How long does it take you to make a week's worth of social media posts? (Am I just really slow?)

[MattR82]

Automation is not as easy as it used to be either, with fb penalising 3rd party apps. At least not until facebook sorts out creator studio to use as a scheduler.

There is a big difference though in just slapping out a bunch of rogue content compared to curating something as part of a content strategy. But the more I get into it the more I think it's better to not overthink it too much, especially if budget/time restraints.

Figure out your financial and time budgets and work backwards from there. But yeah I agree, it's too much time otherwise.

 

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[csalvato]

why are you doin this yourself? Seems like a low value task...you can outsource this with top quality for like $450 a month (12.50 per hour). In the meantime, i’m sure direct sales on your copywriting services would yield more than $500 per hour).

Is there a reason you need to do this yourself?

 

[Andy Black]

why are you doin this yourself? Seems like a low value task...you can outsource this with top quality for like $450 a month (12.50 per hour). In the meantime, i’m sure direct sales on your copywriting services would yield more than $500 per hour).

Is there a reason you need to do this yourself?

I misread your first line, but I still like what I thought you wrote.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?” @Bekit.

 

[csalvato]

I misread your first line, but I still like what I thought you wrote.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?” @Bekit.

Ha! Both apply I think, the way you read it is better

 

[Bekit]

OK here I am! Oh my word, SOOOO many good points. Solid stuff. Thank you to everyone who contributed. Sorry it took me so long to return to this thread.

How long does it typically take you per post?
Are you keeping track of information about different days so you don't have to look it up/determine it more than once?

That's a good question. I haven't actually timed it at the per-post level. That's a good idea, as I typically respond well to any situation where I'm racing the clock. So I think I'll use Toggl to log the Start-Stop time of all the different components of my workflow, establish what my baseline is, and then see if that brings up any obvious areas of improvement.

I am keeping track of information about different days. I'm also collecting a lot of data on each post, as I am growing the account from scratch and want to be able to gauge what's working and what's not. So I'm logging the post type, caption, hashtags used, how many likes it got, how many comments, how many impressions, the breakdown of where the impressions came from (from hashtags / home / location / other), how many accounts reached this week, what time of day they're online, etc.

Tracking all this is separate from the time it is taking me to prepare the posts.

How are these social media posts helping or benefiting your prospective and current customers/clients?

That's another great question. It really bears thinking through. I've been looking at it primarily through the lens of "how this benefits our company," and only secondarily, "will the audience find this helpful, beneficial, entertaining, and interesting?" Thanks for reminding me to provide value first.

I think this hits at a deeper issue, which is that I am not a social media USER. I deeply dislike social media. I didn't have a personal instagram before opening up this business account. So I don't have a keen sense of what people find valuable or what they enjoy about using IG/FB. That's been part of the journey for me, just learning and discovering, "What is this thing anyway? How do people use it? What do they like? What mood are they in when they're in the app? What kind of content do they expect to see?" Because for me personally, it's NOT a place where I would choose to spend my time.

Sounds like it's a task managing issue, how about you try things like Monday or Trello? Or a simple notebook with sketched thumbnails? Sounds like you try to keep it all in your head and it's not working

Curious if this would help. Maybe it is a task managing issue. How would you see Monday or Trello contributing to the task? Maybe I'm not understanding how you would break it down, but to me, putting into Trello a card with a task list breaking down the individual steps (and then checking them off) seems like itself just another task.

Maybe it would help of you planned the week based on a theme?

There's an app that helps you manage and suggest hashtags for insta, i'll check the name on my iPad and come back to you

I plan the week based on a rotating variety of content pieces that we have planned out ahead of time. It's a collection of different post types & styles that come with different hashtags. So far, the posts have been more heavily geared toward promoting products and less toward the "lifestyle" that's associated with our brand, so I think that's an area where we could improve.

And yeah, definitely let me know the name of that app!

I started insta posting recently. Because its fun.

I'm the opposite. It's NOT much fun for me. It's outside my wheelhouse. It's a foreign world. That's probably part of the problem of why it's taking so long.

What is the purpose of your social media posts? If it is to get copywriting clients, wouldn't you be better served with email, direct mail, and LinkedIn? If it is just to post for personal reasons... that's a lot of time. Not trying to criticize. Just wondering.

