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Hello!
It’s Q & A day where I answer your questions about social media, business and doing the work you love!
Have you ever wondered how to maximise your social media time investment?
This is a question that I’ve had in from small business owner Greg.
Greg says
“I run a small and busy business and I work hard at growing and running it and making sure my customers are happy.
My business is hooked into social media and I use it to connect with my followers, but how can i make sure I’m getting the maximum results from my time online when it feels like I haven’t got much free time.”
Thanks for your question Greg.
I know what it’s like to be a small business owner. There’s a LOT to do and even if your business isn’t social media related, it’s getting harder and harder to do business without having an online presence. It could make or break a business.
Even if you don’t have the budget to hire out a professional to run your social media channels, you still need to be there for your online connections in between doing ALL the other stuff that goes into running a business that pulls us in 10 directions at once!
Let’s look at some of the ways you can pack a punch with your allocated time and your social media strategy so you don’t get overwhelmed and suffer from social media overload!!
First of all, I’m going to presume you know why you are using the social media channels you are and you know which return the best results and make for the most satisfied customers.
Now let’s look at taking back control of your time online, because if you don’t, and as you have found out, the internet is just going to suck you right in!
Here’s what I suggest for you.
Set a 60 minute a day schedule, and stick with that.
We can’t increase the minutes in the day and we have to take control of it. Now, break that up. Say 15 mins in the morning, 15 at lunchtime, 15 in the afternoon, 15 in the evening, OR 30 mins in the morning, 15 at lunch, and 15 in the evening. Or whatever works for you, you get the idea.
What’s going to be the best use of your time schedule for your customers?
So, let’s take one of those 15 minute time slots.
For example, you can
- Send a lot of replies in 15 minutes and respond to your customers contact with you.
- Or you could write a short post on Facebook and share that.
- Why not chose 3 followers to simply interact with across your social platforms?
You don’t want to be interacting for the sake of it when you haven’t got a lot of time, but you can interact with meaning and purpose and consider what your engagement means to your customers.
What will your customers like and what are they likely to share?
If you feel a pressure to be online and interacting all the time, at the end of your 15 minute schedule, put an update like “packed afternoon ahead, getting ready for our next launch. Must get these order shipped out. Catch you this evening”‘ or something to that effect.
That way if a customer is expecting a very fast response, and people do expect a fast response (I read recently on average Facebook users expect a response from brands within 30 minutes!) your customers can read that update and know you’ll be back later and that will reassure them.
In the longer term I suggest that you set time aside, say once a month, to sit down and plan what are doing with your social media channels. Set some goals for yourself and some challenges. As your business grows more than likely so will your online audience. How are you going to prepare for that?
I’m also want to mention blogging and writing posts. I would allocate another whole hour or 90 minutes to this. No one expects you to blog everyday but you could look at a one-week-schedule.
My tip here is don’t wait until you sit in front of your computer before you decided what to write or you could be staring at a black screen for an hour. What you could do, is through the week just make a mental note of blog posts you could write and even being to write them in your head. What are words you are going to use? What is the story you are going to tell? I say this because if you have rehearsed the blog post in your mind then it’s going to be much easier to get writing once it comes round to updating your blog!
You know how disciplined you have to be when running a business and this is just about giving things a little more thought and planning so you manage social media and it doesn’t manage you!
I hope that’s given you some good answers to your questions Greg. And to everyone who is watching and reading at home I hope that’s giving you some ideas as well!
If you have have any tips for Greg, about how to manage social media channels when strapped for time, please leave them in the comments below.
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Looking for more ways to increase your productivity at work? I’ve got some more tips for you here!
If you have a question about social media, business and doing the work you love, please let me know here. Or if you would like to book a consultation with me, we can schedule in some time working out solutions for you!
See you next week for another Q & A! 🙂
