Most of them see social media as a big, greedy time-guzzler! The perception that they need to spend hours (or even just one hour) daily keeping up with conversations, posting new content and more is just beyond their ability to manage. However, it does depend on what they want to achieve.
Let's look at the main platforms:
People to get connected with:
- Your clients
- Your suppliers
- Your networking connections
- The people who write useful blogs that you read regularly (or would like to if you could remember to check if they've written anything lately)
- People who are connected with your target audience, but aren't competitors
- Your competitors (it's worth keeping an eye on what they're doing)
Of course, you'll find you get connected with a few random people too - don't be too precious, you never know who they know.
Input to keep your Twitter account alive:
Regular tips, suggestions, shares of useful information - these can be recycled over time and will include quotes from your blogs too. This can be done easily using a social media management tool such as Hootsuite.
Replies to mentions and conversations you've responded to. If you ignore people who mention you, you'll fall off their 'people who are worth talking to' list. This shouldn't take long - a few minutes a day - try doing it after you've cleared your email. Attaching a new habit to an existing one is a great way to set that in place.
If you're selling direct to consumers a Facebook Page is a great way to be seen, but use a Page rather than your personal account. Gifts, personal products and services and clothing all work well on Facebook.
Facebook likes images (they bought Instagram) so loading an image with a few words or comment is a great way to get people's attention. You only need to post one 2-3 times a week.
If you're posting product images try to put a few different ones in from time-to-time - that are relevant to your business.
If you visit your Page every couple of days and respond to comments, thank people for 'likes' and post today's image you shouldn't need to spend more than 15-20 minutes per visit.
If you're selling attractive items like homeware, gifts, clothes, shoes, bags, etc Pinterest is very effective. As you have up 500 characters to write next to each image you load make the effort to write something tempting and ensure images are uploaded from your website, not from your computer so the links take people back there.
This should not take any longer than your Facebook uploads and can use the same or similar images.
Google+
Many people think this is a network of geeks who all talk about technology, but there are plenty of others on here and the Google Hangouts are really useful to get a group of people together.
Google+ posts tend to be longer and commentate on an issue. It's probably worth exploring a bit before jumping in. You can have a company page here too and can post the same tips etc to it that you put into Twitter using Hootsuite, which keeps you visible.
For business-to-business connections LinkedIn is invaluable. However, this platform does require a fair bit of effort to make it really work well as a business generator. Having said that, it can be a really effective way to generate business if you do invest the time. It is much less effort than cold-calling and all that entails.
An hour a day on LinkedIn developing relevant connections so you have a tagged list of connections who are all in your 'ideal client' niches will pay dividends in the long term.
If you're posting tips to Twitter, Facebook and Google+, you might as well include LinkedIn too. This ensures you maintain a high profile even when you're busy.
Apart from LinkedIn, which does require a bit of time and effort, you can run all this in around 15-20 minutes a day if you organise yourself properly. Make sure you have a plan and you're in control and you won't be a slave to your social media - it will be a good servant and help you to build your reputation online.