SUCH a good point. No, it is not to get copywriting clients. I wouldn't pick instagram either for that purpose haha!

This instagram account is part of my task load for my full-time job as the marketing manager of a small company. I started this position in June and it has been a great role overall, as it gives me a variety of tasks to accomplish and provides a lot of growth opportunities. Granted, it's a J-O-B, and it does cap my income ceiling compared to what I could bring in through copywriting, but it has truly been a gift to be in this position, as I started burning out on copywriting in October of 2018. I got worse in the spring and was pretty much fried to a crisp by June. It has taken me a while to just get back to the ability to put in a full day's work, so this has been a nice "safe" place to continue to earn an income while I recover and get my footing back under me. I'm back to the point now where I feel like work is creating its own momentum, I have my creativity and ambition back, and that "spark" of aliveness is restored for the most part.

So the purpose of these social media posts is to get the word out about our products. The products are very visually oriented and lend themselves well to some beautiful, eye-catching photography and videography. So I feel like Instagram is a good fit, as it is primarily a visual medium. We take our own photos and have a distinctive brand "look," so I think there is a fair amount going for us there.

People have told us that the captions are compelling, and the hashtags have gotten us a fair amount of exposure to people outside of our followership. The account has grown pretty steadily, but it is still small (123 followers since August when we started the account).

It just takes a lot of time to do it right. You’ll get faster. You’re not doing that bad. Sounds like you’ll get faster if you separate out research stuff and put all your findings in a spreadsheet for key terms. That way, with a quick glance you can check off what you’ve used. Once you have thirty days of content you’ll be able to cycle back through.

You’re in the “making a system” phase. Frankly, I’m proud of you for being consistent with what you’ve got so far.. it’s mind bogglingly slow to me when I do it which is why I don’t. There are just. so. many. steps.

That’s prolly not much help but I’m cheering you on from the sidelines.

Thank you for your encouragement!

Yes, I am using a spreadsheet, and you're right, I'm in the "making a system" phase. I have the sense that my system is not what it should be. Hence the fact that I'm asking the question to see if there's a better system that I haven't thought of.

I always mean to start getting social. I don't understand Instagram and I pulled my facebook page down because I was never boxing out time to update it as planned.

All of my competitors are diligently updating their accounts, and presumably where there's smoke there's fire, so they must be getting some sales. I really need to do this this year.

It sounds like you're much more on top of it all than I ever managed to be.

I'm not sure how many people are getting sales and how many are just doing instagram because "it worked for so many other people and I feel like I should."

I don't really understand Instagram, either, which is a big part of the reason why I am having difficulty with this. I had sooooo much inner turbulence and resistance against making my first few posts. What got me over that hump was looking through the IG accounts by the largest competitors in our industry, seeing what they were doing, reverse engineering it, and realizing, "Ok, this is not rocket science. #deepbreath I can do this."

I'm not sure if I'm on top of it, but I'm definitely learning and trying to be consistent!

It takes me ages too. But it sounds like you care about your work.

Create 5 hashtag sets of 20 with a spreadsheet that has another selection of a bunch that are relevant that you then choose 5 to 10 from that are image specific. Or just create 5 sets (min 3) and be done with it.

Consider posting every second day rather than every day. Personally I think 3 times per week is enough.

I'm a big believer in quality over qty so look at creating a content strategy rather than just pumping out lots of rogue content.

It's more stories oriented than ever before now as well so move some time away from feed posts to stories that support your feed post and encourage engagement.

This is really good advice. Maybe I'm overthinking some of this in the way I'm approaching it.

Like just having a single hashtag set for the posts of a certain type. That would simplify things for me.

What I'm currently doing: I have a list of 350 hashtags on a spreadsheet, labeled with the category, the hashtag, a link to the hashtag's IG page, the number of posts with that hashtag, and a formula that displays the number of times I've used the hashtag in the past.

Then I sort the list in different ways, and then I individually select 30 hashtags from the list, trying to pick (A) a mixed variety of "general" and "niche" hashtags and (B) the hashtags I've used the least. This was to make sure I'm rotating through a large set of hashtags and not always using the same ones (which I think will get me a wider amount of exposure). But I could definitely speed it up by just assigning a single hashtag set to the posts of that particular category.

Outsourcing

Hire someone to do this. First calculate how many hours you're spending on this task. You said a full day. So, I assume somewhere between 8 and 11 hours?

