Are you taking a break this summer? Are you worried about keeping your social media accounts active whilst you’re away? For small to medium sized businesses and those who are self-employed, taking a break from work can feel tricky now social media users have come to expect 24/7 customer service.

It is important to get away, re-charge and relax, but if you’re using social media to market your business, it’s pretty unthinkable to leave it untouched for an extended period of time. Your social media accounts are a way for your clients to contact you and for potential clients to reach out to you. If they receive no response they’ll quickly lose interest.

So what are your options? Aside from posting a message on your networks saying you are taking a break, the only other option to avoid checking in whilst you’re on holiday (not very conducive to a break!), is to pass your role onto somebody else. Having someone in the business who can cover for you when you’re away will ensure that everything carries on smoothly until you return. That person doesn’t have to be an expert, just able to respond to any queries that come in.

Once this person is in place, here’s our check list for what to do before you go on your holiday:

1) Create a list of all the usernames and passwords needed to access your business accounts.

2) Provide a clear idea of how frequently they need to monitor your business accounts (daily, weekly?).

3) Give them a list of FAQs. You know better than anyone what people normally ask, so provide a list of possible replies, along with relevant business information (e.g. your most popular product pages, opening hours etc).

4) Provide the company policy on what to do if there are any negative comments. Nobody likes getting complaints but it’s good to have a plan around how to respond.

5) Scheduling content is a must to keep up the hard work you’ve already put in. You can use a social media management tool like Hootsuite, Gain or Social Oomph to schedule tweets and posts.

If it sounds like too much work, or you don’t have anyone to help, getting in an external social media manager is always an option. This person will be an expert, able to develop a strategy and high value content for your sites and also to manage leads and queries for you, wherever you are in the world.

Enjoy your holiday!