Is time management an issue for you? In a recent blog post on social media and ROI, Candace Davenport of Our Little Books asked some fabulous questions: “Is there a point where it is better to use someone like a VA to do your SM stuff (not exclusively of course, but the main postings that don’t actually require direct connection) and do you use someone like Jan to do so? It would seem, if people start having numerous pages that at a point, either SM takes over or the quality goes down. Maybe future blog posts?”
I absolutely believe that there are ways to manage your time effectively when using social media as a marketing tool! And, there is one place that I believe you cannot outsource your social media! This is when it comes to actually developing the content to ensure that it represents you’re calling, your values, your voice. Even when I work with larger companies like BMW Concord located in the East Bay of California they have learned, even the hard way the importance of this. Even when you have a team of people in your company willing to participate in social media marketing, consistency in the voice and message is very important and it needs to match the flavor and feel when the customer shows up! Only you can create that voice in your marketing content.
Once you have created content there are great ways to get help and support and making sure you consistently post fresh information. Fresh information is critical in social media!
1-Work to expand the current content you already have. I find with many of my clients they don’t realize they already have content that can be reused and repurposed in multiple ways for social media marketing. Have a staff person or a virtual assistant work to pull tidbits out of your blog, your newsletters, your radio shows, and places you’ve already posted so that you can reuse it in social media.
2-Write your content to different buying styles. This is one of the most powerful ways to get more bang for your buck just by taking the content and repurpose it to different buying styles. This has the potential to quadruple your content to post! This is e primary service I do for my clients, they just have to get fist draft to me (so it’s in their voice) and I work my magic!
3-Use schedulers! Yes this still requires your time to get them scheduled once your content is written but they save you the hassle of having to remember to post. Go in once a week and schedule your posts for the entire week. I recommend Post Planner for Facebook and Twaitter (Twitter scheduler) or HootSuite (great for for Twitter and LinkedIn).
4-Hire people who will post and stay on top of FRESH and CONSISTENT posting! I actually have a team member do mine! (And I have team members who can do it for you! We post up to 2 accts, 3 times a day/7 days on Twitter and 2 times a day 5 days a week on Facebook for as little as $50 a month!) Then all you need to do is be YOU and engage!
Ann M. Evanston is a “Chief Breakthrough Officer” teaching other Business Warriors how to slow down, and find the most unique part of their business that makes them stand out among the crowd. She has been named one of the top marketing consultants by About.com, is a guest blogger for Showcasing Women and takes pride in moving you from “blah, blah, blah” to “BOOM, BOOM. BOOM!”
Thes are great tips to begin to manage my SoMe time differently. I still need to have a lot of help, but this is a light at the end of my particular tunnel.Maybe I should begin by findig a VA to help me pull content—somehow it is hard for me to discern what might work well now that I have a body of material from blogs and my book…
oh man your book has a lifetime of content! and then write it to the buying styles! WOWZA!
Makes my heart leap! Thx, Ann. Can’t wait to get back to SNCC training.
When I first started doing SoMe, I was overwhelmed by the idea of the amount of content I would need to generate. I love your ideas of how to manage it without it becoming overwhelming. Also, Ann, I noticed you don’t mention MarketMeSuite as a Twitter scheduler. Wondering if your opinion has changed. Thanks, as always, for your stellar insights.
Cory they are moving to an online interface and I don’t like it, hootsuites is better
Thanks, Ann. I will definitely check out hootsuites.
Thanks for your response to my questions. They have helped. It is such a balance for ROI with the use of your time- being productive vs. being busy. You can spend all day on the net (just FB and twitter!) being busy and not actually being productive. Using your suggestions not only lowers the amount of time you have to spend, but changes the busyness to productivity. And I do think that your statement: “consistency in the voice and message is very important and it needs to match the flavor and feel when the customer shows up!” is probably the most important no matter how many ways you get the word out that. Thanks again for responding!
Candace Davenport
http://www.ourlittlebooks.com ~ Little Books with a Big Message
My marketing needs to be more image related and my challenge is posting only great images. I do have many of them and I also have a lot that I have forgotten about. Going through and getting re-excited about my creations will help me post more on a regular basis. Then I have to make sure that they are available to buyers. Trying a new strategy this year and hoping for more consistent results. Thanks Ann, I will try some of these techniques to make it easier. The idea of different buying styles is a good one.
creating energy through words is just as powerful as painting or photos! Be an artist in all forms and they will see your pics when posted!
