The Big List of Social Media Hacks: 24 Tactics You Can Do in 10 Minutes, 30 Minutes, One Hour or One Day
You know those people who seem to get twice as much done in the same 24 hours as everyone else?
That's about to be you . . .
. . . I'm going to show you my productivity secrets for getting a ton of social media hacks & tactics checked off your list — whether you've got 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes or a full day to devote to them.
Here are 24 of my favorite social media hacks & tactics, organized by the time each takes to complete. Use this table of contents with links to jump to the hack you're interested in:
10-Minute Social Media Hacks
Got only 10 minutes to do your social media? You can do it! Here are my favorite social media hacks you can do in short bursts:
1. Catch Up on What's New in Social Media This Week
It's tough to keep up with the constant changes to social media marketing, so we make it easy with This Week in Social Media: a living blog post that we update every week with the newest and most relevant changes you need to know about.
2. Develop Social Media Content
You can write your next social media post easily in 10 minutes, but what about longer form content? Yep, you can check that off your list too by creating "chunked" content."
While you may not be able to create an entire PowerPoint presentation for LinkedIn or Slideshare in 10 minutes, you can get a start on it: choose the template, build the transition slides, or even copy a previous presentation to use as the foundation.
You can take the same approach with a blog post, infographic, or any other type of content: break it down into 10-minute chunks. I do this often and show you how in this excerpt of our Content Marketing Made Simple webinar:
3. Repurpose Social Content for Another Network
Now that you've got a great social content, how about changing it up for a different social network? This post shows you how to take one piece of content and repurpose it for every major social network:
4. Take a Great Photo for Social Media
Writing a great post is no longer enough, is it? With Instagram & Pinterest (and even Facebook) you need a well-designed photo to go with it.
How about taking a few images when you're out on your daily walk or out with friends? Use this DIY Stock Photography Guide to help you take great photos:
5. Create a Social Media Image Using Canva
Canva.com is a free tool that makes you look like you've got a pricey graphic designer on staff, even if you have zero design skills.
One of my favorite things about Canva is it takes care of the social media image sizes for you. You don't have to search all over the internet for a Pinterest pin length, Facebook timeline cover dimensions, or any other image size.
Watch this webinar excerpt as I show you how to take a single photo and change it up for multiple purposes using Canva:
30-Minute Social Media Hacks
When you have a bit more time, you can focus on those social media tactics that require more focus. Here are my favorites:
6. Create the Perfect Social Media Post
When you want to create that special social media post, one that gets tons of Likes, Comments, and Shares, spend some more time on it to ensure it has all the right elements. This excerpt of the Perfect Social Media Post webinar reveals what the "perfect" Facebook post looks like:
7. Create a Facebook Ad
Yes, you can create a Facebook ad in under 30 minutes, especially if you followed our guides above to create great social content and images.
Check out this case study of an SMOC member who got 1,200% ROI on his first Facebook ad (the case study is from 2013, yet the elements of any profitable ad campaign remain the same today). The beauty of this ad campaign is its simplicity of a solid boosted post:
8. Use Google Analytics for Social Media Tracking
Want to measure your social media marketing return on investment (ROI)? You can do it in just 30 minutes using our tutorial on how to do social media tracking using Google Analytics
9. Check Out Social Media Jobs & Salaries
Social media marketing careers are hot, and with unemployment at 4.4%, it's a job-seeker's market. So what's your perfect social media career?
Evaluate your social media career options and salaries with our Top 10 Highest-Paying Social Media Careers guide:
10. Transform Your Twitter Marketing
Every character counts on Twitter, so ensure you're making the most of your 140 with our Twitter Headline Checklist. It teaches you how to transform ho-hum tweets into influential ones:
11. Learn How to Tweet Like Trump
No matter what you think of his politics, President Trump (and candidate Trump before that) uses Twitter like a boss. This is a man who doesn't use a computer or email, but he dominates headlines using Twitter from his Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
Even if you're not tech-savvy, you can use Twitter to dominate headlines like Donald Trump:
60-Minute Social Media Hacks
When you've got an hour to dedicate to social media, these hacks yield major results:
12. Learn from the Best Social Media Campaigns
Case studies offer the best of what works in social media campaigns, and here at Socialmediaonlineclasses.com we offer 37 of them. All feature a unique small business, so you can learn from brands just like yours:
13. Set Up a Blog Automation
My One-Click Blog Post tutorial shows you how to set up an automation between Instagram & a WordPress blog, allowing you to create a blog post with a single click.
Yes, really. I use this on my art blog and it works seamlessly. I developed this automation because a significant number of SMOC members sincerely don't have time to blog, or frankly just don't want to. Here's the perfect shortcut:
14. Master the Art of the Social Media Tag
The beauty of using social media tagging properly is you don't need a huge fan base: tag the right people & brands and you've got an instant conversation.
The trick? Every social media platform has different rules and methods for tagging. Rather than trying to figure it all out on your own, rely on the Social Media Tagging Ultimate Guide here:
15. Increase Your Visibility Using Hashtags
Hashtags are everywhere: television, print, online, and every social network. Hashtag etiquette, however, is different on Instagram than on Twitter. While you can use 30 hashtags on a single Instagram post, doing that on Twitter would make you look like a spammer or a dweeb.
Using a hashtag doesn't take 60 minutes; understanding how to use them like a pro does. This #hashtagprimer has over 20 examples of how to use hashtags effectively, on each major social network:
16. Make Your Content Last Even Longer
Content is a business asset and you need to get as much life out of yours as possible. Whether your content is a single image, a Facebook post, a YouTube video, a Pinterest pin, or a blog post, you can make a few small changes to it and earn more longevity.
The 21 Ways to Extend the Life of Your Content guide and infographic are a cornerstone primer on how to squeeze every last drop of longevity from your content:
17. Write a LinkedIn Pulse Article
LinkedIn is THE business-to-business (B2B) social network, so if that's your niche, you need to be here. But having an outstanding profile is just the first step. To really stand out from all the other professionals here, take an hour and write a great article for LinkedIn Pulse.
SMOC grad Lynda Spiegel repurposes her blog posts and gets far more engagement on LinkedIn than she does on the blog itself:
One-Day Social Media Hacks
Here's where you can literally transform your business, in just a single day. These social media tactics are those that set the direction of your marketing, and make the execution easy.
Tip: Take a day and make it a planning retreat: get out of your usual office and allow yourself the luxury of working "on" your small business marketing instead of "in" it.
18. Develop (or Update) Your Social Media Strategy
Our Social Media Strategy class is the bedrock of everything we offer here at Socialmediaonlineclasses.com, and it's completely free. It's also the first place I recommend our members start:
19. Build Your Social Media Action Plan
Once you've got a strategy, how's it going to be executed? That's the tough part, and this 3-part Social Media Action Plan series shows you how to go beyond your strategy to set SMART goals, create your action plan, and measure your results.
It's a classic you don't want to miss:
20. Automate Your Social Media
Social media automation is a smart strategy for marketing agencies and consultants who juggle multiple clients. Even solopreneurs like automating a part of their social media, so they can move on to other priorities.
Watch this excerpt of our Automate Your Social Media webinar to learn what I recommend you put on auto-pilot and how to do it:
21. Systemize Your Business
If you like the idea of automating your social media, you're going to love these guides on systemizing those tasks you do in your business repeatedly. These guides show you how to create the systems the book The E-Myth by Michael Gerber talks so much about.
Gerber's book is told as a story between a mentor and mentee, and it's been the inspiration for many a business owner to go from worker to boss. But it doesn't tell you how to set up those systems.
These two guides do just that:
Business Automation Template: Develop Your Business Automation in 60 Seconds
This template takes only 60 seconds to complete, especially if you follow the guide accompanying it:
Once you've identified those tasks you want to systemize, then you're ready to start the nitty-gritty of setting up those systems.
Be patient: these processes are often a process of trial-and-error, but the payoff is huge. The guide below offers 10 different business automations that will offload & delegate tasks so you can focus on revenue-generating projects:
Hop Off the Entrepreneurial Treadmill with these 10 Business Automations
These include ways to go on vacation without stressing over your business to working with a virtual assistant. Each are proven ways I've grown Socialmediaonlineclasses.com while maintaining a lean brand:
22. Buy & Learn How to Use a $300 Chromebook Laptop
Why? These wi-fi only laptops are a small business-owner's dream: light, versatile, and they don't cost a fortune. I purchased one for myself and my VA, and put it to the test while out of town at a conference. In short? I was the ONLY attendee in a room of at least 200 people who's laptop lasted a full eight hours on a single battery charge.
Yes, your next laptop should be a Chromebook, and here's your guide to using it as an entrepreneur:
23. Finally Start Video Marketing
Too many small business owners have put off video marketing, but we can't ignore it any longer. In the age of easy-peasy live stream video, you literally have no excuse not to be doing video.
So take a full day and get started. All you need is a smartphone and a wi-fi connection. Use these two guides to get started:
Video Marketing for Small Business: Your Ultimate Guide
This is a comprehensive guide to being comfortable on camera, case studies of three small businesses literally transformed with video, and a whole lot more. Don't miss it:
Live Stream Video for Business
Live stream video allows you to broadcast live using only your smartphone: no video editing or uploading necessary. It took years for social networks to figure out if they really wanted users to share video, they needed to make it stupidly simple for us to do it. Now, it is:
24. Build Your Brand's Marketing Swipe File
What's a swipe file? Your greatest hits in social media, marketing, blogging, or any marketing success. They're your biggest wins in marketing, collected in once place to serve as inspiration for your next campaign.
I build lots of swipe files here at Socialmediaonlineclasses.com: our members have one inside SMOC where I share fabulous examples of brands doing social right; I also offer a free social media swipe file as well as one for blogging for non-members.
At the end of last year, I developed my own swipe file for SMOC, including my best-performing traffic sources, email campaigns, ad campaigns, social media posts, and much more. Then I created a template from it and shared it with our members in this webinar, so they could create their own marketing swipe file, easily:
Summary
Whew! This is a BIG list, and I recommend you bookmark it so you can return to it often.
The goal isn't to do all of these right away, but to give yourself options when you've got some time to do a social media activity beyond just your latest post.
Put these hacks on your calendar for those days when you have more flexibility in your schedule, and you'll be amazed at the progress you make.
