We live in an age where social media and content creation reign supreme. As a result, businesses have had to pivot from old models to keep up with the shift in new customer behaviors and expectations.
From small, individual-run companies to Fortune 500 companies, businesses today have learned to rely on social media as part of their overarching plan. 97% of the largest corporations use social media to their benefit.
Connecting with customers looks a little different these days. If you’ve ever had one of those days that feels like you’re running from fire to fire, scrambling to put them out, the following steps might help.
Narrowing Your Social Media Focus
Work smarter, not harder, applies here. Prioritizing and narrowing your focus will help simplify your business and help get you where you want to be. Providing a narrow social media focus allows you to hone in on a target audience and really sell the benefits and products associated with a specific goal.
By doing this, you’ll be creating business content for the right audience. For example, the audience specific to your business might not be located on Instagram but uses LinkedIn frequently. Assess and cater to where your customers congregate.
Utilize More Templates
Utilizing templates is more common than you may think. For example, many people use Canva templates when creating content for their social presence online! On a broader scale, they’re crucial to saving time and improving quality.
Templates help eliminate potential errors due to standard formatting and help you conserve your energy on tasks that matter. With templates, you have more time to use on things that really matter. In addition, templates serve as a helpful standardization process that your whole team can use. Finally, they can be used for many written communication items such as welcome memos, presentations, operations handbooks, emails, etc.
Adhere to Your Work Hours
Among other things, the pandemic has certainly shifted workers’ expectations for at-home and in-office working hours. As a result, time management has become more important than ever, especially when running a business. It can be easy to want to work all day hours to get things done. For many, this eventually leads to burnout.
By adhering to your set working hours, you’re doing yourself (and your clients!) a favor. For example, when you stick to your work hours, your clients will begin to know when they can expect to hear from you. In addition, your productivity hours will increase as you allocate specific time for demanding tasks.
As a business owner, you need time for yourself. You work hard! Sticking to a set schedule is crucial for your health as well as the productivity of your business. An erratic schedule ultimately leads to more work down the line.
Evaluate and Outsource
Running a business requires a huge amount of time and resources. It might feel like you want to do it all, but plenty of business owners understand that you simply cannot do it all!
Leveraging outside help enables many companies to succeed where they might otherwise fall short. Take inventory of where you could cut some expenses and improve your practices. That might be hiring outside payroll and accounting or hiring a social media marketing team. This will look different for everyone, but outsourcing is a great way for businesses to do their job efficiently. Outsourcing simply allows time for you to focus on other ways in which you can make the company a success.
Ready to Simplify Your Business?
While some days as a business owner might feel overwhelming, there are specific steps you can take to help simplify the process. Remember that not everything has to be perfect. Let go off those 16-hour workdays, hire a good team, and you’ll be well on streamlining your business in no time.