Roderick Low is a social media coach and trainer at Expeditus Media. He helps small and medium businesses make sense of the social web and equip them with the skills, tools and strategies necessary to reach out and connect to their target audience.
If you think social media marketing is completely free, you are dead wrong.
Yes, it can definitely be low cost, but it is not no cost, considering the amount of time spent on it.
That may be the reason why small businesses aren’t getting any results from their social web endeavor. They simply did not invest their time wisely.
I am not afraid to admit that being on Twitter, Facebook (especially Facebook) and blogs can potentially bring your productivity on a downward spiral.
But it doesn’t have to be this way, especially if you know that you are the one controlling the clock.
Here are 3 tips that I have thought of to help you manage your “social media” time.
1. Set Goals and Be Disciplined
Let the question “why” be your guiding light and set your goals before engaging in your social media activities. Ask yourself: “Why am I on Facebook?” “Why am I Tweeting?” “Why am I reading blogs?”
Once you have all these answers, you are able to prioritize your daily activities and get them done. For example, if I am blogging, I will focus on just that and let nothing else distract me. Be disciplined to be rewarded.
2. Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin
Don’t try to be everywhere on the social web. One of the biggest mistakes marketers tend to make is trying to put a foot into everything. The best advice I was given when I started out was to build my presence deep, not wide.
That means, selecting the few channels (3 – 4 are more than enough) that most of your target audience are using. Many shiny new tools are being introduced everyday.
Don’t hesitate to try them out but remember to stick to the best channels. I only interact with my readers on 3 different channels – Facebook, Twitter and my website. That frees up my time to focus on interacting with people and building trust.
3. Use Tools to Boost Productivity
There are several tools that can help boost your productivity on the social web. Make the effort to source tools you are comfortable with. Some recommendations are Tweetdeck, Seesmic and HootSuite. They allow you to streamline your Twitter use and sync updates with your Facebook Page.
For those who are thinking of starting a business blog, I suggest WordPress. It has tons of plugins that you can use to boost your productivity. Simple features like the scheduling function can help you get the most basic but time consuming job done.
Lastly, Google reader and Google Alert are also very good tools for solo entrepreneurs who want to track the buzz around their industry, competitors and even their own reputation.
Try to create a system and automate as much as possible. But there is one thing you should spend time on – interaction. Please do not make the mistake of automating your engagement because humans want to deal with humans, not robots or logos.
Conclusion
Like everything else you do at work, you should start creating a process, implement it and improve constantly. Always be on the look out for ways to achieve the same results at minimum costs ( including time spent).
Technology is moving fast and so should you.
Now that you know a little about time management, how do you actually say ‘enough is enough’? How do you prioritize your activities and set realistic goals? I would love to know how you do it.
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Great advice you have given us, thank you, Roderick!
I can now have a clear view of understanding of using my time in terms of social media, of course! I got a lot of time on my hands and I'm not using it efficiently and it was such a waste. I like the #1 about settings goals, that really hits my problem.
Good points! As for when enough is enough, when talking with small business owners, I recommend that once they have a plan in place, that they allocate a set amount of time per day to social media and then stick to it.
How much time that is will depend on how much focus there is on social media within their marketing plan. For some it might be 10 minutes a day, for others 2 hours.
http://www.tricommstrategies.com
goal setting is important in whatever aspect in life. Anyways, for social media being a time intensive investment, it has somehow given small businesses a chance to shine too
Great point on setting goals for social media. A lot of people are very into the 'it's low cost let's do this' but don't realise that time is money also.
You need to set goals. Even if you're using social media to engage in conversation and interact with others – you can still have the goal of creating new relationships, start a joint venture, promote your work and other peoples work, help others out (build trust) etc.
They're all positive things you could be doing on social media that aren't just wasting time – they're getting you closer to your goals and getting some return on the time you've invested in social media.
Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com
I highly recommend http://nomee.com as well. It allows you to follow people instead of social media web sites.