Fabulous information, and thank you for the links. I will need to check them out. I like the idea of writing to different buying styles. Time management is something I struggle with as I work my business very part time. I need to utilize schedulers to that I can maintain the spontaneity and flexibility in my schedule the rest of the week to work around my daughter and fun activities that come our way.
Great information. You have swung back to HootSuite I see. I haven’t looked into to Post Planner yet. And it looks like I need to review the facebook section. I still need to work on my buying styles.
Julieanne Case
Always from the heart!
Reconnecting you to your Original Blueprint, Your Essence, Your Joy| Healing you from the Inside Out |Reconnective Healing | The Reconnection| Reconnective Art |
http://thereconnectivehighway.com
This is great, Ann. I really like the idea #2 of writing for different buying styles – that is a whole new way to think about repurposing that I had never heard before. My biggest challenge continues to be consistency – even with schedulers – despite my ability to create content. I will definitely have to look into your service! In the interim, I use HootSuite for Facebook, too, and I’m wondering if there are advantages to using Post Planner instead?
Hootsuite honestly is a twitter tool- so when it posts to facebook, it looks like a twitter post. Facebook users HATE that! Post planner posts like facebook, mush better to post based on how the country prefers to see it!
Thanks Ann, You pointed me towards Post Planner recently. I have started to use it and it is a quantum leap from hand posting. Also on your advice I have certain core topics which I assigned to the days of the week. Looking at filling 2 – 3 posts for a pre-determined topic is a very do-able task.
Thanks for this quick, focused summary of how to spend our time marketing with social media. I love all the points you make, particularly the first: The more content we create, the more material we can repurpose. Growth becomes exponential, so your third and fourth points become crucially important: We need to use tools and help from assistants.
All great advice I can use. I’m currently working on my content, and putting it into different styles. I haven’t started using a scheduler yet, but think this will be SO useful. Have to get other things in place first… And maybe one day I’ll be able to hire help – nice to know you offer this service if I get to that point!
A very timely topic. I have two pages on FB and two twitter accounts which are being neglected as I concentrate on my blog. I need help but have also been aware of the importance of being the voice behind the content etc. However, having someone reuse what I’ve also written in my newsletters is very doable. Thanks for the scheduler links–I look forward to checking them out. My colleague and I are getting together on Friday to brainstorm this. She has time to do the posting.
Truly great to know of your posting services. Will keep that in mind. I’m ‘beyond’ needing help.
Always great information. This sounds like a great service you offer. I will have to keep it in mind as one of my business demands most my time and my other is again flaying.(not sure that is the word I wanted to use) I know I have lots of content, it’s just getting it out of my head. Maybe that Dragon program would help me get it out.
Whew, I’m glad to know I’m doing most of what you recommend, if not all of it. I actually did hire someone to post my own written tidbits to the end of the year and now I’m doing it myself again and I hate it! I’m meeting with someone tomorrow to see if she will work for me and that is the first job I’m going to give her!
Susan Berland
A Picture’s Worth
http://susan-berland.com
Great post Ann – totally agree that it needs to be your voice and love your ideas for scheduling. I’ll have to check into that! What do you require from clients in order to use your assistants?
Brandy 🙂
Brandy for posting we really need content- I recommend a excel spreadsheet with videos and blog content we can use, then a word doc with prewritten content that can be posted to facebook or twitter.
I just said a similar thing to a potential client the other day! They said they were contemplating hiring someone to “DO” their social media and had begun the process. I said that is fine . as long as they create their OWN content in their own voice first. Hiring button pushers/doers is delegating. But you can’t take a shortcut on the content; you have to do the work and create it yourself so it is in alignment with your brand! Thanks ANN for these great ways that she can reduce her load once she does the important work herself! I’ll be sharing this great post with her;)
Yvonne Elm Hall
http://www.yvonneelmhall.com
As Ann’s assistant I can attest to the fact that Jan does not do this, lol. I can also say I have told potential customers that hiring someone to post tweets they have personally made is a lot different than hiring someone to pretend to BE them. You HAVE to use YOUR real voice to make your social media connections and interactions. I ONLY post tweets that the client has written him or herself and can schedule those for them but do not EVER write their tweets and pretend to BE them. 🙂
Right you don’t but I do have a team member that does, I pay her to do it 🙂 And I write all my content!