I know what you must be thinking:  ‘She owns a Social Media Management Company, why is she telling people to take a break and detox from social media?!’ Guess what, folks… Because we all need breaks sometimes!  And I’ve have put together our 5 top tips to getting you & your online business ready to rock your social media detox without HURTING your business!

you’re welcome 😉

5 Tips to Rock Your Social Media Detox

I had some questions about why I recommend a Social Media Detox to my clients. The reason is simple, I recommend a detox because Im confident that with the right steps to prepare for one, it will NOT impede my clients’ businesses.  It does just the opposite…

When people can clear their mind. And step away it allows for a fresh new start. The same as us detoxing our bodies. 

Detoxing from social media is something I have seen on the rise lately, especially with the outpouring of overly political viewpoints and internet trolls.  I get it, sometimes you need a break from the negativity and yucky vibes you get when you simply log on to check that notification bubble you received. Whether the word ‘detox’ explains what you’re looking for from this blog post, OR maybe you just need help planning your social media strategy, this is the place you need to be!

So without further ado, let’s talk about the steps you need to take in preparation to ‘detox’ from being surgically bound to your social media accounts.

Set your detox date

This first step is crucial in preparing for your detox, so you can adequately prepare to rock it!  So, take a look at your calendar – what’s upcoming both in your business and your personal life – Where is there 3, 7, 14 days that you would like to take a break from social?  Set it, circle your dates, and make note of any notable things happening during or after your detox.  When planned and scheduled appropriately, detoxes can be performed WITHOUT having to announce them to the online social community.

During your detox, I highly recommend you doing OTHER tasks for your business such as attending networking events (or making your own networking community), doing some community outreach, or even taking a vacation with your family.  Be 100% intentional with this detox so it allows for complete and total clarity when you return to get all the things done!

Now, we’re ready for the next tip!

PLAN & Make lists!

Your date is set. Now what do we do to set your business up while you take a much needed break? Whip out your planner, and take a look at your detox dates. This will set us up with a strong foundation and guideline when we tackle ‘batching’ our social content up next.

• What’s happening during?
• What content do you need to address?
• What is important to your business?
• What does the week AFTER your detox look like? Make this list too

Make lists, add ‘due dates’, and see what gaps are there, then fill them.  Trello or Excel are great options to utilize for these lists.  

Trello is a fabulous app for organization.  In a nutshell, trello offers vertical organization of topics.  You have ‘cards’ that live within ‘lists’ which all live within a ‘board’ and the functionality is literally endless – AND there’s even other functionalities and apps you can hook up to Trello to make things automated and organized for you!  Seriously, a lifesaver!

There are a lot of resources out there that can help you dive into the depths of Trello if you’ve never used this before. If this is something you want to add into your pre-detox planning, I suggest giving yourself the grace of a few extra days to learn this.   

Would you be open to a group training option on this resource? Let me know! I can put a customized training together based on your specific needs! Email hello@sydneydelucchi.com to discuss specifics.

Batching Content: Lists

Detox success all comes down to batching! If the word ‘batching’ is confusing you, think about meal prepping for the week – you have 5 days that you work and would prefer to not purchase your lunch… so that means, you’ll need to prepare 5 lunches for the week!

This tip is ALL about LISTS. Take out your planner from yesterday. Look at the content you decided was a priority and that got scheduled for posting content of, now, make THREE lists in no particular order. If it makes sense to you to start with ‘List 2’, go to ‘List 3’, then determine what photos you need for ‘List 1’, you do you, boo!

• List 1: PHOTOS needed – give as much detail as you possibly can – do you need to go to hobby lobby and grab some props? Does your photo rely on full sun for exposure? Do you need to coordinate with friends? etc. 
• List 2: CAPTIONS needed – these captions will come from your planner based on your content that you need to post.  Take into account trending topics, address those.  Try to pack as many key words within the first 2 lines of each caption to optimize for algorithms and SEO, and also be sure your brand hold true throughout.
• List 3: HASHTAGS – this list could potentially be combined with list 2 but if you like to over organize like I do, you’ll want another list for this.  Go by your topics – categorize them if they fall into more broad categories, and do some hashtag research.  Up to 30 suggested on IG (we recommend not exceeding 27), and you can use 2 on facebook! More details on hashtag optimization coming in future posts! Stay tuned!

