The schedule of a social media marketer is not always the same day-to-day, and as someone like myself who has other responsibilities aside from social media management, the schedule is definitely up for change. But let me take you through the typical routine from my perspective as the person who handles the Instagram accounts for Tripleseat, EventUp, and VENUES by Tripleseat.
Typical Day of a Social Media Marketer:
9:00 am - 9:30 am Setting up for the day
As most people like to start their days, I take the first 30 or so minutes of my day to set myself up for success. I check and respond to my emails, double-check on upcoming deadlines in my calendar, and create my to-do list for the day based on what is the highest priority to complete.
9:30 am - 10:00 am Checking in on previous posts
The beginning of the day on the social media front is spent checking in on the activity from the day or week prior. This means checking for likes, comments, saves, and shares on the basic level for any individual post. Instagram also provides specific insights on reach, impressions, and profile visits along with other metrics. Sometimes these metrics are better to look at after at least one week since 24 hours still leaves much time for the post to get seen by even more viewers. If I see that a post has high engagement, I think about how I could recreate a similar post again in the future. It is important to monitor how your posts are performing, which is why I check in manually and also with the help of the Instagram tool, Later.com.
10:00 am - 11:30 am Researching and writing blog content about social media
As a social media marketer, I do a lot of research about marketing tips, social media trends, the do’s and don'ts of Instagram, and so on, so I also contribute to the Tripleseat and EventUp blogs to share this knowledge with all our hospitality industry readers. I tend to have a few blog posts on my to-do list at a time, so I put aside time to work on them in the first half of the day when my creative juices are fully flowing. When it comes to learning more about the world of social media marketing, I often look to Homemade Social’s Instagram, Later.com’s blog, and certain creators on TikTok, like this one all about ideas for Instagram stories to learn about long-term strategy or quick tips. I do research for my blog posts, but also for the benefit of learning how to make the Instagram accounts as good as they can be.
11:30 am - 2:30 pm Creating Instagram content
The next chunk of the day is spent working on the upcoming posts that will be published on Instagram. Some of this content can be scheduled ahead of time, like photos from the EventUp and VENUES directories, while other content is more often published as it comes in, like when Tripleseat events or customer visits take place.
There is a lot that goes into creating the Instagram post that viewers see in the feed, and that gives me a lot of appreciation for the time and effort that all brands must put into their content. When it comes to the EventUp feed, I follow a pattern that involves keeping a color scheme to maintain a variety in the “look” of the posts on our page. The pattern involves posting photos that are mostly white, mostly brown, and mostly dark colors.
With this color scheme in mind, I head to the EventUp website where I go through different cities looking for photos that would be worthy of posting onto the EventUp Instagram account. I will do this a few times a week, and favorite the venues that stand out to me, so sometimes this stage just involves going through my EventUp favorites section. When looking for Insta-worthy photos, I keep a few things in mind: Does this photo grab attention? Is the image high quality? Is it different from the most recent posts? Does it look fun?
Once I find photos that I like, the next step is editing them if needed. I use Adobe Lightroom Classic on my computer to make changes to the colors or filters on an image so it can fit within the white, brown, or dark color scheme.
After the image editing is complete, I open up Later.com, which is the social media tool that I use to schedule Instagram posts. Later’s analytics show when the best time is to post on each given day, so new posts will go into those specifically recommended time slots. We’re not done yet though, because the next step is caption writing and hashtag selection.
When it comes to writing captions, it is important to be engaging and informative, maybe even in a humorous or witty manner as well. I put thought into every caption I write based on what I learn about the restaurant or event venue from their EventUp listing and website. There is also a strategic process for choosing the correct hashtags, which I explain in-depth in this blog post.
Once the caption and hashtags are all set, I add the other elements to the post, including a location, account tags, and the image CTA that can be found when clicking on the link in the EventUp bio. I then schedule the post to publish whenever the recommended time says to do so. That is the process for scheduling one post, and I repeat the same process for all other posts on our various accounts.
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm Engaging on Instagram
While Later.com does the work publishing the post, it cannot be left alone entirely because the Instagram algorithm wants to see engagement from your account. It is crucial to be active before, during, and after the scheduled post goes live, so that is what I do. I tend to go through the feed in the 15 minutes before I know a post will publish and like or comment on posts from accounts that I follow. Once my post goes up, I always make an Instagram story, sharing the post and adding stickers to say “click here”, tags to the restaurant or venue in the photo, and other IG Story elements. I continue this active engagement for a while after the post is published as well. Instagram doesn’t want its users to just post and forget about the platform, so it is part of my responsibility to actively engage with other accounts, with any messages in the DMs, or replying back to comments on my own posts.
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm Working on ongoing social media projects
As I said at the start of this post, the schedule of a social media marketer is often up for change depending on what projects are going on at any given time. Sometimes content creation for Instagram posts gets split up over multiple days, and when dealing with various accounts that require different kinds of posts, one account may be the focus of one day while the other account is the focus of the next. But regardless, I spend a portion of my afternoon working on other social media projects, like creating images for posts and stories in Canva, editing video footage in Adobe Premiere Pro to post as an IGTV or Reel video, or researching new trends and inspiration in the social media marketing world.
5:00 pm - 5:30 pm Preparing for tomorrow
It does not always happen, but I try to make a to-do list at the end of my day in order to remember what is most important to return to during the following day. Aside from social media management, I also produce Tripleseat’s industry podcast Two Chicks, Three Seats, run Tripleseat’s customer community on Influitive, and manage general marketing platforms for Tripleseat, which take up my time when I am not focused on social media related projects. Meetings and calls are also sprinkled into this busy day, so it is important to note that sometimes the perfect schedule of a social media marketer that I believe is often perceived online, is not always going to be perfect. And as someone who must look at screens all day to do my job, I make sure to log off and spend time outside, exercising, and with friends to end my day.
Interested in how other EventUp team members spend their day supporting the venue directory? Here's what we are up to:
- A Day In The Life Of A Marketing Manager
- A Day In The Life of Support
- A Day in the Life of a Hotel Marketing Manager
- A Day In The Life Of A Corporate Event Planner
Stay tuned for more posts sharing the daily lives of EventUp staff. Is there a role you want to learn more about? Let us know in the comments below.
