Is Your Social Media Summer Ready?

The heat and the sun, the ocean and vacations.  Late night with friends and lazy mornings.  These are the fun memories that summers are made of.  Oh, wait!  Don’t forget to share those memories on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter!  Or, maybe not?
Let’s be honest here; Summer is the season when most people tend to throw caution to the wind and do all those things that we’ve been waiting all year to do.  And, since we can’t hide our friends and family members in our suitcases, social media users often feel compelled to include them by documenting the experience through photos and posts.  Raise your hand if you’ve ever been told to put that phone down while touring an exotic locale, or if someone in your party asked, “must you post everything we do?” while on vacation.
It’s only natural that we want to share our experiences, but when it comes to social media, there is a time and a place.  Like during that BBQ you’re hosting when you return to tell us all about your vacation!
Whether your posting on your personal or your business page, here are a few tips to keep in mind while enjoying your summer travels.
• Don’t post your travel plans and itinerary on your social media accounts.
With so much going on in the world, it’s best that you do not announce when your home will be vacant.   In case you’re wondering why –  it’s because you don’t want to fall victim to theft.  Think about it.
• Don’t post status updates about your vacation, while still on vacation.
Ok so you didn’t announce the dates you’ll be away, but then you’ll post updates stating how much fun you’re having on that exotic beach.  After all, that photo of the sunset is just mesmerizing!  Here’s the thing, photos can be geotagged. This means that, even though you didn’t post your location, you still gave it away.
• Don’t tag fellow travelers in your post unless you’ve received their permission.
For the same reasons listed above, maybe your travel companion doesn’t want others to know that they’re out of town.
Bottom line:  If you wouldn’t share your vacation details with a room full of strangers, don’t share it on social media until your safely home.
Now, if you’re a business, there are a couple of things that you can do to maintain your social media accounts active, even though you’re enjoying that cold beverage by that one palm tree you’ve been dreaming about.
• Create a posting calendar and plan your social media posts before heading out on vacation.
Whereas you should be doing this already for all posts, summer time is just as good as any to start.
• Schedule your posts.
Once your posts have been crafted and planned out, you can pre-schedule the posts using Facebook’s scheduling feature, or a third-party tool, like Hootsuite. Third party tools are great because you can often post to multiple social media channels, like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all at once.
To schedule a post on your Facebook Business Page:
1.  Start creating your post at the top of your Page’s Timeline
2.  Click the down arrow next to the Publish and select Schedule
3. Below Publication, select the date and time when you want the post to publish
4. Click Schedule
– Hire someone to manage your account while you’re away
If you’re not a fan of sitting down and scheduling posts, hire the task out to someone else.  If your posts are ready to go, then it shouldn’t take long for someone who is familiar with the process to set up the posts so that they execute on the exact date and time you’d like them to.
This way, business continues as usual, and your vacation plans stay intact.
Enjoy your vacation!
For more information about Social Media, call me at 661-310-1313 or email me at Claudia@SmallBusinessBreakthrough.com. Want to learn more about social media?
Sign up at www.SmallBusinessOwnersCommunity.com to join my free Social Media classroom. 

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