Biz Tips: 3 FREE Time Saving Social Media Tools for Entrepreneurs

Biz Tips: 3 FREE Time Saving Social Media Tools for Entrepreneurs

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3 FREE Time Saving Social Media Tools for Entrepreneurs

“round gold and white analog clock reading at 7:10” by Phil Desforges on Unsplash

Self-care for entrepreneurs is my jam. I stumbled upon this path to enlightenment after running myself into the ground right before I realised it was time to close my online fitness business. I learned the hard way that when you don’t prioritise self-care, you’re not good at anything.

Often, I post about why it’s so important to look after yourself. But let’s be honest, you already know it’s important. What you may not know, is how to make time for yourself when you’re already flat out trying to make ends meet.

It’s a lot like when you’re trying to lose weight; you know it’s important. But knowing something matters and knowing how to achieve that goal are very different things. What’s more, even when you know how to achieve your goal, you may not be able to set up your life, so you have the time to do what it takes to get there.

Just like when I was a personal trainer.

The biggest part of my life I neglected was exercise. I knew I should be exercising, and I honestly wanted to. I also knew exactly what to do when I made time for a training session. What I didn’t know though, was how to walk away from work for a couple of hours, knowing there was still work to be done.

For three years, I felt guilty every time I put myself first.

The biggest time suck was social media.

Before I started using tools to manage my social media, I would literally spend at least half of my day managing my accounts. Between content production, scheduling posts or posting (like when Instagram made you post manually), responding to comments and messaging followers, it felt like a full-time job. In many companies it is a full-time role, so as a small business owner it can be tough to keep up and still do everything else that matters.

Fast forward 12 months.

Now, I happily down tools at 2 pm every day and head to the gym. But getting to that point required a lot of learning from my mistakes and a huge mindset shift. Plus, I had to close my business. I pushed too hard for too long, and I’d built a business that required constant hard work. So much for going into business to create freedom in my life.

But you don’t have to close your business.

You also don’t have to change everything at once, as I did. You can take a small step back from the brink of burnout by implementing some simple strategies to free up some of your time and make self-care a priority in your life again.

There’s a plethora of social media tools available to bloggers and small business owners that will help you free up your time, so you can prioritise more important things — like spending time with family, exercising, eating well, resting and sleeping.

What time saving social media tools do you choose?

There are hundreds of different systems you can use to manage your social media. I can’t say I’ve tried them all, but I’ve certainly tested my fair share over 3 years in online business.

As a solopreneur, the two biggest problems I’ve found with most social media management tools are:

  1. They’re expensive
  2. They take too much work to set up

I’ve walked away from many a system because I simply didn’t have the time to learn how to use it; or the time to upload the content.

But there are 3 free systems I still use today that either save time in the setup phase or save significant time once you’ve completed the initial setup.

1. RecurPost

RecurPost is my go-to social media software. As with most tools, you can schedule one-off posts for any time in the future. But, where RecurPost shines though, is in its re-posting ability.

Within the dashboard, the social media management is separated into main sections:

Social Media Platforms

Image Source: RecurPost

On the free plan, you’re able to connect up to 3 social media accounts from different platforms, e.g. a Facebook Page, a LinkedIn Profile and an Instagram Profile. Unfortunately, you cannot connect two locations from a single network, e.g. a Facebook Page and a Facebook Group.On paid plans, you can connect as many social media networks as you want, and as many profiles from within those networks. Supported platforms include Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Google+.

Content Library

Image Source: RecurPost

Posts can be added to a library individually or in bulk. Posts can contain videos, images text and/links. However, the video option is only available on a paid plan. The bulk uploader allows you to add the same caption to multiple images with the click of a button; you can write each caption individually.On the forever free plan, you can add up to 100 total posts to an unlimited number of content libraries.

Schedule

Image Source: RecurPost

Within the schedule section, you simply select a content library, choose your desired platform/s and choose when you’d like the content to be posted. For example; send Blog Posts to Facebook and LinkedIn every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11 am.Once you set the schedule, RecurPost will take the next post in the library and post it according to your schedule. Once all posts within the library have been posted, the system returns to the top of the library and repeats the process.

