Ya Gotta Keep Your Social Media Simple

I like to keep things SIMPLE. Like, everything. I move fast, and when things have too many steps or are overly complicated, honestly I just won’t do them, and that’s just something about me as a human with the brain that I have.

Social media for business owners (especially photographers) is one of those areas of having a business that ends up being a hat you have to wear, that just takes up SO much time and effort. Obviously it can be hugely rewarding, especially if you manage to bring in clients for your business from your social profiles, but working up to that place? MISERY.

It’s can be slow, and tiring, and involves lots of what feels like posting just to post. And part of that, comes back to one of the things about starting new social media channels, which is that it can feel super easy to just… post every day. Like, manually. Which brings me to our first tip:

Tip 1: Batch Your Content

It doesn’t matter whether you’re just starting out, or whether you’re a seasoned business owner: you should be batching your social content. If you’re still taking a break to post things every day, this is your permission slip to stop that RIGHT now.

I know it doesn’t feel like it takes much time – I do get that. But… it DOES take time. And it takes significantly LESS time if you do a week (or two, or three) at once! For some platforms, you’ll still have to take a little break in your day to do some engagement (or if you’re further along on your business journey, someone can do that FOR you) but you won’t have to take as long, and you’ll also be able to focus on the task at hand (engagement) instead of the task you’ve already done (making your post). And that’ll make your time actually on the platform more effective, too! So many birds with one stone.

If you’re looking for a tool to use to make batching your content easier, there are a TON of them out there, but my favorite one to recommend, is Canva! There are a bunch of ways that Canva makes your content process easier, but one of the big ones for me is how I can batch content quickly and easily.

Tip 2: Make sure it’s BRANDED

Whether you’re posting on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, or X, you want to make sure that the content you’re putting up aligns with the standards for your brand. And not just like, using your logo. Your brand is also about so much more – like, take this blog post as an example. I’m being pretty casual here, and there’s a reason! My brand is intentionally casual and approachable. I don’t want you to feel like you’re reading an academic article (I mean there’s nothing WRONG with that approach to blogging, don’t get me wrong!) I want you to feel like we’re having a chat. So I keep it casual, and I say things like “wanna” and “gotcha”, because they’re part of how I talk and that means they’re part of how these posts are put together.

And that same approach (but like, branded to YOUR business) should be part of how you put together your content for all of your platforms! If you’re in an industry with ideal clients who are going to expect clarity and professionalism, then… guess what? You should make sure that tone is part of your content. If you’re more casual like me, then… that should be part of it too!

Tip 3: Make Your Content Do Double Duty

As much as you can, when you’re batching content, it’s ideal to make sure that what you’re making will work on multiple platforms, and get you the most visibility for your time. This isn’t always going to work amazingly, like if your primary platforms are Instagram and TikTok, for example. In that case, very different content performs well on each platform, and if you want to post some static posts and carousels on Instagram… those aren’t going to do much for you on a TikTok account.

But if Pinterest and Instagram are your primary platforms, for example, you might be able to cross-post the same content more simply! And if you’re using Instagram and Facebook as your primary platforms… then it’s the easiest of all.

When you’re batching your graphics to post, or selecting photos to use, think about how you can tweak the descriptions and use them on different platforms, saving you time overall.

Tip 4: Don’t Try to be Everywhere all at once!

It’s super tempting as business owners to jump onto ALL of the platforms and aim for consistency. I mean, aiming for consistency is what we’re doing anyway, no matter what, since consistency is how we get new customers (no matter what you do). But trying to be consistent on every platform, every day, even if you’re batching… it’s a LOT. Especially if you’re just starting out – but even if you’re a seasoned business owner it can be a ton to keep up with.

And there are options for this!! I mean, you can always outsource to a professional you trust, but if you’re like me, you wanna know what’s going on behind the scenes, and sometimes that means just having your hands in it. So, my recommendation? Don’t try to be everywhere.

Start with ONE platform, MAYBE two! Pick ones that you feel like your ideal clients will be on, and that you can have fun posting on. If you really like TikTok… try TikTok! If you spend time scrolling on IG… then maybe start with IG. You get to choose, and you’ve gotta remember: there is no magic single social media strategy or platform that will mystically bring you all of the clients in the world. It’s just not out there.

So start somewhere FUN for you. And that’ll make the whole thing feel less daunting, and less time consuming, even if you’re handling it all yourself.

I could keep going, but…

This is where we’re going to stop for now, because social media is a lot to handle all at once. If you wanna see more on the topic, then maybe check out how Canva can speed up your social media process, or even go learn about the templates I’ve made that can speed things up even more!!

And if you want to talk about my photography mentoring program, where you can learn even more about all of this (and tons of other things that are super valuable when you’re starting a photography business) then reach out, and we can have a chat about it. I’m here to help YOU!