Ok, let’s cut to the chase, If you could have a Free 10-minute appointment today with someone who could transform the results you get from your social media would you take that meeting?
Of course you would. Well the good news is, you don’t even need to travel! Take a walk to your closest mirror and take a good look.
Yes, it’s You! Not Snowflake Media, some brand agency or guru. You have the power and knowledge to transform your own business and get it off the ground in less than 10 minutes per day.
Now I realise as an agency I should be telling you how difficult it is, how long it takes and yes it’s true. You should be spending more than 10 minutes a day, but right here, right now, you need to see some proof that it can work. Then when you are ready, Snowflake Media or some other Social Media agency can spend hours each day as long as it’s financially viable for you both!
I’ve been where you are now. I’ve started businesses in the UK, USA, Switzerland & Australia, most from scratch and not a single customer. We have some small niche sites that have a few thousand engaged fans, up to 100,000+ across Twitter, Facebook & Pinterest. We’ve had to make our money by providing value that resulted in sales and profit, not brand awareness and goodwill.
I’ve spent thousands on guru’s training, advertising and technology, so we know what it takes to make an impact.
OK, here’s 5 things you can do this week that all take less than 10 minutes. Some are basic and you may already be doing them.
1 – Go and like 15 Facebook pages that have non-competing but relevant news and stories you and your potential customers would find interesting. Use the search function. What this does now is provide you with a “news feed” each day so you’ll never run out of things to talk about and it reduces the time it takes to write updates. If you are a Twitter user go and follow 30 relevant accounts Use the “People you might like to follow” recommendations or search facility. This again gives you a newsfeed. (Make sure you like them after you have switched to using Facebook as your business, otherwise it will show as a personal like, not a business one)
2 – Put people you Follow on Twitter in to lists. You can either do this directly in Twitter or you can use services such as Tweepi , Hootsuite or ManageFlitter. Especially when you have a large amount of people you are following, segmenting people out in to categories such as Regulatory, Social Media, friends, Guru’s, Natural health, etc can make life a lot easier. As a business be sure to set those lists to private. You can watch this short video on how to segment lists on twitter to speed up the learning curve.
3 – Use a news aggregator service to scan what’s new We use Feedly.com Feedly, which is a free service that allows us to pull stories on a particular topic in to one easy to read place. As an agency we have social media marketing clients in diverse fields from Accounting to Sporting Goods, Retailers and Health professionals. Here is a quick guide by Feedly on getting started They also have a mobile App so it’s easy to review on the go!
4 – Comment as your business on other peoples Facebook posts. When you log in to Facebook, switch to using as your business. Then go and find some stories that you like, find interesting or actually have an opinion on. This shouldn’t be spammy. It’s not a way for you to pitch your business at this stage. It is about building genuine relationships, acknowledging good content and raises your visibility each time you post something. 2 or 3 stories comments a day should suffice.
5 – Retweet, Favourite & Comment on Twitter This is possibly the fastest way to build an audience after following relevant accounts. You should have already followed some interesting businesses and people. Now use your list function and scan what’s been said. If you just want to tip your hat, give them a favourite (it’s like a digital High 5, if that’s your thing). If you love it, tell them and share it via a RT. Look for people who have been mentioned in interesting tweets and check out their profile. Do they look good? If so, be sure to follow them and say hi.
Bonus tip 6 on how to manage Social Media in under 10 minutes. Plan, Plan, Plan
Take 10 minutes, once per week and set yourself a schedule of:
– Which activities you are going to do,
– What days you’ll be doing them,
– What time you’ll do them
“Failing to Plan, is Planning to Fail”
Now you have a planner and a set time so that when you sit down you are not spending the first 3 minutes thinking what to write about or do!
Hope you like these 6 tips on getting more done in less time. It forms part of our new course which will be launched in May 2014 which will help small business owners get the most out of social media without spending hours wasting their time.
Until next time, have a wonderful week and be sure to comment here and on Facebook about how these tips are working for you? I’d love to hear from you.
Written by:
Lee Kenny
CEO: Snowflake Media
The 10 Minute Makeover! Social Media Marketing for small businesses