As Friday was my last day at the place I’ve been working for the past two years, I’ve been a bit unsure about how to use my ‘free’ time. None of my projects/businesses/blogs are anywhere near a full time income (though I have many plans) so it is still rabbit job hunting season for me. I’m sure I could do what the ‘gurus’ tell you to do and don’t look for a job which forces you to put all your time and effort into your business plans and you’ll have to succeed. But that’s not me. I don’t believe that view of life is practical.
Plus, even if being an employee isn’t a long term goal of mine, there’s nothing to say you don’t gain knowledge or experience from a day job. So yes, I’m still looking for a day job!
I’ve realised I’m somewhat of a serial over-committer and have trouble narrowing my plans. So until I’m ready to make a decision on some plans of mine, I’ve decided to get ahead. This means a lot of reviewing, planning and scheduling. While I frequently schedule blog posts, for some reason I don’t like the idea of scheduling social media posts. I don’t really know why I feel this way. I think it feels a bit too scammy. But I’m doing it anyway. Some social media (like Twitter for this blog) I use constantly anyway. Others, not so much. Like Facebook pages. I’m still not convinced Facebook is worth investing much time into but I’m also unwilling to turn it down yet. So what I’m doing today is scheduling posts for the next month across my Facebook pages. I often forget to post to my Facebook pages but I find it easy to reply when people do comment. For now, scheduling posts in bulk is the way I’m reminding myself to actually engage there!
I will also be adding non-scheduled content where I can. The way I’m going to make sure I don’t post too closely together is to schedule everything across all the pages at the same time of day. This may not be ideal in all cases, but it’s ideal for me – at least this way I know when my content is going live and I don’t have to think about it. Of course, this is the sort of thing I’ll review after a month and see how it worked!
Pinterest scheduling is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now but haven’t trialled. So I’d like to try it on an account I don’t use very much. I’d like to spread it out to all my accounts eventually because I really enjoy Pinterest above most other social media and have some strategic plans for it this year. But I’m having trouble finding a suitable tool to schedule with. Most charge, and being in a state between jobs, I am hesitant to spend money on anything that isn’t a necessity right now.
Hopefully all this planning works out the way I, well, planned!
How far ahead do you blog? Does it help you manage it around the rest of your life? Do you have a tip for how to schedule Pins on Pinterest?
I do not plan. It is a miracle my wedding even happened (actually it was mostly due to my mum). The most organised I get is writing and scheduling one or two blog posts ahead. I sometimes schedule social media “plugs” for them too but lately I’m too lazy!
As I said to you on twitter, I very much admire your organizational skills! Hope you can find an answer to your Pinterest problem
Haha well for now it’s all still a plan, but I think it’s the only way I’ll get through the next 18 months.
I don’t schedule. I generally write posts the week they come to me which can be dangerous if you have a week of writers block. I need to look at scheduling more on my social media accounts, just to see if it will save me time and if it will bring more readers back to my blog.
Scheduling is always my plan, though I don’t know how often that plan turns into reality haha.