For social media you feed the buffer

For most of my work life I have learned to concentrate on:

• single piece flow
• release it when done

With social media I'm having to learn a new set of strategies.

• batch creation
• single piece flow editing
• buffered release cycles
• revisit to repurpose

Batch Creation and Single Piece Flow Editing

With most of my work, if I create it, and have it sitting around then I lose the flow. But with social media - videos, slogans, posts etc. The flow is mainly creative.

So we create, then we are ready to create the next video, or slogan, and if we interrupt that flow then it takes longer to switch back.

So I end up:

• recording a set of videos in a batch to process later
• writing a set of video or slogan ideas, which I process later

Then I have to make sure I schedule time to edit and finish the 'creation' as a single piece flow to get the item into a 'finished' state in one sitting.

Buffered Release Cycles

I only release adhoc and time sensitive items immediately. e.g. live, or spontaneous thought

All the rest I add to the buffer to have a regular release cadence:

• an instagram video in the morning
• a youtube video on Friday
• an instagram slogan in the evening
• etc.

This means I can see from the calendar when I need to have  batch of creation work because I know I'll need to fill the buffer.

This has also mean that my 'finished' work doesn't feel as rushed because I have a buffer to rely on.

This also means more automated support:

• I haven't standardised on toolset yet but I tend to use
• hootsuite for twitter and linkedin
• Buffer for instagram and facebook
• Also for Youtube I schedule videos by releasing them privately when ready and using the 'scheduled' publishing facility within YouTube

This means I don't have a unified 'content' calendar but I know where to look to see what is happening.

Revisit to Repurpose

Normally, done means done.

But in social media, done means - revisit and milk this some more:

• convert youtube videos into blog posts
• collate instagram videos into youtube videos
• transcribe videos for blog posts or to add to 'free pdfs'
• cross promote releases on one platform to another platform at a later date (helps spread the buffer across different platforms)

Does it help?

All of this takes quite a lot of time. But with the right set of systems, automated tool support, and buffers I'm starting to cut the time down.

But I have noticed that I'm receiving:

- more work inquiries

- more emails asking for help on topics (I often use this as a source of social media content)

- more invitations to speak at conferences

Also, I'm finding ways to enjoy this. And I'm still learning a lot and what I'm learning is feeding into my normal daily work. Social media is a new world with a massive amount of skills required to make it look easy.