Staying consistent is tough. We find ourselves starting something new or trying to get better at something, only to find 2 weeks later you are falling off the wagon, and feeling that you are starting at square one!
Well here is the thing – you don’t have to start at square one just because you didn’t do it EXACTLY how you planned. Keep going. Build up and eventually you will be doing “that thing” consistently.
It is easy to get suckered by that all or nothing mindset that creeps in. You wouldn’t tell your personal training clients they have to start all over again because they missed one workout, would you?
Well don’t be so hard on yourself, and here are some ways I have found that help keep me more consistent…
PLAN IT
If you don’t schedule the time to do something, it will never get done. Something you probably also tell your gym goers?
Work in time each week to plan your social media. Bonus points if you schedule it for the same day and same time each week because this just makes it easier to stick to the schedule. It’ becomes second nature.
BATCH IT
Yep, do it all in one swoop! If you try to do a little each day, it goes by the wayside and then you struggle to think of something on the fly. We get caught up in our daily activities and all the things that pop up throughout the day. That makes it harder for you to come up with that great content that is swimming around in your head. Give yourself space for that amazing knowledge to appear.
I don’t necessarily mean create all the content in one day. I mean, plan your topics, themes, tips, etc. If you go into each day knowing exactly what you are going to post, it will be much easier to complete.
Create a weekly topic or theme and make all posts that week about that “topic” (For instance, a movement, a workout, a food, a tip, tactic, etc.)
You can create some, or all, of the content ahead of time if you have everything you need. And then we can Automate it with a scheduler or schedule it directly on Facebook. But maybe you have an event coming up and one of your posts for the week will be about that event. Obviously you can’t create the post for that yet, but you can have it planned. You know that day you will post X about the event.
Maybe you have an inspirational post you can schedule out for later in the week by creating a fun image and writing the post and scheduling it in Facebook, or a social media scheduler.
And don’t forget about OPPs – Other People’s Posts. Find an article you like? Schedule it to post on your social media. Sharing is caring on social media. It’s what makes the social media world go round. And if you share OPPs they may even do you a favor and react to or share some of your content – Social Media GOAL!
Think of ways you can create content ahead of time, or plan out what each post will be for the day. And bonus if you have in the moment ideas pop up throughout the week, now you have extra posts!
BUILD UP
The goal is to post CONSISTENTLY – not CONSTANTLY. I am constantly reminding myself of the difference. Someone once told me it’s consistency, not constantly, and it was a huge a-ha! moment for me. I never thought of it that way. Consistently to me meant constantly and I didn’t even realize it until it was pointed out to me. You hear the advice – “you have to” post 5x a day on this platform, and 1x per hour for this one, and 10 posts over here. That was really killing my vibe. Then I realized I can do ME, and post on my schedule, so long as I was consistently posting.
Consistently means make your posts predictable, so your readers and followers know when to expect something from you. Don’t be random and don’t flounder to find a post just because someone suggests posting a certain number of times on a platform.
I took 1 platform, and built up to my goal. I wanted to post at least 1x per day on Facebook, post daily on IG and pin regularly on Pinterest. But I didn’t start off with all of them! I picked Facebook, because that is where my audience is and I mastered that. Then I moved on to the next most important platform for my audience. And I only focus on 3 platforms.
Do YOU and what works for you. Build up and, again, don’t think you failed and starting from zero just because you miss one…or two…or three. Just keep going. Over time you will become consistent and probably not even realize it if you just keep with your plan.
AUTOMATE!
We touched on this earlier. Using something like Buffer, or Facebook’s Post Scheduler, Tailwind (Pinterest), Hootsuite, Post Planner etc. will be a huge part of your success.
If you run across an article throughout the week that you want to share with your followers, grab those links right then and there and schedule a post for it while your thoughts are still fresh in your mind. Buffer has a nifty Chrome extension that with one click on any webpage you can schedule a post with that content. Tailwind has one for Pinterest as well.
Post Planner is a pretty great tool, for a small annual fee, you can search OPPs to schedule on your social media. You can search by industry, topic and more.
For that pre-made content we talked about, we can schedule it out for later in the week. Now, even while you are spending time with your clients or your family, you are still rockin’ your social media plan. This is the best feeling in the world, by the way. Easily executing your social media plan, while doing the things in life you love – working with clients, spending time with your family, working out, being in nature, or whatever it is your love to do. Talk about feeling accomplished!
BABY STEPS
Remember, starting small makes it more likely that you will stick to it. So start with one step, then build up to your ultimate goal.
And don’t pressure yourself with the all or nothing thought, you got this! It’s absolutely doable. Make it easy whenever you can!
It takes discipline and time to create consistency in everything we do. Fitness professionals, you know this best, so follow your own advice here and build up to your goals. It takes time and practice.
Here is an Overview and below I have a FREE Planner to help you execute this plan simply so click on the button below to get your planner:
- Create a Plan to plan.
- Pick one day to plan your social media
- Create Themes or Topics for the week
- Save links you love
- Plan out each post for the week
- Batch create as much content as you can.
- Create and schedule what you can at one time.
- Try to do this 1x per week, at the same time and on the same day (think habit)
- Build up to your ultimate goal.
- Pick one platform.
- Pick your consistency – 3 posts per week, and build up to your ultimate goal of 1 post per day. (or whatever you feel comfortable with, this can always change).
- Learn to Automate.
- Find a scheduler you love: Buffer, Hootsuite, Post Planner, Tailwind and use it!
- Use Facebook Post scheduling to schedule on Facebook.
- Use OPPs (Other People’s Posts). Grab article links or posts and schedule while thoughts are fresh in mind.(Pro Tip: Use a Chrome Extension to share in articles).
- Get Smart Marketing Monthly – the done for you social media membership. Monthly planner/schedule, done for you content, monthly group calls to get questions about social media answered, and more…
- Baby Steps.
- One day at at time!
Click here for the FREE Social Media Planner for Fitness Professionals
