Social media can be a great networking, profile building and all-round great business development tool for trainers (and other professionals). One of the drawbacks to using social media is the same as networking. If you don't know why you are using it and how you will use it, to win business, it can be a huge black hole for your time. Consequently, I am often asked about how to effectively use social media, without it taking up too much time. After all, your client demands don't decrease just because you are using social media to win business.
In this blog post, I will give you some ideas about how to save time with social media.
1. Be choosy where you decide to network
As I mentioned in the introduction to this blog post, social media can be a big black hole where time is concerned. There are just so many communities where you can dip into and out of, which may eventually lead to work. Your aim is to limit yourself to (at most) 3 social networking sites - and limit yourself to a maximum of 3 groups on any one of those sites.
Ideally where you spend your time on social media needs to be part of your networking strategy, download our free guide on how to build your personal networking strategy. (email required)
2. Work to a content plan
Social media works best when it is fully integrated within your business development strategy and plans. Therefore, work to a content plan to focus your mind on what to share and when. If you struggle with what to say on social media, then read '5 ways to always have something meaningful to say on social media'.
3. Automate your content but not your conversations
Sharing tips and links to good articles, i.e. 'your content', does not always need to be done 'live'. These are things you can automate effectively with tools such as bufferapp and bulk scheduling tools such as hootsuite.
4. Integrate social media into your daily routine
What do you do when you get into the office in the morning? Check your email and voicemail? Well, add in 15 mins extra of time with social media, where you check LinkedIn, Twitter and any other sites which you use. Read this article for a 9 minute daily routine to use on LinkedIn.
5. Use lists on twitter
Twitter lists are a great way of cutting out the noise on social media. Instead of looking at your twitter timeline daily, look at the lists which contain the people you want to stay close to on twitter.
How do you save time on social media?
Heather Townsend will be appearing at the 'How to make partner' conference in London on the 24th April 2013.
