originally posted at Cornett IMS Blog
To effectively use social media, you need to be engaged and have a presence with your audience on a consitant basis. How does a busy professional find time in their busy schedule to surf facebook, join the conversation on twitter or catch-up with colleagues on LinkedIN? Two words. Daily commitment.
Make a commitment to spend at least 30 minutes a day using social media. Identify your primary goals with social media whether it be self-promotion, education or conversation with your industry peers. Upon arriving at work, take 10 minutes to review recent posts and listen to the conversation that’s happening that day. Also to send new followers a personal thank you, not an automated response. After eating lunch, take 10 more minutes to scan recent tweets, retweet links that add value to your followers, or read updates from industry LinkedIn groups. At the end, take 10 more minutes to check Tweetbeep or tweetdeck to monitor your or your customers brand and how they are being discussed that day.
Admittedly, I don’t always write a blog post, or tweet up a storm every day. Some days I have more flexibility in my schedule to engage more in conversation, but I am listening every day. There are many tools available to help you monitor social media and brand monitoring. Tweetbeep, Google alerts, netvibes are only a few that help you manage your social media presence.
Finally, don’t try to learn everything there is to know about a social media at one time. Dedicate a few weeks to primarily researching how Linked IN could benefit you and your customers. The following weeks can be spent evaluating twitter and listening to the conversation there.
