You’ve got to have a strong social media game to have a successful photography business these days. But, {holy smokes!} does it take time! The temptation is strong, but… should you really schedule social media posts, or does that hurt your reach?

I am going to be completely honest with you here. You know you can count on me to give it to ya straight! With social media, you need to be very intentional about what you do, and you need to own that your choices will impact the reach of your social accounts. Bottom line? It’s always best to post in real time – it’s more authentic, and more algorithm-friendly— but it’s not always possible.

You’re a whole human, not just a tog, and you need to have a life!

So, while you may need to schedule social media sometimes to be consistent and visible online, you also need to strike a balance. Since I’m a giver, I’m going to walk you through the best scheduling tools to use with the different social media platforms you should be rockin’ for your biz!

1. Facebook

We all tend to gripe about Facebook once in a while, but it’s important to remember that it’s literally just about the most popular website in the world. We are just borrowing their service {and unless you’re running ads, you’re using it for free}. Subsequently, Facebook is the biggest kid in the sandbox, and well… they own the sandbox, too. We’ve got to play by their rules, and that’s even true when it comes to your need to schedule social media. So, let’s look at Facebook good, better, and best practices.

• Good – use a third-party program like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule social media to Facebook

• Better – schedule natively inside of Facebook using their own scheduling feature

• Best – post in real-time: pick up that phone or post from that computer and hit the “share” button instead of scheduling

Wanna peek inside my strategy? I knew you would! I create two to four weeks of content at a time and take one afternoon to schedule that social media natively on Facebook using their scheduler. I’ve found that makes Facebook the happiest – and again, we need to keep ol’ FB happy!

2. Pinterest

Ahh…Pinterest! It’s where we all go for eye candy {and let’s be real, mouth-watering recipes!} so it’s a photographer’s dream social media platform, am I right? Let’s talk about the best way to post your content to this prettiest of platforms. What’s great is that there’s no penalty to posting in real-time or to scheduling, but there is a wee secret to harnessing Pinterest’s power.

• On Pinterest, although you can post in real time, the power of Pinterest is maximized by sharing to multiple boards over an extended period of time

• Fun fact! Pinterest is especially powerful because what you share there has the longest lifespan of any content on social media!

• Schedule social media on Pinterest through Tailwind — it’s amazing! With Tailwind you can:

* schedule pins

* pin to multiple boards

* control frequency & timing of pins

New tools and features are constantly being released on Tailwind, so keep your eye on this super-tool to schedule social media! Here’s my simple strategy when it comes to Tailwind:  looooove it use and the heck out of it! That’s right, the Sparkle Team are huge Tailwind fans! Both my team and I pin great blog posts that can later be re-pinned and/or re-used.  There really is nothing else, in my opinion, that compares… you guys have GOT to give Tailwind a whirl {that’s my partner link that will also get you some freebies} and use it to schedule social media! You will be SO glad you did!

3. Instagram

OK, I know I called Pinterest a photographer’s dream social media platform, but obvi, Instagram is right up there with it! Where else can we better showcase our talent? Insta is an amazing place to get your current clients to re-share your work and to reach potential customers. But, is it good to schedule social media on Insta? Just like Facebook, the answer is “yes and no.”  Share authentically when you can, but don’t be afraid to schedule and plan. Here are some great tools for managing Instagram:

• Hootsuite – a great one-stop shop to manage all your social media, engagement, and keep an eye on relevant content

• Tailwind – yes!! You can use this great tool to schedule your insta posts, too! They offer a great hashtag search tool, which is so helpful as many struggle in that area.

• Planoly – my insta-scheduler of choice. Planoly allows you to load multiple images and visually plan your grid.

Here’s what I personally do: The Sparkle team uses Planoly for the Sparkle Society instagram account. We love the way we can plan our grid aesthetics and save content that’s good, but perhaps not relevant to be shared right away.

So basically, girl, when it comes to social media scheduling, you’ve got options!

Overwhelmed a bit? No worries, I GOT YOU! I teach online workshops on social media allll day long and I’d love to help you and your social posts (scheduled or not!) shine like a diamond in this crazy online world. Not sure where to start? Grab my amazing freebie 30 social media posts for your photography business!  Yup, in just one afternoon, you can have ALL of your social posts scheduled for an ENTIRE MONTH!  You need that in your life.

Let me show you how to create quality content so you’ll have some amaaazing eye-popping posts whether you schedule social media or share it in the moment. Stick with me and you’re sure to learn how to make the most of that algorithm and get your posts in front of your ideal client. Can’t wait to see you in class!!