For many small business owners, the thought of running a social media campaign can be daunting. Even though we know we need to have a social media presence to stay “in the game,” we struggle with finding the time to run a successful social media campaign. Sadly, the outcome becomes us being inconsistent with our social media presence or ultimately–not doing anything at all.
Here are 5 Tips to Running Your Social Media Campaign in just 20 Minutes a Day
1. Spend 3-4 minutes reviewing your sites and examining what is working. I recommend that small business owners start with just 2-3 social sites, and manage them well before adding more. The three top sites are: Facebook ( for business), Twitter, LinkedIn. If your business benefits from a visual site, two good sites for small business are : Pinterest and Instagram. Pick one to start with.
When I say review your sites, I mean sign in to each of them, make sure your company looks good on each site. To actually see what is working, you will have to go to your insights and analytic pages. These pages tell you what type of activity has gone on with your pages– who clicked, liked, retweeted, commented and best of all–who shared your post.
If you notice that there is not much going on with your pages with certain posts–reexamine them and post the type of content that fits your audience or followers.
2. Spend at least 5-6 minutes a day posting or scheduling content. Content is the key to branding your business online. You can schedule your content by using your content calendar. A content calendar is where you will actually write in what you will be posting, tweeting, blogging, and curating ( finding) content. Once you have your content–decide where it will go. You can save your content for later use with tools such as Buffer and Hootsuite. Google them!
Let’s say you have a behind the scenes video that you took with your cell phone. You can post that video on your business Facebook Page. If you have an article that you found online with some industry tips, you might tweet that on Twitter. If you write a blog, you can post it to your LinkedIn Page. If you take a cool picture with your phone, say a few words about it–add a hashtag to it and post it to Instagram. It only takes about 5 minutes if you have prepared and planned ahead of time.
3. Spend 4 minutes responding to your followers. This is an important part of social media. If your followers liked, commented or shared your post, spend some time responding and thanking them. Spend some time engaging with them. Social media is two-way communication.
4. Spend at least 3 minutes visiting industry leader sites. You may think that looking at the pages of industry leaders is not a part of your social media plan. But, in fact, it is. When you are looking at the pages of industry leaders, you are learning and educating yourself on how to improve your own page. You are looking at what is working for them and what type of content they are sharing with their audiences. Following and learning from industry leaders will help you on your journey to branding your business effectively on social media.
5. Spend 2-3 minutes listening to what your followers are saying. Listening is a big part of your social media strategy. People want to know that they are being heard. By listening to your followers, you know what to give them or what to begin giving them. You listen through their comments, likes and shares. They are actually speaking to you and saying we like your content when they take action.
There you have it–20 minutes to focus on your social media plan. Some days, you may choose to just do Facebook, Twitter and your blog. Other days, you may work on FB, Twitter and Instagram or Pinterest. You don’t have to do everything–everyday.
Just make sure you show up, and you are present on your social media business pages and you are consistent! You will see that in just 20 minutes a day, you can build brand awareness, engage with followers, and showcase your business in many places in this vast online scope we call “the world-wide web.”
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