With so many irons in the fire just to keep your business up and running, finding time for social media marketing can become tremendously challenging. You know you need to do it, however, trying to find the time to fit it into your already packed schedule can feel like an uphill battle.
Commit To A Specific Time
Without a solid plan in place to accomplish goals, they often go by the wayside. That is why most people fail at resolutions, such as exercising more. They lack a definitive plan for doing so. Making a daily time commitment can help to keep you accountable, and ensure you do not procrastinate to the point that you never actually get around to handling your social media goals.
In determining how much time you will spend on social media marketing each day, remember to keep it reasonable and realistic. Setting goals that are too lofty will often result in failure. Instead, make a commitment to tweeting twice a day or sharing one piece of content on Facebook daily. Even a small investment in social media marketing each day can help your brand to accomplish more than you could imagine.
Take the step to block out the amount of time you wish to dedicate to social media on your calendar. Set an alarm on your phone. Do whatever it takes to make sure you have a block of uninterrupted time during which you are working on your social media marketing goals.
The KISS Method
Far too often, brands fail to make time for social media marketing because they over-think it. Simplifying your social media marketing plans when you are getting started or making your way out of a rut will ensure you at least have a steady stream of relevant content. Remember, you do not have to become a social media marketing guru overnight. The key is to think about who you are marketing to, and focus on building content that your audience will enjoy and find valuable.
Stop Trying To Do It All
Social media is pervasive and massive. You simply cannot handle it all on your own, especially if you have limited time to dedicate to it daily. The good news is there are tools available to help you maximize the amount of time that you do have.
Rather than spending hours digging for relevant content to share, consider using tools such as Swayy, Feedly or Nuzzel to discover top news stories. Not sure who you should be following in the world of social media? Tools like TwitNerd take all of the guess work out of it by providing a Follow by Keyword feature that allows you to input any keyword or phrase and identify Twitter influencers.
Carving out time for social media marketing is a challenge, but it is worth the effort and the investment. Nielson reports that 33 percent of consumers prefer to contact companies over social media rather than the phone. If you are not investing in social media marketing, you are likely missing customers. Make time for social media marketing now.
Short and to the point Jason, I like that. Thanks very much for the inspiration and tips.
I can vouch for what you say about dedicating a specific time/period for posts – been getting into that over the last 2-3 weeks and my exposure on Flickr, Instagram and FB has steadily climbed.
Now I have to tie myself to more regular blog posts as well.
Cheers, Marcell
Interesting stuff Jason, especially that last one. I go about it a different way, although most of the stuff I share is on Twitter. Sure, it’s a little bit time consuming but it’s also more timely, and I get to focus on the people whose content I’m sharing to help them get better known… as you know. 🙂
The major truth is that one can’t be everywhere. I’m on the big 4, but I distribute my time so that I only spend most of it on one place.