One question I get in class all the time is, “how long do you spend a week on your social marketing?”
That tells me that they still have a block to the concept of social capital making a real difference in their business. I have found that they need to say “Yes!” and as the saying goes, the teacher arrives when the student is ready.
I tell my coaching clients that they need a Social Networking Plan. Of course a blog adds quite a bit of time to that schedule but if blog posts are done consistently with relevant content the return is phenomenal.
I even tell some to spend 15 minutes every morning to post on your social networks and again in the evening. Of course those of who have success will start preplanning our posts, just like we do with our blog posts.
Some software allows you to plan your posts and schedule them, like seesmic desktop, ping.fm and others.
Engage and influence:
Whatever you decide your schedule to be, you need to engage and influence often without authority. Your sphere and clients and customer need insights NOT information.
1. Identify key relevant topics
2. Be a source of internal and external insights
3. Engage with unique value add whenever your post
4. Deliver an exceptional experience when they finally work with you
5. Influence best practices for future success