If someone on Upwork, onlinejobs.ph or otherwise would charge you $5 per hour to do this. Then you're basically saying your time is worth $5 per hour.

This is something I've recently started doing (hiring others to do things I hate or honestly don't want to do but know needs to get done) and it's pretty amazing.

No, it's really more like 5 hours out of my 8 hour day... It started out as practically the full 8, but I've whittled it down a bit. Still, it feels like I have to set aside practically an entire workday, because even at 5 hours, the stuff that fits around the edges tends to be the little stuff.

It takes god damn ages still and I'm getting over it lol. Need to find someone with a team already to execute a lot of it.

Outsource

About 5 min.

Outsource that shxt.

You can outsource it using fiverr or similar services. I would say, don't focus on it if it doesn't bring you sales.

why are you doin this yourself? Seems like a low value task...you can outsource this with top quality for like $450 a month (12.50 per hour). In the meantime, i’m sure direct sales on your copywriting services would yield more than $500 per hour).

Is there a reason you need to do this yourself?

I misread your first line, but I still like what I thought you wrote.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?” @Bekit.

Yeah.

Why AM I doing this to myself?

You all raise some very, very good points. Really an eye-opener. Thank you for the helpful reframe.

Part of the reason I've been doing it myself is to learn social media marketing skills, as it's a weak area and it's so huge, I felt like it would make me more valuable in the future. This is a safe place for me to learn. So I just dove in and tried it out.

Another part of the reason I didn't think of this is that I am the first hire in a small company, and there aren't really funds for me to hire someone under me at this point. But I wasn't thinking of the Upwork route. In fact, I wasn't thinking like a business owner at all. I was thinking like an employee and just doing what I was told.

Yeah. That's not how I need to operate. At all.

I have choices. That's a liberating thought. For crying out loud, I can use my own money to hire someone to do this for $5/hour.

NOW my wheels are turning.

In a very good direction.

This is not my wheelhouse.

I don't like it.

There are MUCH higher-value activities for me to do with my time. The opportunity cost is huge for every minute I spend beating my head against the wall of instagram.

There are plenty of other people who absolutely LOVE everything to do with Social Media.

I would happily exchange my money for their time.

Yup.

Makes total sense.

I knew I would get valuable feedback from asking this question, but THIS is where the true gold of the forum lies. Thank you for reminding me to think like a fastlaner.

 

[Bekit]

More great stuff to respond to...

Hey there!

Sounds like you need a system to manage your social media. And also a tool to keep track of everything.

The reality is that it takes time in the beginning to create a dope system, but once you do it's about an hour a day to post and engage.

I agree that it's cheaper, time-wise to get help via Fiverr or Upwork. Yet, the cost could also be the issue for you or you wanna get acquainted with social media.

Here are a few ideas if you choose to do it on your own:

1. Make a calendar for your posts. And for each day of the week, have a theme. For example, if you run a productivity Instagram, you wanna look at each category. Some examples could be Time Management, Stress management, productivity tips, and tricks, inspiration. Then, attach each category to a day of the week. And of course, create content accordingly.

2. For content, you can choose one day of the week. Maybe it's a Sunday, so you can choose that day where you take a few hours to make content, as well as captions for the week ahead. This content can then be linked to your calendar which you created. Content can also be repurposed from your blog or videos.

3. For Instagram, you can use an app called UNUM to see how your grid or feed will look with each piece of content. This helps you place images as you would like them to look on Instagram. It's super useful, and with a bit of playing around on the app, you can have a great forecast and way to track your posts.

4. Lastly, another great tool is Tailwind which is a scheduling app. You can schedule your content including your captions which you created in the previous steps on tailwind. It's also got predefined hashtags that will help each post to do well when posted. And it gives you the best time of day to post. It's free, as far as I know.

5. Maybe this will help too. You want to spend at least 15 minutes engaging your audience every single day. Use a timer, and get in there by engaging with meaningful comments targeted at your ideal audience. This will help grow your Instagram over time.

Yeah, it is a lot of work. But the great thing is that you create unique content and set up a system in which you can eventually train up a freelancer at a later stage to do.

I think it's important to know the details of your Instagram and to be close to your audience in the beginning stages. And the best way to connect with a growing audience is via Instagram.

