One of the top questions I hear from clients is "How do keep up with the social media interaction and posts?" Many people find that once you log onto the social sites the next thing you know you look at the clock and it's been over an hour! I have a quick easy sample schedule that you can use to make something that works for you and your business.

Daily (15 minutes)
Update your status
Check for RT (retweets) and @ replies (where people have mentioned you directly)
Review and comment on your connections updates
Review DM (Direct Messages) I recommend keeping your direct inbox clean, delete messages that do not need to be kept for furture reference.
Schedule a few updates to go out while you are away from your desk. For example, share a blog post, mention something about your services and link back to the appropriate page on your website, etc.

Weekly (30 minutes)
Research and invite new connections - set a goal for how many new connections would like to have each week
Answer or ask 2-3 questions per week
Post pertinent events

Monthly (1 hour)
Review connections, unfollow spammers and inactivies
Update profile when/as neccessary

So there is a simple Twitter schedule to get you strated :)

What would you add to this schedule?

This is a very debated question.  And depending on whom you talk to you will may get different answers.

But when you break it down…your friends and family are probably not interested in your business and your business contacts and probably not interested in your personal life.  That being said, yes it is recommended to have more than one account.

Your personal account should be just that personal.  You can use your own name, or a any name you would like your friends to call you.  Here is where you can talk about parties, friends, vacations, or everyday events.  This can be a place to vent or share news.

JUST REMEMBER… it is very hard for social sites to be set up with a security level that can completely protect your privacy.  The whole idea of these sites is that they are “social”.  That being said don’t ever tweet anything you don’t want everyone to see.  NEVER assume only your followers for someone you direct message will read it.

Now people who follow your business account expect you to talk about business.  Yes, you need to make it personal but not about you, personal about the business.  You also need to talk about what you do, share information about your industry and  start conversations.

PLEASE don’t sell, sell, sell on your twitter account. The more you spam the more you’ll loose followers. Few tips, be honest, link back to your website, post about your industry – find videos from other people, find articles leaders in your industry wrote etc.  TWEET  them.  Be a place where people want to go and read and re-tweet.

I’ll be honest it not easy having more than one account but I use Hootsuite.com and it really helps.  You should check it out

I enjoy comments.  Since this is a debated topic, let me know what your answer would be!

Have a GREAT Day
Lynne

 

Like most people I suffer form Allergies.  It’s seems the older I get the more sensitive I become.  I’m now one of those “Sense Free” allergy people.  Trust me… I don’t like it.  I have a hard time walking down the laundry soap isle at the grocery store.  The smell from all the candles, dryer sheets, laundry soap etc is way too much for me.

Back to connecting on twitter.  This week my allergies got too much for me.  So I posted.

I did get a few responses but the response from @DLawrenceBID sparked a small but very effective chain.

It’s this type of communication on Twitter that can increase your sales.

@AeriusCanada has a twitter account and they are using it to build loyalty and customers.  Their quick response got me to sign up for their community email, where they received my contact information, and information about my sinus issues and got me to try their product.

That is the power of Twitter.

Whether you like it or not, people will talk about you.  It’s better to be in the conversation then finding out about it second hand.

Reality is, this could have been a totally different conversation.  We could have easily said how much we hate Aerius.  Then @AeriusCanada would have had a great opportunity to address that and maybe turn us around on their product.

This was great customer service.

Now how did @AeriusCanada find me.  Easily.  In Tweet deck you can post a column about any word you like, such as Aerius, or you can use Twitter Alerts.  There are a few programs that are effective, just Google Twitter Alerts.  You can also use Google Alerts for Blogs, articles etc.  These are but a few examples you can use to track your business in social media. 

One of the major questions that she addressed in her presentation was, "If my best leads and potential customers aren't on Twitter, why on earth should I be on Twitter?" Laura has concisely determined five "off-platform benefits" of Twitter, even if you aren't using it to communicate with leads and customers directly.