Ever look down at your watch and gasp in dismay when you realize two hours have passed when you meant to spend only twenty minutes on your Facebook updates?

Yeah. Me too.

This is the type of disorder and chaos that drives you to say, “No more. I won’t use it!”

But you shouldn’t overreact. What’s missing is your plan of attack.

Wrestle Your Facebook Presence Under Your Control

Last week I discussed the importance of sticking to a set schedule for checking in on Facebook(or Twitter or Linked In) so that you conquer control of your social media schedule. I highlighted tips such as setting appointment blocks for Facebook activity:

  • 9:00 am – 15 minutes – Check for top stories. Read 2 only!
  • 10:30 am – 20 minutes – Post 1 business update, post 1 link to another blog post/article, Share a fun, cool photo or community info.

These were merely ideas you could adapt for your own Business Fan Page. But what if nothing moves you? What if it’s a slow news day or you’re just not in the mood? Worse, what if it feels like you’re posting the same stuff every day? You need a plan with diversity of content.

You’ve heard it before: Valuable Content is King!

One thing that makes content valuable is creating great stories.

I can hear your brain wheels churning: How can I create great stories out of little Status Updates???

I’ll show you.

I take you back to your childhood (or perhaps to something more familiar with your own kids right now): Do you remember those shirt-cardboard charts your mom taped up to the kitchen cabinets above the phone? You know: The ones with the days of the week marking the columns and your chores listed on the left side in permanent marker. You’d get to check them off each day after taking the trash out or making your bed and doing your homework.

Facebook is your homework!

Funny thing: Those shirt-cardboard charts worked like a charm. And remember how great you felt putting X’s in all the boxes on completion? How proud you were?

You can do it again with your social media efforts!

Your Facebook To-Do Chart

Get out your shirt cardboard. Here’s one approach to what and when to post Status Updates:
Facebook Status Update Posting Schedule

This is merely a rudimentary suggested schedule by topic. But by using a mapped out topics schedule, you will begin to shape your own unique story.

Your own schedule should be dictated not only by when you can fit this activity into your busy schedule but also during dates and times that generate the greatest fan engagement.

Use your analytics tools on the Insights tab to view fan traffic to determine ideal posting times. If you’re wondering what subjects fit into the topics above, here’s a brief description:

  • Famous Quotation ~ Sometimes someone else has said it a lot better than the words you can come up with. Famous quotes are highly popular and can be a strong draw among those with interest in this matter.
  • Company News ~ From a new hire, to photos of new inventory, a press release or link to a third party article about your company.
  • Links/Public Stories ~ What catches your eye, from a story on Yahoo news to the NYT or WSJ. What do you think your fans would appreciate knowing about that you ran across?
  • Personal News ~ A post about your daughter’s soccer game or a trip to the ice cream shop. Both demonstrate you’re human. And human interest news always draws viewers! Note it’s posted infrequently and not on heavy news days.
  • My Neighborhood ~ Does a colleague have a great sale going? Coupons for a free dinner? Support neighbors’ businesses!
  • Fan News ~ Search out what good things are happening to your fans on their walls. Cross post something from their Timeline onto yours. Thank them for loyalty.
  • Sale Promotions ~ Notice it’s run least frequently in this scenario once every two weeks. For your business it may be even less often. You won’t know how often to make these announcements until you see feedback, Likes and Comments from fans.

Reward Yourself for Meeting Your Posting Goals

Want to incentivize yourself for meeting all your posting goals and times? Is it dinner out at a nice restaurant or a glass of nice wine? Be sure to give yourself a dangling carrot to get the job done consistently over several weeks. Then you’ll be ready to up your game and improve your posting schedule for better fan engagement and greater conversion.

If you’re still at a loss for creative ideas on what to post to your Facebook page and want a much larger selection of options than those shown in the ‘shirt cardboard’ chart above, check out my blog post this week, 50+ Topics to Keep Your Facebook Timeline Bursting with News, that goes into much greater detail about potential posting topics.

Does this help keep your train from running off its Facebook tracks? Can you see how you might apply the ‘shirt-cardboard’ schedule to your own Fan Page? Leave a comment to let me know.