Solid advice. Thank you for the well-thought-out post. One thing I haven't been doing is engaging the audience with meaningful comments. That, I think, would contribute to true growth.

I've used Later, which offers the functionality you mentioned (a posting calendar, a grid of how your feed will look with all the posts, and a scheduling tool). This has helped, but even still, it takes me an inordinate amount of time to put everything together.

I think you're absolutely right that I need to create a documented system that I can hand off to a freelancer.

I have a couple of Instagram accounts I publish to.

I think the secret to speed is batching. You seem to be doing all the processes one at a time.

My first job when posting is to trawl a load of suitable images so I have enough for a month or more at a time. That will probably take me a good hour or so once a month. If I need 30 I will collect 40+ images as I know that some I will later look back on and discount.

Then I'll edit, optimise and save each pic using Photoshop. That doesn't take long if you batch them. Say a minute an image so roughly 45 minutes tops.

As the whole purpose of the accounts is to build an audience of like minded people each account has a recurring theme. That means I can have a list of say 6 or 7 groups of hashtags that will be relevant for pretty much every pic. So once the image is done I can assign the most relevant hashtag list to it. That saves a load of time. I might string another few tags on the end if relevant or delete one or two if relevant when I post.

My other account takes longer as it is MEME based so I'll start with assembling a list of quotes, saying etc.. That will take, say, 1/2 hour for a weeks worth. I then have to find a suitable pic for each one. That is what takes the time. Say up to 10 minutes per quote. I will have a list of quotes to the left and a browser with 3-4 image sites loaded up next to is and I will just search until I have picked an image for each and every quote.

Then I have a template in Photoshop I import the picture into and add the text and attribute the quote where necessary.

Once done I'll create a short write up and pick the most suitable hashtag list I have and amend as necessary.

Batching it like this makes it much quicker as your mind is not bouncing from one thing to another and you are in one software program.

My simple account takes say 10 minutes per post maximum.
The MEME based one will take double that so say 20 mins.

So, even allowing for delays, a weeks worth of content takes less than 90 mins for the simple account and no more than 2 1/2 to 3 hours for the complicated one.

If you have already analysed the most appropriate time for posting I wouldn't bother checking again for at least a month unless your likes/engagement goes down (don't over think it, you are just making more work for yourself).

This is gold. Thank you for the detailed overview of what you do to post, including the difference between the first account and the meme-based one. That helps me to envision what the process can look like or how someone else is doing it.

I like this, although I find batching doesn’t work for me.

When I was doing Snapchat videos and uploading to YouTube I got into a habit and rhythm of creating the content throughout the day, then sitting down in the evening to download the story, upload to YouTube, send a link to rev dot com, get the transcription and add it to the YouTube video, etc.

As I got more used to the steps I’d get quicker, and then I’d add another step. But I always published each evening (for 30 working days straight).

If I’d persisted with this I’d have honed the process to be really quick, so that it would become the sand between the rocks in my day.

I like to produce and publish, produce and publish, catch mistakes earlier, and get better each time.

Not sure that helps you @Bekit! In your case I’d likely hone the process, document it, then outsource it.

Andy, you seem like magic how you accomplish so much. I like the idea of starting with a few steps, getting used to those steps, and then adding another step once you've gotten quicker. I also really like the iterative approach where you get to catch mistakes earlier and get better each time.

Almost an entire workday?

So you're spending an hour to research and create well-thought out social media posts...

That seems pretty reasonable, I think you're being too hard on yourself.

On a side note, as you get better at something you tend to get faster.

Thank you for the encouragement!

Sounds like you should lay out all 5-7 images on your screen then write the captions. Then you have everything side by side. Then upload them all at the same time. Schedule then for the same time everyday.

Then you can see them together.

but I highly doubt people care that much in FB. Maybe on IG.

I post whenever I feel like it and don’t do hashtags.

This is such a practical insight! I LOVE the idea of getting all the images onto my screen at the same time. I'm gonna experiment with that. I think just being able to see them together is going to keep me from getting lost and bogged down into, "OK, where was I? Which post am I on? What category of hashtags was I looking for again?" etc etc. That's one of the main reasons my time is draining away, so I think that will help a ton.

Thank you!

