5 Simple Ways to Prevent Social Media Activities from Turning into a Time Trap!

Since our recent blog post, The 10 Commandments of Social Media, many people have expressed opinions about the amount of time they spend interacting on social media websites and the lack of visible results from their efforts. There are many misconceptions about social media. One thing is for sure: there are definitely benefits to using social media campaigns and the results are easily measurable.

Those who disagree simply lack a true understanding of how social media works. In other words, it is more than possible to grow your business using our techniques. However, if you are spending too much time, with too little results, you need to rethink your strategy. Most of the people blindly start on the internet without having a limited marketing approach or a proper marketing plan. Here are some surefire ways to avoid getting sucked into the dreaded social media time traps:

1. Only reach out to people in your target market. It can be easy to get distracted and reach out to all of your social media followers (the person selling bikes, the relationship blogger, etc.). However, just as you would carefully target a radio or billboard campaign (by analyzing demographics), you can use a similar targeting technique on social media. Do this by posting information that is relevant only to your target market. The other markets can simply be ignored. For example, when promoting on Twitter, try using apps like twellow.com to locate followers in your target market and Tweetdeck.com to manage them. You can also test to make sure you have the right Twitter followers using twittersheep.com. Now, I’m not advocating pushing your sales pitch to your target market, any more than I would if I attended a local networking event. Use an informative approach. Show your target market who you are (your brand) by posting useful and interesting information about yourself, your business and your industry.
2. Create a communication funnel. Most people get frustrated with social media because they see it as a never-ending process. With no end in sight, it can be difficult to anticipate a return on your time invested. The best way to track the ROI of your social media is to link all of your communications to a website or blog. Never provide all your information or advice directly on the social media platform. Update your profile status with a short summary, then link the summary to your website or blog.
3. Put your social media tasks on autopilot. There are several third party applications that will allow you to implement your social media activities automatically and in advance. Just do a Google search to locate hundreds of them. For example, Hootsuite is great for posting to multiple websites at once, like Twitter, Facebook, and more. The app allows you to update your status once and then automatically post it to a host of other social media websites. Or maybe you would like to plan and implement your strategy for the entire week or month. That’s easy too! TweetLater.com allows you to do just that. By using TweelLater.com, you can schedule multiple posts to go live on a specific date and time.
4. Never try to “trick” your followers into doing something. Do not provide misleading titles or images. They won’t appreciate it and ultimately you will have wasted valuable time in the process. People who feel tricked into going to your website or blog will never come back and will most likely remove you from their network. More importantly, they will never trust you enough to do business with your company.
5. Provide valuable information! There are some who will say, “Provide content, content, content.” I am not a believer in that advice. Content minus value equals junk. It’s a waste of time. Most of the social networking websites are indexed by Google these days. So, update quality content that your target market can search for on the internet, well beyond the social media websites you posted on.

The obvious is unavoidable. Social media can open up new revenue streams in global markets and increase brand recognition, when implemented correctly. More and more businesses are eager to spend millions on internet advertising because there is undeniable and measurable evidence that social media WORKS!