This is a guest post from Richie DeMarco
According to Social Media Examiner –
“25% of small businesses spend 6 – 10 hours
each week on social media marketing.”
Many in my network are small business owners that are still on the fence when it comes to social media. I asked them what they thought –
The most popular response was – “I can allocate the time, but I’m not sure how I should be spending it or how to be effective.”
That got me thinking about what a 6-hour, per week, social media/social selling strategy could look like –
To keep things simple I’m going to focus on 3 platforms – Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter.
8:00 a.m.
- Post to Facebook – Share a tip / cool photo / ask a question
- Tweet an interesting article that will help those in your industry / an inspirational quote / ask a question
- Share an update on LinkedIn – can be similar to what you shared on Twitter or Facebook
25mins
12:00 p.m.
- Respond to any comments on your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn posts.
- Scroll your newsfeeds – see if there is anything that you can comment on.
- If you can’t find something to comment on, check in with an article or tip for your network.
15mins
4:30 p.m.
- Again respond to any comments. If no comments, find something to comment on.
10 mins
8:00 p.m.
- Last check in of the day. Reply to all comments, or find something to comment on.
10mins
This strategy gives you an hour per week of cushion… You can search for more content worth sharing, create your own or have a glass of wine… J
There is a lot time allocated for responding and interacting with your network.
That’s the most important thing that you can do to be successful on-line.
“Focus on listening and responding not shouting at your community”
The above times are suggestions – pick whatever times work for you. I try to “check in” every 4 – 5 hours when I can.
Here are a few tools that I use daily to help me keep up appearances.
This is a free website that I use to schedule (buffer) all of my tweets, posts to Facebook, G+ and LinkedIn. After the kids go to bed and while my wife is watching the Bachelor I load all of the next days posts. Buffer allows me to make my daily sales calls while showing up on line.
Another great free tool, I use it to listen and monitor Twitter for keywords in my industry. HootSuite makes it easy to browse my saved searches or lists, which saves me hours per week. There is a mobile app that helps me stay connected through out the day.
This is a simple web based photo editor that I use for almost every post that I make. It’s very important for the photos to display properly on each platform. PicMonkey makes re-sizing, adding text or cropping images very simple. The best part is I don’t have to be a graphic designer to use it.
Feedly allows me to create my very own newsfeed. I can choose from 20 different topics and can even save RSS feeds. I love this site because I’m a little OCD about having a clean in-box and Feedly keeps all of those articles that I plan to read or share in one place, sorted and saved. Some other sources for content are Paper.li / Alltop.com / Buzzfeed.com / News360.com
Once you get into a rhythm you can alternate your posts between the different platforms.
You will also be surprised at how much you can do from your phone while you’re waiting on line at Starbucks or watching TV.
This post for all of the naysayers out there that tell me they don’t have time for social media.
For the record I am a bag carrying VP of sales, responsible for a good portion of my companies business and married with three young children. My numbers are up and I’m pretty sure my wife isn’t leaving me anytime soon… At least not because I spend an hour per day on-line… J
Having a social media plan doesn’t have to take up your entire day.
If you would like to learn more about social media –
What’s Next? Visit ConstructingYourBrand.com and binge watch our social media Q & A videos. They are almost as good as The Walking Dead. You can learn more about me on my blog TheMayorOFHardware.com
I look forward to connecting with you and becoming a valued part of your network.