Here´s my advice as a Community Manager and content creator, Split your content into recurring weekly sections one for each day, don´t forget to make a post about Holidays of the Month be it National, Regional or just Curious ones. Try to vary your content with games or trivias to engage with your audience, make creative posts to attract even more potential followers, in my case, since i also edit videos, i use these from time to time to promote my Sister´s entrepenourship (a English Language learning academy), i do slip my posts and still the instagram account of the academy gets around 2-4 New followers, daily. And im talking about an Instagram account that started out from scratch. On the company i previously worked last year (also an English Learning Academy) i took my first take as a community manager and i recieved the account of my city´s branch of the Academy. It was literally a dead account. As soon as i started to post content, the account revived gaining around 500 followers between June and August (when the company chose to terminate the community managers of the company nationwide in favor of another company to lower the costs). It´s not easy to crank out content that fast but if you find a way to connect with your audience, it becomes easier, yet, challenging because you are compelled to improve yourself to keep that connection with your audience.

Thank you for the advice! I appreciate hearing from someone who is a community manager, as I have thought multiple times, "There are people who do this for a living, and if they were doing it at the pace I'm doing it, they'd never be able to feed themselves!" haha

Congrats on the accounts that you have succeeded in growing.

I do a week's worth in about two hours. That's for our company LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.... 3 - 4 posts a day for each.

It's low priority for me though, social is just something thrown in so it's done. I use recycled newsletter content, our own blog posts and random interesting articles I've bookmarked during the previous week and just use the most common industry hashtags.

I'm guessing if you're really focused on social though it would take a lot longer!

Wow, that sounds pretty amazing. Way faster than my pace. So 3-4 posts a DAY times 5-7 days times 3 accounts? Really shows me there's room to step up to the plate. I like how you bookmark interesting articles throughout the week and then have them ready to mix in to the set of posts. I would LOVE for social to become something that's just "thrown in so it's done" instead of this time consuming mess that it currently is!

If you'd like some advice:

Don't over think it. Also, different businesses require different processes for posting. I run a venture development firm and oversee our social media management department and we had a massive shift when I started pushing people to think less and post more. Our clients are super happy. So top tip: Don't overthink it. Also, have you heard of a VRIN score? It's a formula for knowing how great your post will be. Once you use it enough it becomes habit and makes it easier. Message me if you'd like to chat more.

I think I have been overthinking it. That's interesting that across the board, you've found that thinking less and posting more results in happy clients and good-performing accounts. Do you front-load the "thinking" part of things at the beginning when you define the posting strategy, content categories, etc? Or not even then?

No, I have never heard of a VRIN score. Looking that up now. Thank you for sharing! It has been a guessing game so far to figure out if a post will be great. And even after the fact, when we have a post that's an outlier, it's not clear WHY it performed so well. Any resources you'd point me to for learning about the VRIN score and how to incorporate that into a system?

In my case (I started my business Insta less than twi months ago) I do hashtags but 90% of my organic traffic comes from other sources.
I still use some because they bring some traffic but I personally don't like posts with too many hasthtags, it feels spammy. I can see the argument for no hashtags at all, also, it depends on your following, if you have a very big account hashtags are little value added in my opinion.

It's weird because for some of our posts, we will get 90-95% of our impressions from hashtags. On other posts, we will get 1-2% of impressions from hashtags. I haven't figured out what's up with that, and haven't been able to narrow it down to which hashtags are driving the better exposure on the platform.

Automation is not as easy as it used to be either, with fb penalising 3rd party apps. At least not until facebook sorts out creator studio to use as a scheduler.

There is a big difference though in just slapping out a bunch of rogue content compared to curating something as part of a content strategy. But the more I get into it the more I think it's better to not overthink it too much, especially if budget/time restraints.

Figure out your financial and time budgets and work backwards from there. But yeah I agree, it's too much time otherwise.

I LOVE the idea of figuring out the financial and time budget and working backwards from there.

For me, Creator Studio has been working well as a scheduler for both FB and IG. Are we waiting on them to sort out something specific to go live where it will become even more useful?

 

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[Andy Black]

Now that’s how you reply to people who’ve spent time helping you. Way to go @Bekit. You have work ethic, manners, intelligence, and can write.

So it begs the question of why you’re messing about on FB and IG in the first place.

Especially if you don’t even like the platforms!!

Go point your talent somewhere it will be appreciated. Go write some well researched, valuable, well written, evergreen epic content that will gather more views and shares over time.

