Running a business online requires a lot of things: discipline, desire, ambition, time, and most of all you. It requires consistency as you build your social media presence. That means posting to your channels regularly. Which channels you use is less important than whether or not you have a strong social media presence. 

When people go to check you out on Facebook or Instagram, they expect to see you there — updated and current. Seeing someone’s page on Facebook that hasn’t been updated in several months does more than just look bad. It brings up a lot of unwanted questions that could turn your potential customers away.

But, maintaining your social media presence is hard work, there’s no denying that. It’s more than just posting a link to your latest blog post. You have to also provide value through regular status updates and build engagement through interaction. Even with laser focus, it can take up to 30 minutes to check on and update one channel.

If you’re on multiple channels (and you should be) you can lose several hours just trying to keep up with your social media. Now, thanks to CinchShare, you can build your social media presence without losing nearly as much time.

First, you’re going to need a to know your posting schedule. Exact days and times will vary depending on your audience and who your ideal client is, but this printable can give you a good place to start.

Second, you’ll need to develop your content calendar. Be sure to include a good mix of the 3Ps. This will help you figure out how many graphics you need to create and how many posts you might need to curate from other sources.

You’re also going to need a CinchShare account. Head on over and sign up for their free trial (don’t forget to use our code CSFREE to get that 7-day trial extended by 30 extra days!)

Once your CinchShare account is set up, you’ll begin adding in your Networks. You can add your personal Facebook account with unlimited Facebook Pages, Groups, and Events (as long as you are an admin of these Pages, Groups, and Events), up to five Twitter accounts, and up to five Instagram accounts. This is especially helpful for those of you working more than one business who need to have a separate profile for each business.

Once your accounts are all set up, now it’s time to take CinchShare out for a run. Sit down with your favorite graphics editor to create the graphics you need. There are several options you can choose from:

• Canva offers a free account and is integrated right inside CinchShare so you can create graphics seamlessly without having to open another window. This is perfect for creating graphics while scheduling your content.
• If you prefer to create your graphics in batches and schedule them after, you might prefer PicMonkey or Canva, a low-cost web-based graphics editor.
• If you really want a powerful graphics editing program that isn’t web-based, you can opt for Adobe PhotoShop Creative Cloud.
• Mobile apps are always a great go-to for on the go graphics creation and editing.

Or you can use any combination of these tools as they fit your needs. Sitting down for an afternoon and whipping up several graphics at once has significant time advantages — once you’re on a creative roll you can knock out several graphics in no time and have them on hand for when you need them. But sometimes you need to create a graphic on the fly.

Scheduling your posts to CinchShare

Armed with your content calendar, your optimal schedule, and your graphics, now you can take some time to schedule everything on CinchShare. Simply log into your account, type up the post, upload your graphic, and schedule. You can schedule to any of your linked networks as often as you like — even while on the free trial. If you don’t see the network you’re looking for listed, double check that you’ve added it over in your networks page.

That’s it. Easy right? Sit down once a week or once a month and start scheduling. Now, with some or most of your posts scheduled, you’ll have time to use social media for what it was meant to be used for: socializing.

Don’t Followers Get Mad When You Schedule Everything?

Yes, they can, so don’t do that. The key here is to automate some of your processes, not your engagement. This will allow you to maximize your time as you build your social media presence. No one calls a business hoping to get their automated robot systems — they want to talk to a person. The same applies to social media. If everything you post is scheduled, your followers are going to feel like they are constantly talking to a robot; they will lose interest fast.

Don’t the Social Media Channels Punish you for Scheduling Posts?

No, they don’t — but your followers may if you abuse the automation. Though some channels still rely on chronological order, more and more social channels are starting to rely on engagement algorithms to determine when they will display your posts to your followers. If your followers stop interacting with your posts, you risk losing traction in the newsfeeds.

If you use CinchShare to help supplement your posting schedule, then you have nothing to worry about. In fact, the increased consistency will help you build your engagement and interact with your audience more, which is kind of the whole point, right? Use CinchShare to help you space out your posts to your different channels to keep you from over-posting and to maintain your presence even when you can’t be online. With some of your posts getting prescheduled, you now have more time to spare to talking to your followers, replying to comments, and interacting.

You know, building engagement.

#EmpowerSocial