I have been involved with social media for the past several years, web marketing for the past 10+ years, web site and graphic design for the past 15 years. When you own a business, whether small or big and in today's society you have to do social media marketing. But you ask yourself time and time again when am I going to have the time to post status updates, or comment on someone else's post? I just don't have the time to stay connected with my fans/potential clients. And I don't have the budget to hire a social media manager to do this for me.
I have learned a simple solution that I learned from Anita Crawford Clark and many other social media professionals that allows me to connect and engage with my peeps online, plus still have plenty of time to run my business.
Follow these simple steps:
THE BIG FOUR: - Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube
(consistently be on the different sites daily)
Create a list of four (4) social media platforms that you use most often, starting with the most important one at the top listed as #5 and count down to #1, as such:
5. Facebook - Five one minute activities
4. Twitter - Four one minute activities
3. LinkedIn - Three one minute activities
2. YouTube - Two one minute activities
1. Blog - One one minute activity
If you add all these up, = 15 minutes x 1 minute each = 15 minutes a day to do activities on all your social media platforms. 15 x 365 days a year = 5,475 activities. This is just a minimum formula. If you have more time to connect and engage each day, even five more minutes that is more connectivity you have with potential clients.
I find that HootSuite saves me a lot of time by having all my social media platforms in one program to monitor.
On each social media platform, this is what is most important to me to get the most out of my time:
Facebook - Look at the most recent newsfeed on your wall. Be sure you are seeing all your friends/connections feeds. To do so, at the top of your screen click on most recent>edit options>show posts from all your friends and pages>save. Scroll down on newsfeeds and read all if interested, "like", share a link and check your inbox messages and reply.
Twitter - Go to home, look @ mentions, reply, retweet, comment or send a direct message about topics pertaining to your industry. When you reply, you usually get an @mention and that goes out to all your followers feeds. If you like something, "favorite it". This allows you to go back to it when you have more time to read it. The goal with Twitter is you want to get "re-tweeted" and get @mentions. This is helping you spread footprints of your brand/name on the web.
LinkedIn - Go to home, look in newsfeeds, reply and/or comment, "like" any comments of interest, send direct messages to others in your network about any topic. Keep in mind LinkedIn is a "business-minded" forum and are connecting with other business professionals. On right side, look at "who's viewed your profile" click on link to keep abreast on who's interested in your page. Also be sure to "share an update" on your profile.
One other piece of advice - connect all your social media platforms (Facebook fan page, Twitter, etc to your LinkedIn account). Automation helps you save a lot of time.
YouTube - Go to home, scroll down and look to see who are new subscribers and friends. Click on their picture and thank them for connecting with you on their page. Also check your comments section and reply to each accordingly. Be sure to subscribe to any channels that pertain to your industry, request them as a friend and be sure to check mark notify me when videos are uploaded. Check your email inbox for those uploaded videos notifications and check them out. If they are educational and you find them worthy, save them to your favorites/add to playlist and add them to your channel.
Blog - Log into your blog and glance through articles to see if anyone has left comments. If so, respond accordingly. Posting articles, videos and how-to's to your blog at least 2-3 x week is vital to building your brand and another "free" resource to promote and market yourself. Be sure to put links to your blog in all your social media platforms. The key is to be fascinating, creative and figure out what is important to your target audience. Figure out what is the #1 problem for my customers/clients? What is the #1 reason that keeps them awake at night? I find it vital to put words of encouragement, inspirational and motivational in my blogs, and also in my Tweets (Twitter). Become seen as an expert in your field.
If you follow The Big Four plan each and everyday, you will find you have time for work and for play.
If you have another plan that works for you, I'd love to hear it. Please share it below in the comments section.
Have a fabulous day!
Jennifer Martin
I have learned a simple solution that I learned from Anita Crawford Clark and many other social media professionals that allows me to connect and engage with my peeps online, plus still have plenty of time to run my business.
Follow these simple steps:
THE BIG FOUR: - Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube
(consistently be on the different sites daily)
Create a list of four (4) social media platforms that you use most often, starting with the most important one at the top listed as #5 and count down to #1, as such:
5. Facebook - Five one minute activities
4. Twitter - Four one minute activities
3. LinkedIn - Three one minute activities
2. YouTube - Two one minute activities
1. Blog - One one minute activity
If you add all these up, = 15 minutes x 1 minute each = 15 minutes a day to do activities on all your social media platforms. 15 x 365 days a year = 5,475 activities. This is just a minimum formula. If you have more time to connect and engage each day, even five more minutes that is more connectivity you have with potential clients.
I find that HootSuite saves me a lot of time by having all my social media platforms in one program to monitor.
On each social media platform, this is what is most important to me to get the most out of my time:
Facebook - Look at the most recent newsfeed on your wall. Be sure you are seeing all your friends/connections feeds. To do so, at the top of your screen click on most recent>edit options>show posts from all your friends and pages>save. Scroll down on newsfeeds and read all if interested, "like", share a link and check your inbox messages and reply.
Twitter - Go to home, look @ mentions, reply, retweet, comment or send a direct message about topics pertaining to your industry. When you reply, you usually get an @mention and that goes out to all your followers feeds. If you like something, "favorite it". This allows you to go back to it when you have more time to read it. The goal with Twitter is you want to get "re-tweeted" and get @mentions. This is helping you spread footprints of your brand/name on the web.
LinkedIn - Go to home, look in newsfeeds, reply and/or comment, "like" any comments of interest, send direct messages to others in your network about any topic. Keep in mind LinkedIn is a "business-minded" forum and are connecting with other business professionals. On right side, look at "who's viewed your profile" click on link to keep abreast on who's interested in your page. Also be sure to "share an update" on your profile.
One other piece of advice - connect all your social media platforms (Facebook fan page, Twitter, etc to your LinkedIn account). Automation helps you save a lot of time.
YouTube - Go to home, scroll down and look to see who are new subscribers and friends. Click on their picture and thank them for connecting with you on their page. Also check your comments section and reply to each accordingly. Be sure to subscribe to any channels that pertain to your industry, request them as a friend and be sure to check mark notify me when videos are uploaded. Check your email inbox for those uploaded videos notifications and check them out. If they are educational and you find them worthy, save them to your favorites/add to playlist and add them to your channel.
Blog - Log into your blog and glance through articles to see if anyone has left comments. If so, respond accordingly. Posting articles, videos and how-to's to your blog at least 2-3 x week is vital to building your brand and another "free" resource to promote and market yourself. Be sure to put links to your blog in all your social media platforms. The key is to be fascinating, creative and figure out what is important to your target audience. Figure out what is the #1 problem for my customers/clients? What is the #1 reason that keeps them awake at night? I find it vital to put words of encouragement, inspirational and motivational in my blogs, and also in my Tweets (Twitter). Become seen as an expert in your field.
If you follow The Big Four plan each and everyday, you will find you have time for work and for play.
If you have another plan that works for you, I'd love to hear it. Please share it below in the comments section.
Have a fabulous day!
Jennifer Martin
Great tips! Social media is successful because of the people dedicated to sharing advice via posts of various kinds. It has really changed our world in a positive way and continues to help small business thrive. Seeing business owners brainstorm about a challenge or new idea is similar to a shop keeper strolling down the street to chat with the barber about how the new settlers would effect their spring sales. Although virtual, the relationships and trust often build up as conversations increase just as it has been happening for years. It is now a critical part of most business. Thanks for the four steps. I am going to put them to good use!
ReplyDeleteIndeed a great information related with how to handle those big social networking sites, these tips will surely help any one who would like to be in touch with your partner, colleague. A short time spend on these portals will give you an huge advantage on long terms.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your great post