I know that most individuals use social marketing in some way or another, and I do as well. It’s large, expanding, and should be part of every marketing strategy. Select the youtube views panel.
But I must admit that it has been a struggle for me – the time it takes maybe crushing! A true Time Vampire, especially if you lean toward the friendly side and prefer face-to-face engagement.
Time is a valuable resource if you own a business, as I do and most of you do. But unfortunately, entrepreneurs do not have the luxury of devoting 4, 5, 6 (or more) hours to social media marketing or any other activity.
Is Social Media Marketing a Time Vampire… or Real Work?
Ask yourself that question, and then provide an answer – even if it’s difficult for you – making an assessment is critical. For many people, the truth is that it is both.
It’s certainly true for me. I need to keep an eye on myself as well as the time.
“I’m going to check Facebook quickly, then I’ll get to that blog post I’ve been meaning to write” is an example of some unproductive self-talk I’m guilty of.
When was the last time that happened? Never, ever, ever, in my opinion!
I check my Facebook messages, respond to a couple, approve a few friend requests, and then I’m off to the races. But, unfortunately, I’ve become engrossed in a new blog post about a new marketing method by a buddy of a friend!
And it’s NOON, I’m hungry, and half of the day has passed!
Social marketing becomes a time vampire with this technique. It robbed me of half a day and left me bewildered and exhausted. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen often, but it’s enough to get my attention.
Social marketing is GOOD, strong, and expanding and should be included in every marketing strategy. It’s part of my marketing strategy.
So, what’s the solution? How can you use social media efficiently for the company without spending all your waking hours monitoring several websites and keeping up with every conversation?
I’m no social media expert, but I do have several suggestions that you could find helpful. To begin, there are a few critical focus areas that put Social Marketing in the correct results-oriented commercial perspective:
- Message to the Media: Market to Me
- Focus
- Automate
- Leverage
Have you heard of the message to market’ match? The same thing, but with a twist.
Matching means using the correct tool for the job and ensuring you like it. If Facebook is where your potential customers hang out, it works for your message, and you want it. It’s a good fit. Consider that, and don’t forget the “Me” portion. Be reasonable. If you dislike Twitter, don’t use it; it’s not a good fit for you.
Focus. You knew “focus” would appear after chatting for a while. I need help focusing on social media – more must be better. Being ‘excellent enough to get recognized’ in a few areas is significantly more effective than being invisible everywhere. Choose a few and focus on them.
Automate. Semi-automate, or at the very least, employ technologies to boost efficiency. There are numerous solutions available… and I’ve tried far too many. More money does not always imply better. Here are two examples that I enjoy.
Hootsuite: A single tool for managing The Big Three – Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn – as well as other social media platforms (but remember what I said about focus?). The main advantages are having a single location to handle everything and being able to schedule updates in batches, which means checking in less frequently.
Ping: Free single-point distribution to a large number of sites.
I use the commercial version of Hootsuite (which is inexpensive), but they also have a free version. For optimum reach, I connect Hootsuite to Ping. So a single Hootsuite update affects all Hootsuite sites and all Ping sites.
I still remember concentration. I focus my social marketing efforts on only a few platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
But I took the trouble of creating a profile on several social marketing sites and even attempted to keep active on a handful. After all that time, I didn’t want to walk away. The compromise was to discontinue some and support others in a maintenance mode, utilizing Ping to keep my status updates going without spending much personal time on each site.
Outsourcing means paying someone else to help with the tasks. Outsourcing social marketing can be difficult for some individuals because it is social; you are connecting or seeming to participate online. But don’t dismiss it because it appears to be a little personal and close to home. The key to successfully outsourcing social marketing jobs is to provide appropriate training and systems.
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