Use those skills to build something you own, in ways you enjoy working.

F*ck FB and IG.

“Sometimes the best way to finish a project is to drop it.” (Adrianna Huffington - butchered by me)

I feel the best way for you to reduce the amount of time it takes you to post daily on FB and IG is to NOT post on FB and IG at all.

F*ck your weaknesses. Go all-in on your strengths and what comes natural to you.

If you’re not using your superpowers then you’ll never maximise your output.

 

[csalvato]

I have choices. That's a liberating thought. For crying out loud, I can use my own money to hire someone to do this for $5/hour.

NOW my wheels are turning.

In a very good direction.

This is not my wheelhouse.

I don't like it.

There are MUCH higher-value activities for me to do with my time. The opportunity cost is huge for every minute I spend beating my head against the wall of instagram.

There are plenty of other people who absolutely LOVE everything to do with Social Media.

I would happily exchange my money for their time.

I love your resolve and the ability to take this feedback!

If you'll allow me to, I'd like to suggest one more thing; another frame:

"How can I enroll these people in my mission?"

At this stage most people use language like you're using:

"I would happily exchange my money for their time"

The latter is very transactional; what will happen is you will hire mercenaries. Over time, you will feel miles apart from your staff/contractors, and you'll ultimately struggle to keep them on task.

The former focuses on a bond; a shared mission. It forces the question, "how can I really make someone want to do this for me?" Money is the lowest common denominator. People don't want to work for money, even if it's "just making IG posts". They want to work for a purpose.

Understand their goals and their mission; help them find meaning in their work, and they will astonish you with their ability to solve your problems for you.

Don't outsource. Build a team.

Feel free to disregard this advice if it doesn't suit you

 

[broswoodwork]

I love your resolve and the ability to take this feedback!

If you'll allow me to, I'd like to suggest one more thing; another frame:

"How can I enroll these people in my mission?"

At this stage most people use language like you're using:

"I would happily exchange my money for their time"

The latter is very transactional; what will happen is you will hire mercenaries. Over time, you will feel miles apart from your staff/contractors, and you'll ultimately struggle to keep them on task.

The former focuses on a bond; a shared mission. It forces the question, "how can I really make someone want to do this for me?" Money is the lowest common denominator. People don't want to work for money, even if it's "just making IG posts". They want to work for a purpose.

Understand their goals and their mission; help them find meaning in their work, and they will astonish you with their ability to solve your problems for you.

Don't outsource. Build a team.

Feel free to disregard this advice if it doesn't suit you

I want to know more.

How do we do this with contractors and freelancers? My mind is already turning in a few different directions for applying this pearl, but do you have quick and dirty method for uncovering what they want aside from money?

 

[csalvato]

I want to know more.

How do we do this with contractors and freelancers? My mind is already turning in a few different directions for applying this pearl, but do you have quick and dirty method for uncovering what they want aside from money?

You ask them. Try to get a deeper understanding of what drives them. If they can't articulate it clearly, you probably don't want to work with them because:

1. You won't know what they want, so you can't possibly align both your goals and their goals.
2. They probably haven't thought much about their goals and how to accomplish them, so how could they possibly do that with your goals?!

In my interview process I usually bring up very quickly that I care about their goals and why that's the case. Something like this:

"Even though this is a small contract to start, I'm in this for the long haul, and like to work with people where we can grow together. I find that if I can align our goals, we're both going to get a lot out of working together. What do you think?"​

​

Then I make myself vulnerable by sharing my hopes and dreams with my business. This is a fast trust builder. I'll pretend I know @Bekit's goals/value prop, just for the sake of conversation:

"I really believe that small business owners have a hard time conveying their message and it's costing them money. This means they aren't living the life of their dreams, but get stuck in a rut. I find that writing copy for these businesses really helps them take their business to the next level and they send me these heartfelt letters explaining how I've literally changed their lives. I love having that impact. I've been doing this 10 years, and I really take pride in it."​

Then I get into some questions to probe them on their goals. Since I already shared mine, they are far more likely to share. If I can't get them to open up, we're just not a fit. If I can, and we're not aligned, they're not a fit. If I can, and I think we can be super-aligned, it's a great first sign.

