Time and Social Media

Working with my clients to develop their social media programs, I’m noticing that there are two common questions which I receive early on in our relationships.  These are:

1. How much time should I put into my social media?
2. How long will it take until I start seeing results with my social media?

These are important questions and you should be thinking about them even before you engage a social media adviser such as myself.

Let’s discuss both of these now!

The first question, How much time should I put into my social media?, is the most critical because you control the answer but everyone’s answer will be different.

Remember what I wrote in an earlier article, an unused LinkedIn profile, no matter how well written, is the same as an obituary.  I can make you look great but if you don’t promote yourself then no amount of legerdemain on my part will draw attention to you.

There are certain determinants to answering this question:

1. How much time do you have available?  (When it’s available isn’t as important as being available to use.)
2. Do you have the ability to be disciplined about using this time?
3. Do you have the appropriate social media tools available to do this work?
4. Are your organization’s goals mapped to these social media tools?
5. Do you have a well thought out social media program that pulls all these together?
6. How important is this to you?

Once you’ve decided how much time you have available and are willing to commit it, and you know what you want to do with it then the rest is easy!  (Don’t believe me?  Call me in, I’ll show you!)

The second question, How long will it take until I start seeing results with my social media?, is generally the one that my clients ask first.  (Alright, in all fairness, I do lead them back to the first question before we start on this one.)

I’m not trying to be funny by giving a standard consultant’s answer here but, I’m going to do so anyway because it’s the right answer, “It depends.”

“Why?”, you may ask.  Well, I’ll tell you.

First, the answer to the first questions is crucial here.  The longer you take to get started and stay at it, the longer it takes to achieve your goals.

Next, since I’m usually working with small and medium sized organizations, one normally working on one social media channel at a time as we progress.  Achieving synergy here to hit targets takes time but the results will be exponential in the end.

Then, I always recommend starting with free or near-free tools which can defer achieving goals.  (Although, I’m a bit dubious about some of the results claimed for paid social media services.)

Connecting with people as you build a community takes time.  Please don’t buy lists!  (Enough said on this topic.)

Finally, organic growth seems to be slowing as social media channels favor paid services over free ones.

I’m not saying that you won’t achieve these goals.  I’m just saying that you’re going to have to work hard and invest the time to offset these factors.

A few final thoughts about this topic to help you.

The amount of time we have in our lives is a constant.  We either use it or lose it.  However, we can choose how to use it.

Once we commit time to a social media project we have to use it wisely.

We also need to measure our progress and be willing and able to make mid-course corrections as need be.

Having a social media program is critical to getting started and being able to measure your progress!

Also, never forget to reach out to either ask questions or to ask for help from someone like myself!

That’s it for now!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have.  I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

Remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me.  Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.

I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.

My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.

Stay well!