If you feel like social media is too hard, you’re in good company.
Maybe it takes too much time, is inefficient, or—let’s be honest—you just hate doing it.
We hear you, but here’s the real talk: it doesn’t have to be this way.
It is fully possible to optimize your social media process so it only takes you three hours a week. No stress, no late-night-trying-to-think-of-a-caption, no hours and hours wasted trying to pull together a perfect post.
Let’s dig into what you need to do to build a social media system that works for your business.
Step 1: Quarterly planning
If you want a simple and effective social media strategy, set aside the time every 90 days to ask yourself:
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What am I trying to accomplish?
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What are my goals for the quarter?
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What am I focusing on for the next 90 days?
Then, go back to your brand message and ask:
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What makes me special?
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What are my values?
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Who am I trying to serve?
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What problems do I solve?
Next, review what kind of content (video, carousels, topics, quote cards, photos, face-to-camera) resonated best over the 30–60 days. Look closely at shares, DMs, and click throughs to your website and/or booking page to identify what content resonated.
Final step: Choose your content categories. Remember, you’re deciding what problems you’ll solve over the next 90 days, so go back to your marketing message and identify:
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What problems is your market going through?
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How can you support them?
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What content can you share that will meet them where they’re at?
Now it’s time to create your thee-hour system!
Step 2: Your 3-hour-a-week social media execution plan
Every week, set aside time to write five captions based on the content categories you set during your quarterly planning. (We’ll get into timing in just a second). Make sure to lean into problem solving, storytelling, and showcasing why you’re different. These caption styles are performing well right now.
Then match your captions with photos. Do this instead of picking a photo and then trying to find inspiration for the caption (trust us).
To make this process even more streamlined, check out Thriving Stylist Method! There Britt coaches you on how to build a content catalog so you can batch content on the fly.
Let’s break it down:
12–15 minutes to write a caption (60–75 minutes)
20 minutes to schedule your posts for the week.
For your remaining time, do the following for 30 minutes a day for maximum impact:
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5 minutes responding to comments
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10 minutes in the DMs
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15 minutes on awareness strategies (think a mix of Instagram and Google Business Profile)
Check out Thriving Stylist Method for more!
And, if we could leave you with one last tip, resist the urge to scroll. And listen, we get it. Sometimes there’s nothing better after a long day than zoning out on the couch to a good Instagram scroll. BUT if you use that time more effectively, you can get in, do the work that grows your business, get out, and on with your day.
If you want to dive deeper into how to build a strong social media strategy, check out Thriving Stylist Method now!
