Running Social Media Solo Alongside Other Work: One Weekly Check Is Enough

Where part-time social media staff get stuck

Part-time social media people usually stall in a week when their main job gets busy. After a week with no posts, the effort of rethinking what to post grows, and it stops there.

The other problem is thinking up text from zero every time. Decide what to write, write it, choose a photo and get your boss to check it. Doing this for every post takes a big bite out of your main work, even at one post a day.

The cause of stalling is a lack of system more than motivation. If you build a form up front that doesn't make you think every time, even one person can keep going.

What to decide once at the start

In the first hour or two, decide these four things. Once they're set, a weekly check keeps things moving.

Start with the number of posts you can sustain. Posts reliably appearing on set days reassures viewers more than posting every day. How to decide is covered in How often to post.

What to do each week

Once a week, read what is awaiting approval in one go

When you run the post cycle in draft mode, the AI writes drafts and they line up under Awaiting approval by 15:00 two days before the publish date. Once a week, say Monday morning, open Awaiting approval, read, edit and approve. What you approve goes out at the set time.

The home dashboard lists what is awaiting approval and what is coming up, so you never wonder where to start.

Have drafts that bother you rewritten

If a draft doesn't fit, edit it yourself or have the AI write it again. If you keep making the same fix, add that point to the company profile and later drafts will change.

Set up notifications

Set up notifications so you get an email about what is awaiting approval and when a post fails. You can choose an email each time or one daily summary. You will notice even on days you don't open SNS TOWN.

Your first month

Don't try to build a perfect setup at once; shape it over a month.

1. Week 1: Write the company profile and create a post cycle with two posts a week. Read the first drafts and note what doesn't fit
2. Week 2: Add the fixes you noted to the company profile. Add about 20 photos to the Library and describe each
3. Week 3: Add this month's topics and common questions to "Key messages". Time how long approval takes
4. Week 4: If approval is getting quicker, decide whether to add one more post a week or leave it as is

Approval time drops as drafts fit your company better. Writing fixes back into the company profile, rather than patching them on the spot each time, is the quickest way to keep going alone.

What to skip, and what not to skip

What you can skip

Coming up with ideas, thinking of opening lines and choosing photos can be left to the AI. Once you're used to it, you can switch to auto mode, which schedules drafts that pass the checks as they are.

What you must not skip

A person should verify whether the facts in a draft are correct. The AI writes from your company profile and documents, but it can mix up dates, numbers and product names. Reading in draft mode before publishing is for this check.

With replies, just looking is fine to begin with

While you can't keep up with replying to reactions, it's fine to just read replies in notifications. When you run short of time, there are also auto replies, which respond only to replies containing a set word (a feature of higher plans).

Frequently asked questions