How much time do you spend on social media (for your business) every day? Do you wonder where the time goes and then fret that you don’t have enough time to create content or products or learn new strategies and tactics to grow your business?
The “I don’t have time” complaint has been addressed by me and others many, many, many times. And after seeing the infographic below, let’s look at it again.
Yes, social marketing takes time. All marketing, social or otherwise, takes time.
Yes, it’s about consistently marketing your business so you get the traffic, leads, gigs and opportunities to grow your business.
And, it’s vital to have a strategy so you don’t fritter away your day on social media. It’s got to work for you, not against you.
Can you really “rock social media in 30 minutes a day”?
I’m skeptical. Only 6 minutes to engage, promote and share each day on Facebook? Really? I don’t know about you, but to craft a decent status update and include a relevant image or quote and a call to action, takes me a bit more than 6 minutes and that doesn’t account for responding to comments and questions from previous posts. Or commenting on other people’s posts.
Then, there’s creating content for your blog, your primary real estate. That’s not included on the infographic, yet in my opinion that’s where you need to put the most effort and time in order to build your reputation and provide your readers and fans to easily share your message with their networks.
So what do you do?
The infographic provides a good initial road map.
- You start by identifying the social channels your clients are active on.
- Create a simple strategy for publishing long form content on your blogsite that tells your story about who you are, who you serve and how you do it.
- Identify the tactics you want to use to get your story out into the stream, in front of the right eyeballs.
- Automate where you can and schedule time that is realistic for your objectives. It may be 30 minutes a day, or it may be more.
- What tasks can you outsource and do you have the resources to do so?
My advice – that I share with my clients and students – is to [pullquote position=”right”]budget a minimum of one hour a day for your social marketing, including attention to the content on your blog[/pullquote]. That’s a total of five hours a week which is really not very much at all. By focusing on your content and getting it amplified around the Web, you’ll be able to create more paths to your virtual door and let in more connections and opportunities.
Below the infographic is a sample visibility schedule you’re welcome to download and adapt for your business.
Embedded from Pardot
Check out the sample Visibility schedule below. It’s a word document so you can modify it to fit your business and schedule.
[wpdm_file id=6]
I’d like to hear from you on the time and social marketing issue. How much time do you spend each day using social media to market your business? Do you think the suggested scheduled on the infographic is realistic?
This would be a real stretch for me. To truly engage your audience requires significantly more time than 6 minutes. Nonetheless, a good plan especially for those who don’t know where to begin.
Thanks,
Ian
30 minutes is not going to build your social media network to where it needs to go. Six minutes on twitter will get you nowhere. I’d say it’s possible with an hour a day but 1.5 to two hours a day will get you where you want to go if you have a well thought out social media plan.
Hi Denise!
Thanks for sharing this info! I am skeptical about 30 minutes a day. As an example, on Google Plus it definitely takes me more than 2 minutes just to respond to comments and Circle back those who Circled me. Posting in my stream and within communities takes a little time too. Usually I can get it done in under 30 minutes just for a single social network.
Multiply that by a few social networks and it starts adding up!
I believe we can all use our time on social networks more effectively and be laser focused in our efforts 🙂
Great infographic…gave me something to think about!
Lisa
Now a days we are living in global villages with digital era and social media playing vital role make this village more smaller and closer. Social media is an essential thing for every business to advertise so in this scenario we have to give some time on social media sites for our business relevant sharing. Your all shared points are very helpful to make our social media marketing campaign more effective and keen.
This is a great infographics. This streamlines what you can do with all you social media engagements. This will indeed save time and effort.
Thanks for sharing Denise,
Having a plan, putting together a schedule and being consistent with that every day is the real key to being effective at this. My problem is social marketing can be distracting. I have to really work at keeping my focus, even with a schedule. But I’m getting better and having a concrete plan every day helps.
Thanks, Liz 🙂
Elizabeth, there’s an app you can download or use online at http://focusboosterapp.com/ to set a timer. I find that helps keep me on track and avoid some distractions.
Thanks for the article Denise. I’m effectively spending less time on social media this week! And, still producing the same results 🙂 Not yet down to just 30 minutes, but the half hour goal is def. in sight.
Great info graphic. I will pass it along to many new hires on our sale force. We focus more on E-Commerce and tradition off line business development. Do you offer consulting services? I would like to send you to our clients who by the way do not engage the online side of the business.
Good infographic with some great tips, I think we all need to be smart with our time online and social media is no exception.
I like the idea of setting a set time and activities for social networking. I have been active in a handful on a daily basis, and pretty sure I spend a total of at least an hour across four social networking sites. I do not use automation of any kind for various reasons, so my time spent on each is being actively involved in conversation or statuses, replying to others, reading content, and dropping in my own links in appropriate places. I tend to spend only 10 to 20 minutes at a time doing those things, before actively working on whatever project needs the most attention. Most the time, the project is related to social networking anyway. I also tend to plan out my marketing ahead of time, so when I “drop links”, it’s well written and already planned for that day. Evernote is a pretty useful tool for note taking for projects and social networking.
I thought this infographic was great in so many ways! It’s easy to spend too long on social media even when you are a regular. But this plan can help you get focused and strategize your time. Thx!
I believe it takes more than 30 minutes for your social media efforts but by having a schedule and clear goals you can allot time for this and you will be successful in your endeavors.
I think you can do this if you don’t include your own blog. I don’t count blogging as part of the 30 minutes a day, since writing a good article and finding an appropriate, eye catching image definitely takes longer than that. Thanks for sharing the infographic!
Denise, so good you address this as so often we see the “magic bullet” formula that social media can be done in 15″, 30″ a day when to get it done with purpose really takes more than that, as you point out. I get questioned a lot about it and I always tell my clients and colleagues, Social Media is not a date, it’s a marriage and it comes with the good and the bad of one. 🙂
Excellent time management and so very much appreciated.
Thanks for putting SMM in a doable 1/2 hour frame!
Thanks for stopping by, Kimberly. Glad you find the infographic helpful. How much time do you currently spend on your social media marketing?
5-6 hours per day – BEFORE reading your article. Happy to say it’s been reduced by half AFTER reading. Thanks so much.
Wow, Kimberly, what specifically did you do to reduce your social media time by half? That’s terrific…congratulations!