Getting Organised // Social Media

Motivational Monday

Recently I've been struggling to feel motivated with social media. Between Facebook ads becoming even more unaffordable and Instagram announcing it's no longer going to have a chronological feed it feels like fighting a losing battle. Trying to develop content with the thought that nobody will actually see it definitely makes it difficult to find time to dedicate every day.

We decided this needed to stop as it meant our marketing was becoming a stress and a chore. I wanted to work on a strategy which meant there's not as much last minute pressure, especially on days where I have no clue what to share then end up posting nothing and feeling guilty. Consistency and content are the keywords that popped up in all of the research I did on strategy. Next up, most of the advice on 'what to post' is to try and stick to one third selling to two thirds behind the scenes (story telling, design process, personality etc). If you've been taking part in Joanne Hawker's #marchmeetthemaker on Instagram then these are the type of non selling posts you might want to share. Do try to consider your own target customers and what they'd like to see most.

Thinking about what you want to post is one thing but actually finding the time to do it is another. Thankfully, having a planner means you can be more consistent and schedule posts ahead of time, then add more daily updates when it feels natural! 

Free Social Media Planner Download. Stock Photography available at Lifestyle Photo Studio

I've created two versions of our planner which you can download for free below. If you do use either I'd love to see so please do tag us in any pics! The first is a blank canvas for you to develop your strategy from scratch, perfect if you're already posting regularly but want to keep it organised. The second is what I've worked on for myself, it's also available as a Photoshop doc here so you can break it down to suit you but I'll explain how I'm using it first.

- Plan for week ahead on a Sunday
- Schedule archive blog posts for Twitter each day
- Share motivational quotes on Monday (like one at the top of this blog)
- Create themed Treasury for Tuesday (tag other businesses)
- Write blog for Wednesday (keep blog calendar/ideas in notebook)
- Share past images for Throwback Thursday 
- Make collage of week highlights for Friday catch up
- Schedule a product each day 
- Add additional daily updates/product launches if working on something shareable

If all goes to plan then on Sundays I'll make myself a big cuppa and sit down with my planner and a notebook to prepare for the week ahead. With the help of scheduled posts (I'm using Hootsuite for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) I can create most of my content in a couple of hours. This means I can get on with designing and making during the week and only post extras when I have something I want to share rather than the usual feeling of need to share. There's no pressure as if I don't have time to post then my scheduled items will still pop up themselves, yay!

This has turned out to be a rather chunky blog post, I hope you find it useful anyway. If you'd like to download our other free planners check them out here. Let me know if you'd like to see any other downloads and printables on the blog by leaving me a comment.

Getting Organised // Spring

Last year we wrote a series of Getting Organised posts in January (which included free planner downloads). These were some of our most popular posts of all time and I've been meaning to add more to the series but not had a chance until now!

This year we've felt a bit underprepared as starting the year with a trade show meant our initial focus was short term. Now we're taking the time to reflect and plan for the future as we usually would in January. To keep us inspired we've been using Leonie Dawson's fabulous workbook and wall planner, reading How to be a Productivity Ninja by Graham Allcott and learning from the very informative Girls Mean Business.

We've also been working through the tasks we all avoid such as inbox and computer clear outs. It's so tempting to forget about these and just deal with physical mess. It's far too easy to unintentionally create a maze of folders filled with badly named files until one day you can't find something important which you're 100% certain you saved... somewhere.

If this sounds like you then we've got a handy desktop organiser download. This is a slightly simplified version of the one I created for us, I hope you find it helpful! You can download the desktop planner here or below. If you'd like to see more free downloads leave us a comment to let us know!

Photo a Day // February Catch Up

A little later than planned but here's my Photo a Day catch up from February! It was a busy month with a lot of time spent with friends and family, I celebrated my 24th Birthday and we did some wedding planning (and won our wedding cake!). 

I missed a few days of prompts in February and was originally feeling really guilty about it so had planned to take the missing photos in March, hence why I'm late with this post. I realised I was being daft about it as even though I missed a few days I didn't give up! The important thing is that I enjoy taking photos and don't let this become a chore on the to do list. So if some days life gets in the way, or I forget to take my camera out, that's just the way it is!

The Pinterest board below links to the photos with their prompts, dates and captions if you want to see more.