How to Autopilot Your Social Media Content

As the weather grows warmer, many of us are itching to enjoy the summer by taking some time off. Whether summer is your busy season or you want to enjoy a vacation, these tips will help small business owners put their social media content on autopilot and still get results.

Tip 1: Plan Ahead

If you want to put your social media platforms on autopilot, the best thing you can do is start to plan ahead. 

Think about what types of content you need to prepare. What holidays, events, or other special content do you want to promote in the upcoming weeks? Include organic social media content, advertising, and email marketing in your plan.

Map out your content strategies and create whatever content you need in advance. This will help you save time in the long run and help you keep consistency across channels while you’re away. 

Tip 2: Repurpose Content

One of our favorite content strategies is to repurpose the content you already have. Make your life easier by leveraging the social content you’ve already created, including:

• Repurposing evergreen tips and content
• Turning a blog post into multiple social posts
• Reposting your videos on Facebook and Instagram Reels—this can help your video content continue to grow views even after its prime
• Reposting YouTube videos across your other platforms

Not only is repurposing content a big time-saver, but it also gives the older content new life.

Tip 3: Leverage Evergreen Content

There are many types of social media content, but one of our favorites is evergreen content. Every business should have evergreen content as part of its marketing strategy.

Evergreen content is content that is not time-sensitive and is always relevant, like:

• FAQs about your business
• “How-to” guides
• Tips
• Information about your product or service
• Already posted video content on topics that are relevant any time of year
• Client stories or reviews

Make a habit of creating evergreen posts throughout the year and filing them accordingly. This will help a lot whenever you need to put your social strategy on autopilot.

Tip 4: Use a Social Media Scheduler

This tip is one we’ve talked about before. Once you’ve created the content that will be posted on your social media channels, use a social media scheduler to set it and forget it!

There are several scheduling tools available, but be sure to use one that’s mobile-friendly. That way you don’t need to be near a computer to make any needed changes.

Some of the schedulers we recommend for social content include these: 

• Buffer
• Sprout Social
• Later

You can also schedule Stories on these platforms, but you’ll need the mobile app and a paid plan. 

And remember, even though you have your content schedule, life is not always predictable. If a major event happens while you’re out of the office, you may need to adjust your scheduled content.

That’s why it’s great to use a scheduler with a mobile app. With everything on your phone, you can delete or move content around easily on the go. 

Tip 5: Integrate Your Vacation into Your Content

Don’t be afraid to integrate your time off into your social media content! A great way to do this is through Stories. You can then turn those Stories into Reels and have some fresh, new content to sprinkle in among the other content you already put on autopilot.

If you feel hesitant about sharing your personal life, don’t be. People love authenticity and seeing the faces behind a business. If you’re inspired to do a Facebook Live in real time to share any thoughts or tips, go for it!

The world works virtually now. There is zero expectation for you to be sitting at your desk all day.

Tip 6: Announce a Temporary Break from Social Platforms

Sometimes a vacation doesn’t feel like a break unless we truly disconnect. If you want to check out completely during your time off—and, trust us, we do NOT blame you—just let your subscribers, followers, and customers know your plan and when you’ll be back in action. 

This way there is a set expectation and your customers don’t think you went MIA. More importantly, you won’t have to spend a hectic week trying to plan and create a million social media posts before you leave.

Tip 7: Delegate Your Social Media Strategy

For many small-business owners, a regular online presence is too important to take your eyes off completely.

Does the idea of taking a vacation this summer give you anxiety? If so, it might be time to hire a marketing agency to help. The benefits of hiring a support team are many:

• Delegating marketing tasks
• Having an expert provide another perspective on strategy
• Getting BIG results

Outsourcing work may seem like a “waste of money.” But you know what they say: TIME is money. 

There are only so many hours in a day, so it’s important to be clear on what your time is worth to you. Have you allotted a reasonable time to get your social media marketing done, or are you spending too many hours figuring it out? If you resonate with the latter, then it’s time to explore other options! 

For larger businesses, it may be a good idea to hire an employee dedicated to marketing. But for small and medium-sized businesses, it’s more cost-effective to use a high-quality agency. With an agency, you’ll get a team of experts who can address all your marketing needs—from advertising to SEO.

Is it time to partner with a digital marketing agency to help you grow your online footprint? If the answer is yes, book a free consultation with us here.