Here's some of the types of questions I would ask someone I was considering hiring for this, even if it was a small monthly contract:

• "Why are you interested in taking over my social media presence?"
• "I see you're taking contracts for Instagram management; what are you hoping this will move you towards in your career or business?"
• "What's the goal for your contracting/consulting/social media business?"
• "If you could do social media for any business, why would you choose mine? What is attractive about it?"

I find it to be pretty effective.

 

[broswoodwork]

You ask them. Try to get a deeper understanding of what drives them. If they can't articulate it clearly, you probably don't want to work with them because:

1. You won't know what they want, so you can't possibly align both your goals and their goals.
2. They probably haven't thought much about their goals and how to accomplish them, so how could they possibly do that with your goals?!

In my interview process I usually bring up very quickly that I care about their goals and why that's the case. Something like this:

"Even though this is a small contract to start, I'm in this for the long haul, and like to work with people where we can grow together. I find that if I can align our goals, we're both going to get a lot out of working together. What do you think?"​

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Then I make myself vulnerable by sharing my hopes and dreams with my business. This is a fast trust builder. I'll pretend I know @Bekit's goals/value prop, just for the sake of conversation:

"I really believe that small business owners have a hard time conveying their message and it's costing them money. This means they aren't living the life of their dreams, but get stuck in a rut. I find that writing copy for these businesses really helps them take their business to the next level and they send me these heartfelt letters explaining how I've literally changed their lives. I love having that impact. I've been doing this 10 years, and I really take pride in it."​

Then I get into some questions to probe them on their goals. Since I already shared mine, they are far more likely to share. If I can't get them to open up, we're just not a fit. If I can, and we're not aligned, they're not a fit. If I can, and I think we can be super-aligned, it's a great first sign.

Here's some of the types of questions I would ask someone I was considering hiring for this, even if it was a small monthly contract:

• "Why are you interested in taking over my social media presence?"
• "I see you're taking contracts for Instagram management; what are you hoping this will move you towards in your career or business?"
• "What's the goal for your contracting/consulting/social media business?"
• "If you could do social media for any business, why would you choose mine? What is attractive about it?"

I find it to be pretty effective.

Thank you!

I've got to digest this, and possibly translate it to blue-collar, but I think it'll fix a few stuck/ slow moving cogs in my operation.

 

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[csalvato]

Thank you!

I've got to digest this, and possibly translate it to blue-collar, but I think it'll fix a few stuck/ slow moving cogs in my operation.

FWIW, I hired my first drivers for a transportation company using this same line of questioning. The blue collar guys really appreciated the line of questioning, and I wound up having some real incredible blue collar hires the same way.

I get this a lot when I bring up my approach to hiring, but I find it works with everyone across income ranges and skillsets. It translates seamlessly to blue collar hiring, in my experience.

Even blue collar people have goals and desires, even if it's just that they want to work from home to take care of their ailing mother or something like that. You need to find what they want so you can provide it; then they will give you everything they have on the job.

My first driver was waking up at 3 AM to drive my car around Colorado through brutal winter storms, and would show back up at the garage with a smile.

 

[BellaPippin]

rocket

Ok so the content is all there and it's planned, the challenge is tracking it effectively?

You are right, logging stuff on Trello is a task of it's own, I just wasn't completely grasping what the challenge was. That's some next level tracking of hashtags, way out of my league. Since my insta is just for paintings I don't need to vary them much if at all. Then again I'm not aggressively trying to grow anything there so I'd go with all the great advice you have been given.

The app is call Instagram Tags (go figure) you can select tags, it will suggest similar ones with good following/trending and you can make custom lists to have ready then just copy the whole list and paste it onto the post.

I'm just throwing ideas of what I'd try but what if apart from the spreadsheet that counts/sorts your hashtags you get a daily planner and just quickly print and paste the post (and add any relevant notes) of the day? Then it's easy as just turning the pages back to look for something to recycle, re-use, etc. I'm a pen and paper gal and I'm very visual, I can't help to reach for a good notebook lol.

 

[Andy Black]

I’m with @csalvato ok this.

I have contractors in my team, but they’re team members first. They’ve been with me for years now.

They know what we’re trying to do, they know why we’re trying to do it. I empower them with coming up with how to do it.

What and Why are more important than How. Get the right people and show (don’t tell) the What and Why and they will figure out How.

My job is to lead.