One of the most common concerns I hear about using social media is the amount of time it takes to manage. It does take some time to get started, get your profiles set up, and begin building a following. But it doesn’t have to be a full-time job—particularly if you can limit the amount of idle time you spend on social media (easier said than done, I know!). Studies have shown that most marketers using social media spend less than an hour per day managing their networks.
Sample Social Media Activity
Here is what your week might look like when managing your social media presence.
Monday
(The busiest day of the week due to weekend catch-up and scheduling for the week)
8:15 a.m.: Log in to HootSuite and share your most recent blog post with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Next, hop on over to Facebook to check your fan page for any new messages.
8:20 a.m.: Log in to LinkedIn to view and accept connection requests and check inbox for messages.
8:25 a.m.: Check out Twitter activity on TweetDeck. Reply to any messages sent to you or find an interesting post from someone else to retweet.
11:20 a.m.: Since you have a few minutes between appointments, check TweetDeck to view messages and respond. Always look for something interesting to retweet, or send out an interesting post with some other news from your day. If you have time, take a quick look at Facebook to see what’s happening there.
1:15 p.m.: In between projects, take a quick look at TweetDeck and find something interesting to share.
3:40 p.m.: With a few minutes to spare between appointments, repeat steps from above. Check TweetDeck and Facebook for updates and find a reason to engage. Or, if you have something new to share, log in to HootSuite and send an update out to all of your networks.
5:00 p.m.: Take one last look at TweetDeck before you end your workday.
Total Time Spent: 40 minutes
Tuesday
8:00 a.m.: Take a few minutes to check out the activity in your groups. Respond to a couple of questions, ask a question, or share a link to some industry news. Check TweetDeck and Facebook for morning activity.
9:50 a.m.: You have a few minutes to spare, so check TweetDeck for updates and reply as needed. If you come across an interesting post, retweet it to your network.
1:15 p.m.: You’ve added a new blog post. Log in to HootSuite and share the title and a link (shortened with bit.ly) with your networks. Also schedule it to re-publish on Twitter several times over the coming weeks.
3:50 p.m.: Check out TweetDeck and Facebook for comments and activity from your blog post link. Reply or send a thank-you to those who shared the information via retweet or commented on your post.
5:00 p.m.: No time left in the day, so you skip it and wait until tomorrow.
Total Time Spent: 30 minutes
Does that all sound doable? Repeat as needed during the week and soon, social media will become part of your daily routine. And when you start seeing results, it might even become a part of your day that you enjoy!
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