Unfortunately, you will have to set up your RecurPost account manually, and it’ll likely take you a few hours, depending on how much content you have. However, once you have a single content library containing a few posts, you can create a posting schedule and add further posts whenever you like.

I make a habit of preparing a few images each time I write a blog post, then add them to my ‘Blog Post’ library, so my latest blog post is promoted along with all my others. When uploading a new post, you can check ‘post next’ so the system promotes your latest blog immediately.

RecurPost is truly a set-and-forget system. Before I swapped to RecurPost, I was scheduling my social media once per week using another automated posting system. Despite this, I felt I was spending more than half of my working week managing my social media. Since the switch, I spend 30 minutes each weekday on social media, replying to comments and checking notifications. Despite my limited interaction, I trust that RecurPost is the social media presence my business needs.

Click here to sign up for a FREE RecurPost account.

2. Missinglettr

Image Source: Missinglettr

Missinglettr is specifically for people who have a blog on their website or a blogging platform such as Medium or Blogger. It’s an automated system from start to finish, only requiring you to check and approve each campaign before it’s posted.

Missinglettr uses your websites RSS feed to identify when you’ve created a new blog post. From the new post, Misinglettr creates a 365-day social media campaign consisting of images and quotes from your post. Content is then posted on the day the campaign is approved, then at the following intervals — 3, 7, 14, 30, 90, 180, 270 and 365 days.

Sometimes the system doesn’t pick up the best quotes from the post, but a recent update to the approval system allows you to amend the automatically generated quotes or add your own if required. It’s not a perfect solution, but as more people start to use Missinglettr, I’m confident their algorithm will improve.

The main downside of the free plan is you can only approve 2 campaigns per month from a single website, and post them on a single social media profile. However, at $15 per month, the Personal Plan is one of the cheapest social media management tools on the market, and I think it’s definitely worth $15 to buy back your time.

Click here to sign up for a FREE Missinglettr account.

3. Canva

Image Source: Canva

I can’t talk about social media tools without mentioning Canva. While it’s not a social media management tool per say, I’d guess Canva powers at least 50% of all images on social media. Why? It’s free, it’s easy to use, and the template library makes it simple to create great images.

I recently created a lead magnet in canva in a couple of hours (you can download it at the end of this post). Writing the content took about 4 times as long as designing the e-book… and I’m no designer. Canva is the ultimate design tool for non-designers who don’t have the money to pay actual designers to create quality graphics.

I use Canva for:

  • Logos;
  • Images for my blog and Facebook ads;
  • Social media banners;
  • Quotes for social media;
  • E-books and guides;
  • Infographics;

And much, much more.

I can’t even begin to imagine how much it would have cost me to hire a designer, even off a site like Fiverr, to design everything I’ve created for free on Canva.

If you haven’t tried it yet, start here.

Bonus: Stock Photo Sites

It’s important to use great images if you want to stand out on social media. While Canva has some great options, on the free plan you’re limited to what you can use. Sometimes I’ll pay $1 for an image, but as a small business owner, I can’t afford to do it regularly.

Instead, I use free stock photo sites.

My favourites are:

Please use these FREE tools to FREE UP TIME to look after you.

It’s all too easy to tap the little flag in the bottom right-hand corner and add this post to the other 283 you’ve left sitting on your reading list.

Please… don’t!

Instead, click the link below these time saving social media tools, create your accounts and start using them.

You see, one of the biggest reasons entrepreneurs find themselves on the brink of burnout is they research how they can free up some time, then they don’t act to implement the strategy.

It’s a lot like a cowboy swinging a lasso over his head. If he never throws the lasso, he’s never going to catch the cow, but he’ll still get mighty tired.

Don’t be the cowboy who drags his exhausted arse home with nothin’ to show for it.

Want to build a successful business, without sacrificing your relationships, health, fitness, sleep & fun?

I wrote ‘The 10 commandments of a Healthy Entrepreneur’ as my guiding principles to ensure I never become an unhealthy entrepreneur again. I’d like to share them with you, so you don’t make the same mistakes.

Get your free copy here.

Originally published at www.tarafitness.com.au on September 14, 2018.

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