Three Tips to Manage Your Social Media

Have you had this conversation?

During a coaching session with one of my clients, we did this little social media dance:

Client: Can you teach me about Google+? I read this article and they said I needed to be on there to grow my small business.

Me: Who is this ‘they’ you’re talking about? And why did they say NEED?

Client: It was a post I read in one of the blogs I follow from {undisclosed blogger name}. Well, maybe the blogger didn’t say the word NEED but that’s the way I read it. The post made me think that I need to be on there.

Me: I see. So you want me to teach you to add one more thing to your already packed schedule? We’re still working on growing your Facebook fan page and just today, we set up your account on Twitter. Does this They person understand your business? Or how you lose at least 3 hours of work every week to take your daughter to tennis practice?

Client: Guess not. It just sounded like Google+ was the next big thing for small businesses and I better get on there before I lose business or securing my name or there was something else she said.

Me: You really don’t know why you should add this to your social media mix, right? {client nods} Let’s table Google+ until we get everything else working and then we’ll see how right THEY were and if you should be on that network.

Did my coaching conversation sound familiar? Have you had this exchange with someone or worse – by yourself? I wish that social media marketing folks would stop telling small business owners that they NEED to be active on every social program.

I can’t tell you how many people show up to my workshops with what I call Social Fears. They’re afraid that they need to set up six different profiles in six different social networks adding at least six more hours of managing their marketing every day.

Here is my simple solution to Social Fear: Give yourself permission to say No.

Make the most of your social time

How do you make sure that you’re able to effectively manage your social media time online? Handling your social media marketing is really no different than working on any other area of your business.

Try out these tips to help you stay on track with your social presence:

1. Your Social MIT

For most of us, the first thing we work on is our MIT – your most important tasks that need to be done that day. It could be completing a client project, preparing for and attending a meeting or scheduling in your Facebook fan page posts. We all have a list of what we want to accomplish that day.

I’d like you to think about creating a list of your social media MITs. At the top of this list should be the social program that gives your business the most return for your time.

This is the program that brings the most traffic to your website, shares the most of your content and most likely, makes the most sales or conversions for your products.

Think of this idea like the 80/20 rule in sales: 20% of your customer base drives 80% of your revenues and commissions.

When you write out your social media MITs for the week, plan to spend most of your time developing opportunities to engage with that 20% loyal fan base that delivers most of your traffic and hopefully, revenue for your business.

2. Make your social media to-do list

I’m a big fan of lists. It keeps me on task and I admit, I get a little feeling of pleasure from seeing all those things crossed off.

Now I want you to take that list of social media MITs and create a tracking sheet. You can use an excel spread sheet or a pretty printable you found on Pinterest. Just find something that works for you that you feel comfortable using.

I made mine as simple as possible. I pulled up a word document and added in a basic table. In the first column, I listed all my social media MITs and then made eight empty boxes to the right of each MIT. Each box has enough room for me write notes in them.

I pull out my tracking sheet when I’m working on my social media MIT for that day and I write down what tasks I did with the date. My notes may look like this: created 2 images for Pinterest to promote my workbook on 1/15 or scheduled three different blog links for Twitter in Hootsuite on 1/24.

The more you track what you’re doing, the more likely you are to keep doing it. You become accountable to yourself until the day comes when the action turns into a habit.

And the more you do something, the more efficient you become at this behavior. Soon you’ll notice that you’re getting more done in a shorter amount of time so you can add new things on your list.

3. Just say No

I realize there are tons of articles and tips out there telling you that you have to be on this site or sign up over here to secure your business name. I know because I’ve read most of those blog posts too.

Social media is more than just setting up another profile. You have to show up regularly and participate. It only works when you work it.

Seriously – who has time to be everywhere? Your time is valuable so be realistic about what you can add to your daily to-do list.

If your day is already crazy busy and the thought off adding ONE more social media thing overwhelms you, ask yourself this: If you don’t sign up for XYZ social network, what would happen tomorrow? I’m going to bet that the sun will still come up but your stress level won’t.

Think about it like this – if you had two focused hours every day (or one day a week), what is the most effective thing that you can be working on to grow your business? Would it be creating content like writing blog posts and then sharing the links on your top social program? Or is that time better spent engaging with others, commenting on other blogs or fan pages in your industry?

Whatever your answer is, make sure that you use your time and energy for the social media MITs that bring you the highest return. I feel pretty confident in saying those high-return actions will do more for your business and they’re probably the ones you enjoy doing the most.

Photo credit: Time Lost

PS Are you struggling to understand how to be real in your social media marketing messages? Download the Strategy Builder workbook and get an easy to follow marketing strategy workbook that shows you the step-by-step process to develop successful social media campaigns.