I don’t know if you’re on social media at all.

But I do recommend that you consider it as part of your course marketing toolbox.

It gives you a free method of building up a following online – one that knows you, trusts you, likes your style and will be eager to hear news of your first course.

You can use social media to notch up more clicks on your blog posts, sales pages, free report pages and email collection pages.

And you can create sponsored posts for targeted, low-cost advertising.

One of the trends that has become more and more important recently is sharing videos on social media.

Because there’s no denying it…

Videos are the hottest medium right now for spreading the word and building an audience.

And on social media, they work well.

REALLY well.

If you want a large and engaged list of potential course customers on Instagram, for instance, then videos give you a huge boost.

I’ve started to use them, and – being naturally shy – I wouldn’t do that if they didn’t work.

Of course, videos come with drawbacks…

They take more effort than simply posting a picture or linking to an article (or a quote!).

They require you to step in front of the camera, so you need to overcome your shyness if that’s an issue for you too.

And they can really swallow up your time IF you don’t get organised.
Think of it this way…

Before you make a video you need to get the house quiet… tidy up a space… get out the necessary equipment… brush your hair and put on makeup (if that’s your preference – I am ever envious of those of you that don’t need it)… and find something ironed to wear…

If you have to do this every day, it can get a bit tiresome.You feel like you’re on a hamster wheel….

Day after day, video after video…

It feels endless – believe me, I know because when I started out on Instagram, I did it the wrong way.

So I want to share with you a trick I’ve learned to avoid video fatigue and run your social media accounts more efficiently.

The power of batching

Rather than do your videos every day, book a morning or afternoon for yourself and do them as a batch.

This is what I do now…

It allows me to properly focus on my videos in one session, and really get into the ‘zone’.

And it’s far more efficient because I can get a month’s worth of videos sorted out in less than a day.

It also means I only need to do my hair and make-up once!

And I only need to get out my recording equipment once, too…

Once the videos are done, I don’t have to think about doing them again for another four weeks, which gives me plenty of time to recharge and get ready.

In fact, I find that when the next recording day comes along, I’m really excited to do it, and it feels like a novelty again.

If you follow me on Instagram, then hopefully that comes across?!

You can check out my recent Instagram post about batching here:

But anyway, I’d really recommend you try this yourself.

And if you do, here are some tips.

• Get organised – make a plan for the month’s videos in advance, and make sure they tie in (or don’t clash) with any events, special days or seasonal celebrations.
• Vary your outfits – Have outfit changes ready for that session (and bear in mind the season your video will be airing in) – so that you don’t always look the same in each one.
• Write scripts. Unless you are a fantastic ad-libber, script out or create bullet points for each video in advance. This way, you aren’t wasting time coming up with ideas about what to say when you should be focused on recording.
• Bring the energy! You need to come across as enthusiastic, so find energy in whichever way works for you. It might mean drinking coffee, listening to loud music, jumping up and down or dancing… anything to get you in the zone so that viewers don’t feel like you’re just dialling it in.

If you don’t already try this and let me know how you get on.

Oh, and by the way…

Batching can work for other social media efforts too.

Stress-Free Scheduling

Videos aren’t the only game in town of course.

If you are active on social media, you’ll probably need to do all kinds of activities…

• Posting social media links and updates…
• Replying and conversing with followers.
• Reading your social media feeds to get the latest news and insights from people you follow.
• Saving useful links and content for your course materials and promotions.

You can ‘batch’ a lot of this too.

Rather than dipping in and out of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all the time, getting distracted and disappearing down rabbit holes…

Find a time in the day to do it all in one session.

For instance, go through all your replies and messages for half an hour, then leave it until the next day.

Spend twenty minutes reading through your feeds and storing the most interesting articles and videos somewhere that you can access another time.

(Check out Trello, Notion or Evernote for two useful platforms for storing and organising the info you find.)

Or you could write your social media posts for the day (or week) and then schedule them in advance, so you can get on with other things.

Check out Metricool, Later and even Canva for examples of tools that allow you to do this across all the platforms you use (and now meta has a scheduling option too).

If you can get organised like this, and use these tech shortcuts, you can massively reduce your social media stress and distractions.

Instead, you can tackle it only when you most feel most ready to.

Try it and see for yourself how much time you free up.

And don’t forget to check out my video here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkLMtysqIqi/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D