There just never seems to be enough time. Believe me, I know. I am a mom and a business owner. I have a to-do 
list a mile long – client work, marketing my business, spending time with my family, learning new skills, cleaning the house, laundry, meal planning, clipping coupons, making dinner…and the list goes on! I am sure you can relate. And now you are supposed to do this social media stuff? You have to find time to think of something interesting to say, respond back, grow your presence. Seems overwhelming, right?
Social media can be time consuming. But it can also be an incredible tool for your business. Social media can help you build your brand, get to know your target market, build credibility and ultimately grow your business. So the investment of time is worth it! What do you do when you know you want to use social media, but can’t seem to find the time? Scheduling, Planning and Tools!
The first time saving tip I use for managing my own social media is to create a schedule. I am big on schedules! Because my life is divided between work time and family time, I have to plan in advance what I need to accomplish during my work time. I schedule in time a few days a week to find interesting articles and create new updates to post – and then I schedule them out. I also plan for a little time each day to check in to my accounts, follow up and respond. You can even go so far as to decide what type of update you want to post each day – Maybe a quote on Monday, Tip Tuesday, Article Wednesday, Tip Thursday, & something fun for Friday!
In addition, I take advantage of the tools available, to make it quicker and easier to keep my accounts up to date. Tools such as Hootsuite.com allow me to pre-schedule posts out in advance. I can also post to multiple sites at one time. I also use tools within my WordPress blog to automatically post my blog updates to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. When I am catching up on my RSS feeds or reading an article that I find interesting, I use the Tweet This & Facebook Like buttons to post that article to my social media profiles. I also use Foursquare as a way to quickly share where I am & what I am doing – such as attending a networking meeting or enjoying a new restaurant in town.
Now, even with all of this scheduling and planning, you will still get the best results from social media by being personal. Make sure within your planning that you have time to respond and interact. This is the most valuable part of social media. Take advantage of the time saving tools to keep your accounts up to date and to free up precious time to interact and get personal!
