Small Businesses are often overwhelmed. They can also be pretty hit or miss on what they are doing in with their advertising and marketing. They WANT to do the right thing, but they often have so many right things to handle that they just keep putting off Social Media.
The solution is easy: 15 Minutes + 15 Minutes Social Media Experiment will put you in the right place in your Social Media Campaigns. You won't be the life of the Twitter party, but you won' t be absent either! Let's break this down:
- Day 1: Searching for relevant terms in Twitter and responding to Tweets + Scheduling Tweets for the next 2 Days + writing a 15 minute blog post and posting
- Day 2: Posting a photo on Facebook, Scheduling 2 days of posts on Facebook, responding to comments + writing 15 minute blog post and posting
- Day 3: Pinning your blog post pictures to Pinterest, liking relevant items for your Pinterest boards + writing 15 minute blog post and posting
- Day 4: Responding to any Tweets, scheduling Tweets + writing 15 minute blog post and posting
- Day 5: Writing 2 blog posts and scheduling one for the weekend, responding to any blog comments
- Day 6: Get lost down the rabbit hole of Twitter or Facebook and like, share and explore for the whole 30 minutes
- Day 7: Take a Social Media Sabbatical - even you need to take some time off
I am serious about the 15 minutes. Set a timer and go. Don't go farther on posting, searching, liking. Stop and switch to blogging or do that in another 15 minute block later in the day. 30 minutes of concerted effort is a million times better than doing nothing, or doing big spurts of something which is what I see social media doing right now.
Small businesses usually don't have the benefit of hiring someone to just handle their social media. They are usually figuring it out themselves. If they do have someone handling it, I suggest that person is responsible for developing bigger followings, spending more time on Pinterest, hosting Tweet Chats, and managing advertising on Facebook, Twitter and possibly even Google Adwords. You, the owner still need to have a presence on Social Media - you are the voice of your enterprise and leaving it all up to a paid person isn't the same thing. People LOVE talking to the owner! That is what makes a Mom & Pop so attractive compared to a Big Box Store!
Rules of the Road: Get a timer, use it, commit to trying this for one week, write down the number of likes you have a the beginning of the 15 + 15 Social Media Experiment, after a week see where you are at, and decide if committing to 30 minute blocks will improve your presence online.