Who has time for social media, right? You are busy running a business! I mean come on! Even though it is mostly free, social media still takes time and effort to really see results. But, isn’t that true of any marketing? It all takes time and consistent effort, and social media is no different. It is just a new way to market online. I think the benefits of social media outweigh the effort and time you have to put in. There are ways to manage your social media efforts, however, that can make the most of your time.
- Use a tool like www.tweetdeck.com or www.hootsuite.com to manage multiple accounts. You can connect your Twitter, Facebook Fan Page, and LinkedIn accounts all within one tool, and post to all 3 at once.
- Use the available tools to automatically pull your blog posts into your various social media accounts. There are plugins available on Wordpress to post to Twitter automatically, you can use the Notes application on Facebook, and there is a Wordpress application for LinkedIn. You don’t have to do anything – other than actually write on your blog, and it will be posted to all of your other accounts.
- Use the Share This and ReTweet This tools to share articles and blog posts that you find interesting and think would be interesting to your network. They are becoming much more common on blogs, article and news sites. You are able to share a link with just a few clicks. As you are catching up with industry news online, also consider what is worth sharing.
- Schedule time into your day – put it into your calendar and make it routine to check your accounts daily. Make sure you respond to replies and comments. And take some time to interact with others.
- Use your phone to share interesting thoughts, pictures, and events throughout your day. Smartphones have made this very easy to do. So it doesn’t take much time to post throughout the day.
You do have to commit some of your time to social media. But, you can put systems in place and use the available tools to make it easier and more efficient. Just like any other form of marketing, the more consistent effort you put in, the better the results.
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/webtreatsetc/ / CC BY 2.0
