How many hours a day should an entrepreneur spend on social networks to promote his/her business?
The importance of social networks to develop one's business is no longer a secret: but how to find the time to get started and be really effective?
As an entrepreneur, your days probably seem too short. After having chosen the networks on which you want to position your business, it is important to know how much time you can devote to it. Indeed, your online presence in general and your social networks in particular will be assimilated to the "voice" of your company. The content you publish and the way you publish it should reflect your values, your vision and your personal branding.
Let's get it clear right away: you can have a great online presence without investing any money. However, it will take some time. For a single post on a network, you have to consider the type of content you want to share, the way you will make it attractive in a few sentences, the illustration, but also the management of comments, maybe the relaying of the post to other groups in the same network, and so on. If you create your content and are a bit of a perfectionist, this can easily take up half your time, or even more!
If, like many entrepreneurs, you only have a few hours a week to spend on it, streamline your approach, and keep in mind that today, everyone is connected. The French, for example, are spending more and more time with their eyes glued to their phone screens, especially when they are young - so if you are targeting a young audience then yes, you need to spend time on it. A study by the American firm App Annie on the use of smartphones around the world in 2019 reveals some interesting data. The French spent 2.3 hours a day on their phones in 2019, compared to 1.8 hours two years earlier, an increase of 27%. This is less than the global average of 3.7 hours per day.
In short, the ideal method is:
Define a strategy beforehand
Mark a specific moment in your agenda
Centralize your social networks
Program your publications
(A small parenthesis is in order - personally, I have difficulty with the programming of publications. I've always been a fan of spontaneous publications. So, even though I write down my ideas, I try to post that I think it's appropriate and also add "spontaneous" publications - a human touch in this digital context is vital).
Organize your watch
Save time with your visuals
(Another little parenthesis - my heart's choice is Canva).
And what about hashtags?
Hastags: these keywords usually added after the text of your post have two major assets: they allow users who wouldn't know you to find you by searching for content listed under one of these words, and they can help you in the visibility of your content with search engines (to a lesser extent). In this context, you understand why you may find on some pages more hashtags than text... Only, the systematic shovelling of hashtags is not necessarily appreciated by your community since it decreases the readability of your content and also puts it, even unconsciously, in an "aggressive marketing" category that harms the authenticity of what you offer. They are not to be banned for all that, but rather to be chosen carefully: which ones are the most relevant for your activity? Get inspired by what's going on around you, and test every hashtag you plan to use: you're never safe from a keyword that refers to very different content than what you had in mind!
To learn more about hashtags used in the translation and localization industry, you can read one of my previous articles here.
As you can see, building your social network communication strategy won't be as fast as you hope: it will require a certain amount of research and verification, and it will be fine-tuned over time and testing. However, it will prove to be an invaluable ally in your general communication and even your sales, if it is effective!
P.S. As a freelance translator and registered entrepreneur, but especially as a woman, wife & mother, the best advice I can give is not to stress about how, when and what to publish. If you want to have a decent, but good income, also enjoy your personal life, you should also take a relaxed look at the "social media posting folder".
I always say: good things happen when you least expect it. In short, you freelancer/entrepreneur, post when and how you can, define or not a strategy, but above all post from your heart, showing your potential clients that the human touch is (still) very important in this digital world... post beyond words!
Till soon!
Gabi