How many times have you started your day feeling a little discombobulated?  Out of sorts or otherwise, a hot mess?

Maybe your alarm didn’t go off, you’re missing a sock, can’t find your keys or worse, your coffee pot died! Oh yes it did. It’s not even a Monday! This is a horror and seems to set the tone for the rest of the day.

You throw up your hands and opt for the bedhead look. If you’re like me, you might even have a little crazed Medusa look going on. No, I’m not doing an HOA or SKYPE video call with you.

HOWEVER, you cannot bring this uncoiffed mentality into your social media marketing world. Oh it is so tempting to just jump on board and start posting, commenting and singing your song.  Who cares about the different platforms, best times to post, what to share, syndication sites, building relationships and the whole ménage of social etiquette, tips, tools and suggestions? Right?

A little chaos and messy hair feels good.

Close your eyes for me. Just for a second. Now shake your head from side to side. Flip your hair up and down. Run your hands through it. Yeah, you men too. Okay, gradually open your eyes. Doesn’t it just feel a little freeing to let go?

Okay, you’re done. Come back down in your chair and focus!

If you’re like most small business owners, you think social media is just something you do versus a marketing tool that you MAKE time for. Remember, the majority of your customers and prospects are online and consuming information every day. If you aren’t online and making time for social media, you can rest assured that your competition is.

I will tell you this: YOU do NEED a social media strategy; a plan of attack. Nothing is accomplished by haphazardly flitting around tapping a few keys here and there.  This goes beyond just the SMM goals for your company. You need more than that.

Focus on strategy, not tips and tools. It begins with your audience, their objectives, who are you connecting with and what they need from you. Pam Moore, CEO of Marketing Nutz

You should outline a daily plan for each of your social profiles, including goals for each one.

A daily routine will help to keep you focused and productive, otherwise, you will be spinning the hamster wheel of frustration. It is already so difficult to keep up with everything, figure out social media AND operate your business. Who has time for all of this??

Social media can be a tremendous time suck. Many business owners spend 12-20+ hours a week maintaining their online presence. Do you really have this kind of time? Can you afford to step away from the core of your business to search, write, edit, post, comment, share and otherwise be seen, be heard and engage?

Again, your routine and time management will keep you from wasting needless unplanned hours. Everything has a road map or a blueprint. Create one and stick to it.

Simply posting or tweeting a random thought without a strategy behind it is a recipe for disaster, and a complete waste of time. Rebekah Radice

Let’s assume (and I do hate this word):

1. You have defined your SMM goals? Yearly? Monthly? Weekly? Daily?
2. The tactics you will use to achieve them
3. Understand your audience, their needs and their most used platforms
4. You maintain a content or editorial calendar
5. You search and curate content to meet the needs and questions of your audience
6. You write weekly rich and valuable blog posts

One through six are the bare naked basics, part of your standard workflow.

Your daily schedule can make you or break you. If you find yourself with a knotted nappy head then you should probably revisit what you do every day and how deeply you sometimes get dragged into the abyss. You should be using time tracking tools or those that limit your website use, but that is a whole other post. Simply put, discipline yourself.

Ready. Set. Go.

• Outline your SMM platforms, include the URLs and logins
• Include the dates/times you will post on each.
• Type of post (examples): URL, quote, image, reshare, educational
• Create lists and groups in each channel of thought leaders, colleagues, friends or other important people in your network that you follow, engage with or want to share their content
• Gather a list of the RSS feeds of industry blogs or those VIPs above enabling you to read, share and discuss their content
• Curate information from the above as well as content that mirrors/supports your company products and services, buyer’s needs, drivers and pain points
• Search industry keywords and trending topics on sites like Triberr, scoop.it, buzzsumo, tagboard, Twitter search, topsy, paper.li,  or pragmatic.com
• Find and implement time saving tools to curate and schedule content
• Automate: schedule some of your daily content
• Retweet, share and comment on posts
• Create relationships: engage in meaningful conversations (NEVER automate the personal touch. NEVER)
• Create relationships: yes I repeated myself because this is worth repeating. Don’t just shout out some content and run away. That isn’t social. Not by any means. If you want to see and feel a return then be personable not a conveyor belt of URLs.
• Follow your routine. Set aside time each and every day to accomplish these social media tasks, at a minimum.  Even jump on at least twice a day to manage your digital space. Schedule this time on your calendar like you would any other appointment
• Most importantly: Shake hands. Smile. BE HUMAN. While cliche, be social, don’t do social if you hope to see any type of payoff.

Remember social media isn’t an overnight million dollar sensation. It’s almost a lifestyle. An investment. It takes time, nurturing, honest engagement, understanding and a hell of a lot of patience.

You’ve got this and with a little help from a few tools and perhaps a virtual assistant (Ace), you can manage a successful social media plan AND operate your business.

If you’re tired of doing it all or not having enough time in the day to do much of anything, let alone pour a fresh cup of coffee, simply click on the Contact Us button and we can talk.

Come on… it’s easy. You deserve a little sanity. A little hair product for a more coiffed look. We’re here to help YOU.