What is your reaction when you hear the phrase social media strategy?
- Do you groan in pain?
- Do you shout, “Enough already!”
- Or do you jump up and down with glee?
For many small business owners, they’d rather not deal with any of it.
Social media strategy is best taken in small doses – so pick your poison.
In a poll of small business owners, 47 percent of the respondents indicated they do not use social media AT ALL for their businesses.
The reason boiled down to two main points – lack of time and know-how.
Time Capsule
Who can’t relate to the lack of time?
Social media has the power to suck the energy right out of you.
- You have a business to run
- There’s bills to pay
- And, if you’re lucky, you have a personal life
Who has time for social media?
I am a relative newbie to social media (since 2008) so you won’t find find me representing myself as a guru, strategist or the next best thing.
You have permission to slap me if I ever do.
I often groan in pain and shout, “Enough already” when it comes to social media.
Every time I am feeling overwhelmed, I regroup. Here’s what I do.
- Pick one platform to focus on
- Create simple tasks for completion
- Set time boundaries
Let me give you an example.
#1 – Pick a platform
In this example, the platform is LinkedIn.
#2 – Create simple tasks
- Participate in Group discussions
- Review the Answers section and respond to questions
- Share a link to information that would be of interest
#3 – Set time boundaries
- Plan tasks weekly for one month
- Allocate one hour per week
- Participate in Groups once per week
- Provide Answers once per week
- Share links once per week
Can you spare an hour a week?
It’s about baby steps.
- A month does not overwhelm
- Once a week is manageable
- An hour is not so bad
Smart Pill
But what if the problem is you know nothing about social media?
Use the same simple formula.
- Pick one platform to focus on
- Create simple tasks for completion
- Set time boundaries
#1 – Pick a platform
Using LinkedIn again, here is an example.
#2 – Create simple tasks
- Do Google search for blogs/eBooks about LinkedIn
- Learn how to set up your profile
- Plan your profile
#3 – Set time boundaries
- Plan tasks weekly for one month
- Week one – allocate one hour for Google search and review
- Week two and three – review material
- Week four – set up profile
Simple Pill to Swallow
If you’re like me, you are going to slip up.
- You miss a week
- The week becomes two
- You’re back to where you started
That’s okay – it happens.
Simply regroup.
It’s probably because it’s nearing the end of another year that I am rethinking my social media strategy.
The one thing I know for sure – I plan to keep it simple.
How about you? How do you handle your social media strategy?
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Cathy, my social media strategy has shifted over the last couple of years. Initially I focused on setting up my blog and connecting with other bloggers. Then I focused on Twitter, including figuring out best practices and steadily growing my follower numbers. Over the last few months I’ve focused on LinkedIn, including reaching 500 connections and getting 10-plus recommendations.
My pattern is to set a certain goal for a type of social media, a goal that I think is the minimum for viable interaction for that platform.
Next? Perhaps Google+.
I think that’s a great strategy, John. From the beginning, my focus was LinkedIn. I’ve never fully explored all Twitter has to offer and have just started on Google+. That will probably be my next focus.
Thanks for sharing your strategy, John.
Hehe, this is quite timely since I’ve struggled with project deadlines this week and have been mostly absent from social networking, except for a few pre-loaded tweets and blog posts! I’m currently revamping my strategy to be mildly but consistently present as much as possible. It’s an amazing time-suck, because I really enjoy it! I like the preloading of tweets, that’s a good way of keeping your hand in. But you’re right about social media – like it or hate it, it’s the way to go, there’s no denying it.
Hi, Nicky-I’ll try to catch you while you’re on social media 🙂 I always start out well in time management and somehow the Hoover of social media sucks me in, too. 🙂
My platform of choice has always been Twitter. I’ve been on Facebook since it was college-kids-only, but it’s never snagged my interest like tweeting. I’m active on FB and Google+, too, though, because that’s where my people are hanging out. I have a strategy for all three platforms, even! But when my brain starts to get fried from too much social media, I default back to Twitter.
Hi Ellie: I really have not devoted the time I need to Twitter. What is it you like about Twitter that has you using it as your fallback? I have several writer buddies that agree with you.
As I said in the post, I am re-thinking my strategy for 2012 and appreciate your perspective. Thanks for stopping by!
I just completed a well-paying rush job for a client who found me on LinkedIn last Wednesday. Good chance it will lead to more work!
Congratulations, John!! I love LinkedIn and have been a fan from the beginning. Maybe it’s because the one platform that felt the most comfortable to me when I transitioned from Corporate America or because I put more of my efforts into it.
It’s all about relationship-building and I like that. Thanks for sharing your story, John.