Originally appeared on: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/qdtarchive/managing-social-networks/
August 12, 2008
How can you manage more than one social networking account?
Today, Small Biz Tech Girl and I talk about social media.
Back to managing your social networks.
I’m a firm believer in marketing yourself and your company through social networks, however, no small business owner has enough time in the day to manage even a fairly passive social networking presence. So how do you whip your social networking efforts into shape to get the most out of them?
I’ve invited the Get-It-Done Guy to share some ideas of getting a handle on your ever-growing collection of social networking sites.
So, Get-It-Done Guy–what advice do you have for our listeners about managing your social networks?
ADVICE FROM GET IT DONE GUY
At five minutes each, it would take an hour out of my day to check in with my sites. Unless I’m paid to be a Web 2.0 marketer or I have no real life whatsoever, that’s a total waste of time.
Once you’re clear on why you’re social networking, decide how much time you’ll devote to your social networking and make it a regular–and limited–part of your week. If you’re going to become a LinkedIn expert, set aside 20 minutes twice weekly to post a question. If you’re keeping up with your network to know when to call, browse the recent events feeds every other day. But only do things that get the results you want. Social networking is a prelude to actual human interaction. If you have free time, don’t spend it online. Call someone you met online and get together in person. That’s where you’ll make your real relationships. And that advice holds for all kinds of social networking, if you get my drift.
To recap: know what you want from social networking, choose your networking site and how you use it accordingly. Limit your time, and keep a single profile.
Thanks, Get-It-Done Guy.
Advice from Small-Biz Tech Girl
I’ll just add a few of my own quick and dirty tips for managing your social networks.
Sign up for all of your social networks through a designated email account. I set up my clients with a single Gmail account to handle all of their social networking correspondence. That keeps their business e-mail clear of clutter and gives them a single place to access their social networking activity.
– Use a handy cross-network posting tool. Try sites like HelloTxt at hellotxt.com or Ping.fm to send the same message across multiple sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, and MySpace. The handy tools minimize the time you spend posting but be careful not to spam.
Bottom Line: Social networks can be a very effective forms of marketing online, however, you need to manage your networks wisely so they really work for you.
You can e-mail Stever at getitdone@quickanddirtytips.com or leave voicemail at 866-WRK-LESS.
RESOURCES:
HelloTxt
Plaxo Pulse
Amazon Author Blog
Cardscan
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the Get-it-Done Guy podcast, an iTunes top-10 business podcast, from 2007 to 2020. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a degree in Computer Science from MIT.
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