help, set up a FREE discovery call today.
