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Solopreneurs: 4 social media safety tips for the holidays

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There’s more to holiday planning than putting on your out-of-office.

Posted by Natalie Burtonwood-Wilson

It’s that time of year again when we’re all off on our jollies without a care in the world. That is, after we’ve squeezed in all those pre-holiday work requests!

We’re all in the swing of putting our out-of-office live, but what should you be doing with your business’ social media accounts? Here are my tips for staying social media safe over the holidays:

 

1. 1. 1. 1. Do not, under any circumstances, announce on social media that you’re going away on holiday. This is a biggie. Of course you want to keep in touch with customers, but do you really need to advertise on the world wide web that your home will be unoccupied? This is particularly important if your business is home based.In fact, Admiral.com says 45% of burglaries happen when no-one is home and 59% of attempted burglaries are successful – stats worth bearing in mind. Save your holiday shots for when you come back.
         2. Schedule social media in advance. If you aren’t already, use a social media scheduler to plan and post your content while you’re relaxing. You might want to try Buffer, Hootsuite, or Sprout Social. Install (and use) social media scheduling apps on your phone.If you’re planning on surfing by the pool then make it easy to share articles across your social media channels by using a scheduling app on your phone. Be sure to password protect your phone to keep your social profiles safe!
         3. Install (and use) social media apps and browser add-ons on your phone. You’ll probably already have Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and some other social networks on your phone, but you can save time if you use a scheduling app on your phone too.These often have browser add-ons so when you’re surfing the web you can easily add any relevant articles to your social queue or post to your networks straight away. These are a great time saver when you’re back on home turf too.Be sure to put a password on your phone to keep your social profiles safe!
         4. Plan how you’ll respond to social messages. What about those customer enquiries that come in? There are three ways to tackle those:

• • • • Check-in regularly to pick-up messages. This is easier to do in Europe where you can now ‘roam like at home’ using your inclusive minutes and data without the big bill.

• • • • Ask a trusted friend to help. If you’re travelling further afield, or you just want to switch off completely, then you might want to ask a trusted friend to respond to messages for you.

• • • • Use automation if you need to. Automating responses, like you do with your email’s out-of-office, is another option. Check out IFTTT and your social media scheduler for useful automations.

Your business is important, but your safety is too.

Before you go on holiday run through our quick social media holiday checklist:

1. 1. 1. 1. Post holiday shots after, not during your break.
         2. Schedule posts in advance.
         3. Use social media and scheduling apps on your phone.
         4. Ask a trusted friend to cover responses, automate if you need to.

  Get in touch to discuss growing your business through effective marketing on 01254 457016 or visit our website to find out more. For the full version of this post see the Salt Marketing blog.