Batching content and helping to strategize posts is a main task I do for clients.  A lot of times we are hired on a ‘Strategy Session’ Basis – 1 hour in person (or via Skype etc) where we set a strategy so your posts have the MOST impact and represent your brand/goals/mission the best possible. Not only do you get that 1 hour in person, you also receive deliverables from me after our session based on research on your business, brand, and niche to prepare; you also will receive meeting notes, and an in depth and detailed actionable plan.

If you would like to book one of our Strategy Sessions, you can purchase one here.

Schedule your batched content!

Now that you have BATCHED, what do ya do with all this content? Welp, ya schedule it. 

There are countless social media content scheduling services out there, but I highly recommend Creator Studio for Facebook and Instagram.  If you are needing to schedule other platforms, shoot me an email and lets talk options.   I often get questions why I dont suggest using third party scheduling systems with scheduling your social media content, and the answer is simple…  Facebook and Instagram creator studio is created by facebook itself, so theres no question whether they are approved by Facebooks API, and with how the algorithm and platforms change and are upgraded, you want to use something that is definitely approved. J

Need more help diving into your pre detox plan? Consider the Content Creation Academy!

Proofread your posts!

Proofread and double/triple/quadruple check ALL your posts! This seems rather simple and very mundane to remind you to do this.  We are all professionals, but we make mistakes sometimes too.  So do yourself a favor and proofread:

• The times to post,
• the verbiage,
• WHERE it’s posting (I may or may not be speaking from experience posting 27 hashtags on facebook on accident… whoops). 
• the DATE it’s posting
• etc

Proofreading is important people!  And EVERYONE makes mistakes from time to time.  Who knows, maybe you’ll think of an amazing tidbit you forgot to add to your caption, or notice your image didn’t crop just like you wanted it that you can catch before the post goes up to the inter web!

Returning from Detox (prepare for this prior to detoxing!)

After your detox, we want to make sure you come back with a vengeance and a PLAN on how to maintain focus and not get sucked into the vortex that is social media scrolling.  To do this, we recommend setting a timer for 15 minutes every time you need to enter the apps or websites.  This 15 minute timer is to allow you to maintain awareness for the time spent doing what you were doing.

We know you’ll have comments to address and maybe even messages to respond to (and if this is a major part of your online presence, we recommend looking into hiring a Virtual Assistant for your duration of detox – that way sales or customer relations don’t go unattended.

Make your POST-DETOX list NOW! 

• Go back and check the insights of how your scheduled posts.  How did they perform?  Did you have any perform better? Maybe the topic of this post that performed famously should be the basis of your next series or blog post! Give the people what they want!
• Know that you CAN do this! That’s the most important part!

Call in the big guns: Monthly Social Media Management

Now, If you’re made it to this point in the blog post and you’re worried you don’t have the time to dedicate to creating your perfect detox, we have got you covered there too! With my clients, I pride myself in allowing our clients the peace of mind that their social media strategy, planning, posting, interacting as their accounts, growth of their accounts, and more are in the best hands.  If you feel you would benefit from having experts like us in your corner, we have complete Social Media Management plans available where we plan, schedule, and give you whatever support you need to rock your business’ social media so you can take the time to do other important business tasks. Our pricing starts as low as  $500 per month for complete Social Media Management 2 accounts + a complementary monthly strategy session/check-in.

We know that each business is different and their needs will also differ.  Because of this, I also offer different more customizable options based on client needs.  If you are interested in seeing what I can offer, specific to YOUR business & your goals/needs, reach out today!  Send me an email hello@sydneydelucchi.com

 

Not ready for Complete Social Media Management Package?

That’s totally fine! We have created a group where you and other like minded small business owners find support together with my guidance on all things Social Media.  Everything you need to know to feel empowered to work your social media is right on the other side of this simple click: Join our FREE Facebook Group here!  We can’t wait for you to join the discussion with us!

xoxo,

Syd