To Automate or To Switch Off – 3 Solutions To The Small Business Owners Christmas Facebook Dilemma – 1 Minute Moment #60

It starts mid-November for me, the excitement, the anticipation. Soon, very soon there will be two weeks when I can switch off, kick back and forget about business.

Christmas for many small business owners isn’t about the food, the presents, the tree. It’s about total wind down.

But how can we switch off and relax in the connected world?

This week I look at 3 ways you can manage your Christmas break on Facebook

1. Schedule content

Most of us have a Christmas box in our attic or shed full of decorations. We pull it out once a year, dust off the decorations, replace any that are damaged or broken and enjoy them again.

Treat your content the same way. Create a folder on your computer and add all your seasonal content, include a document with links to any blog posts or articles you’ve written.

Now schedule it out over the break. If you create anything new add it to the folder so you can recycle it next year.

Here’s how to schedule on Facebook:

2. Shut it down

The problem with scheduling content is that

1. Your mind will always be a little bit tied to your page. You’ll want to see how your content is performing.
2. People might start interacting with it. If people leave comments on your posts you’ll need to respond. Bang goes your time off!

The alternative is to switch off completely. Pin a post to the top of your page telling people you won’t be around until [insert date here] and enjoy your time off.

You can set an auto responder (also known as instant messages) to respond to any direct messages whilst you are gone.

3. Hire a VA

If you have the budget consider hiring someone to manage your page during your time off. This means you can continue the flow of content and ensure that people are getting a personal response.

Here are some tips from the Smart VA about why you should use a virtual assistant.

What will you do?

Are you scheduling, switching off, hiring a VA or something else? I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas.