Even though many small to medium size businesses are realizing the power of social media and how it can be used to create awareness for their products and services, how are you going to integrate social media into your busy day?
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If you have a small business or working solo, it may feel at times that you are physically working around the clock with your busy schedule to get things done. How on earth and when are you supposed to update your social media profiles, post a new blog post or tweet?
Creating a social media marketing plan and integrating it into your busy schedule so that it becomes routine could be tricky to many, but it is really fun and exciting because it is a lifestyle change. Don’t look at social media as a series of tasks that you have to complete everyday, but how you can incorporate it into your way of thinking.
Here’s a couple of tips that can help you get started with this.
Morning schedule
Do you start your day with reading the newspaper at breakfast? Try incorporating tweeting into that routine. Instead of reading all the latest newspaper headlines, read your RSS reader, twitter stream or a list you are following on Twitter to find interesting articles that you can share with your network.
If you still want to read the newspaper in the mornings, did you know that most of these print publications can be found online and you can share it with your network? In addition to your breakfast, take a few seconds to post a tweet in the morning and you can also do this when you have a morning or afternoon break.
Changing your lifestyle
Instead of walking through your busy schedule everyday not seeing what goes on around you, try to look at the world from a different perspective. Examine everything you see offline and online such as advertisements, news, images, and even the conversations that you have with the people you deal with on a daily basis. You can use this information as content for your blog posts and social media updates.
This doesn’t mean that you have to constantly be online every second, it simply means looking and thinking how you can integrate social media in your daily life.
Blogging
In my opinion, blogging is one of the most important factors for any business on getting found online. Your blog can be the heart and soul of your social media marketing campaign. It can increase your organic SEO rankings, display transparency, increase your brand awareness, increase your credibility, and inform the audience you are trying to reach so that they know who you are.
Blogging can really be time-consuming. I know because I have been doing it for seven years. If you find it difficult to blog on a daily basis, make notes of your everyday schedule and save your blogging agenda for over the weekend when you are more open. Most blogging platforms such as WordPress will allow you to schedule blog posts at a later time.
Pace yourself
When you first start with social media marketing and how you are going to integrate it into your schedule, it really works to take small baby steps and spread your updates throughout the day. At first, it will take some time to integrated this new way of thinking into your business, but after a while you won’t believe how your business managed without social media.
Mobile
Being mobile is an absolute must with social media marketing. Whether you have a tablet, notebook or smartphone, being mobile can help you integrate social media into your busy lifestyle. Whether you are waiting in line at the post office, taking a 5 minute break, being mobile will help you stay connected, with the ability to update your social media status in a couple of seconds.
When you take the plunge of integrating social media with your business to support your overall digital marketing initiatives, it is crucial to be consistent if you want to engage with the audience you are trying to reach and to increase your online reputation. By integrating social media into your everyday schedule, it will prevent you from spreading your reach too thin. Take short breaks during your day to post a new update, tweet, commenting or leave your blogging schedule for over the weekend.
Image:Starlit Beaches via Flickr.
