6 Online Planning Tips For Your Small Business

ad // Starting a business is an incredibly exciting venture, one that needs to be celebrated more often, in my opinion! It’s a huge leap of faith to put your time, energy and often money into a project that you’re passionate about.

But starting a business is difficult and there is an awful lot to think about in the process, including what to sell, packaging and self-employment information. In this digital age, social media and content planning is one of those things.

And social media and content planning certainly comes easier to some than others. It definitely depends on how much experience you have of social media before you went into business.

But with everything being online now and the online space being a HUGE opportunity for growth and sales, you need to get on board with being online, whether you enjoy it or not.

So if you’re thinking of starting a business or are already in the planning stages of starting up, here are some tips to help you with the online planning aspects of your business!

Narrow it down to one or two platforms

When you’re a new business or new to social media and digital planning, trying to juggle every social media platform under the sun might not be to your advantage. Of course, you can add platforms over time but to begin with, it might be worth sticking to one or two which are likely to generate the most interest and engagement.

It’s so much easier (and more effective) to absolutely nail your presence on one platform, perhaps with the help of a Facebook Ads agency, than it is to try and appeal to everyone at once. After all, an ad on YouTube will need to be of an alternate tone compared to TikTok, where irony and meme unprofessionalism as a marketing strategy are rife. 

Use prompts or resources to help

I am never one to turn down help in any way, shape or form if it’s something I’m struggling with or know I will benefit from. Neither should you when it comes to you business! There are plenty of templates and planners out there to help you plan effectively and stay organized but for some additional help with your small business planning, you might want to consider the Social Media Mapper Cards by Creative Support Hub.

This set of cards allows you to visually plan and map out the social media coverage for your brand or business and are absolutely PERFECT for beginners. Beginners in business AND beginners in social media.

By using the cards, you can eventually build a mind map of your business and planning stages across social media platforms, so you know when to post and what to post.

The mini cards give you suggestions of things you can post, such as:

• Brand messaging: Sharing your mission the reason behind what you do
• A teaser: Showing a teaser of something you’re working on
• Behind the scenes: Showing how you work an talking about your expertise

And much, much more. You will never be short of content ideas for your business ever again! You can create a birds-eye view of your ENTIRE business month ahead, with every day mapped out, if required. These cards really do take the stress out of planning.

Outsource social media planning

If planning and social media isn’t your thing and it’s something you’re struggling with, then there’s no harm in outsourcing some help for your online planning for your business. You might want to go down the route of a digital marketing agency or simply hire an individual social media manager.

Stay organized

The Social Media Mapper Cards are an EXCELLENT tool to help you stay organized with planning in your business. You also might want to consider calendars and planners too. Another tip would be to keep your digital clutter to a minimum and keep up to date with your folders and files, so they don’t become too cluttered.

Understand your audience

Understanding what your audience loves to see from you is a great idea when it comes to social media planning and again, something that the Social Media Mapper Cards can help with. If you’re a new business, you might not KNOW what your audience loves yet, so give it time and keep tabs on what type of content does well.

Plan ahead

Planning ahead is really important when it comes to running a small business. You can’t focus on creating your products, if you’re always worried about what you’re going to post on social media. So plan ahead and make the most of scheduling tools on social media platforms, so it gives you more time to do what you love!

Some of these things might be a case of trial and error at first but once you get a good system in place, you will find that the benefits of being on social media for your business will pay off wildly!

Over to you! Do you have a small business? What tips would you give to new business owners when it comes to social media planning?

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