September. It’s September. The summer is almost over and, here in Boston, the weather is slowly transitioning. As the sun came up this morning, I shyly peeked out of my bedroom window to enjoy one of the few summer mornings left. But, instead of a beautiful landscape of trees, I saw U-HAULs, old pick-up trucks, and tons of furniture lined up around the block. Stay off the roads everyone, it’s moving day.

It got me thinking about what makes moving days hard. The simple answer: lack of planning. There will always be those who pack everything in tight boxes with labels, stacked neatly at the front door ready to go. And then there are those who put things in piles, loosely thrown into bags and remade boxes. Those who have no idea where things will go – throwing kitchenware in with cosmetics. I’ve been there and it makes moving a pain in the you-know-what.

How do you avoid this? With strategy. Coming up with a plan with how things should be loaded and unloaded, being prepared for the “first”, and not being afraid to re-evaluate when you’re unable to get everything packed into the truck. The same applies to social.

5 elements of strategy you should employ to be successful in the social realm:

1. Figure out who’s helping. How many people will you have moving boxes and unpacking content? Resources make a huge difference. If it’s just you – the timeline might be longer. Great ideas need the proper follow-through, just like a lot of boxes need a lot of people or a lot of time.
2. Game plan. What’s the easiest way to move, what are the optimal truck routes, how can you avoid being stuck in traffic? Make a broad strategy statement and goal for your social program. Then brainstorm tons of ideas that will help accomplish that goal. Research what others in your category have done and where you have the space to be different. This will be your social game plan.
3.  Schedule. What time will you start, when are you picking up the truck, who’s unpacking what? Knowing all of these things increases efficiency. Once you have a game plan, you can build a calendar that incorporates your great ideas with the resources at hand so you’ll know when blog posts can be published, when your contests will get the most traction and what content makes sense now verses a few months from now.
4. Move! Start packing, employ your plan, use your movers. The next step is to follow your schedule day by day. Start engaging your followers.
5. Finally, re-evaluate. If it starts to rain on moving day, you might need to change your plan. In the social realm, it’s important to pour over every bit of analytics you’re afforded. If you’re not steadily moving towards your goal, you’ll need to try to find out what’s happening. Are you posting at a bad time of day? Is your tone off for your followers? Is your content just not that engaging? Is the barrier to entry for your contest to high? Check your interaction levels constantly and change your game plan accordingly.

Happy moving!