Social Media Marketing in 30 Minutes a Day

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Social media is more than just feel good PR, the numbers show that it’s good business and an increasingly important part of a larger communication strategy.

If you believe, as I do, that all marketing is ultimately word-of-mouth, then spending a few minutes a day on social media makes sense.

Yes, you say, I’m aware of that, Mr. Marketing Guy, but I have a real job and a boss and deadlines to meet. Who has the time to friend and tweet?

You do. The secret: start small and stay highly focused.

In just thirty minutes a day you can participate in the communities that want to hear from you, listen for talk about your company or product and work some social media magic.

First Things First

First, get smart. Spend a few minutes reading these thoughts on Social Media and business. Even better, spend a few days searching out and reading a dozen more.

• Jeremiah Owyang on Social Media Marketing [SlideShare]
• 5 Things You Need to Know About Social Media Marketing and PR [Page One PR]
• Can Marketing Be Conversational? [Doc Searls]
• Intel Social Media Guidelines [Intel]

Then, learn how to track the results. Contrary to the hype, Social Media marketing is not about “Return on Interest” or “Return on Influence”, in the business world it’s “Return on Investment” or die.

You need measurable results, so spend a little time learning how to track and interpret what happens with your Social Media efforts. Here are a few excellent articles to get you started.

• Defining Social Media ROI Once and For All [The BrandBuilder Blog]
• How to Measure Social Media ROI for Business [Mashable]
• Social Media ROI [SlideShare]
• Social Media ROI [Scribd]

The Strategy

The secret to Social Media in thirty minutes a day is simple: start small, limit your options, use the tools a few minutes a day. That’s it.

My suggestion is to use only three Social Media tools at a time: a blog, the current hot Social Media site (as of this writing, Twitter), and an online community specific to your industry or product (if it doesn’t exist you have an opportunity to create one).

For example, a corporation might use a company blog>twitter>online community, posting news, updates and resources on their blog and responding to talk about their products on twitter and in the online community.

A retailer or restaurant could use twitter>yelp>brightkite, sending news and coupons via twitter, responding to reviews on yelp and using brightkite to send offers to their customers’ cell phones as they pass by on the street (seriously cool).

A wine shop might try a blog>twitter>corkd, blogging about wine and posting reviews, twittering special offers, recommendations and wine news and discussing wine with fellow oenophiles on corkd.

You’ll notice the retailer/restaurant example does not have a blog. That’s OK, they’re doing what works for them, which is exactly the point.

Now grab a fresh, steaming hot cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage and let’s get started.

The Routine

Blog: 15 Minutes a Day

Your online anchor. All of your Social Media tools point here, where there is more space for fleshing out ideas and communicating. Spend 15 minutes a day posting news, special offers, product updates, tutorials and resources, maybe even what’s happening inside the company. Nothing to post? Spend your time drafting ideas. 15 minutes a day means 1 hour and 15 minutes every work week to write something great. Here are two guides to help you get started with business blogging:

• 10 Tips for Becoming a Great Corporate Blogger [Scout Blogging]
• A Guide to Corporate Blogging [ProBlogger]

Twitter: 5 Minutes a Day

The current Social Media darling is where the hyper-social hang out, but the web interface lacks the features to make it truly powerful. Consider using twitter management software like seesmic, tweetdeck or HootSuite. What to do? Set up and monitor a search for your company, reply to mentions of your product, and frequently retweet relevant ideas, giving credit and props. Reply, interact, build, engage.

If you’re new to Twitter here are several great articles on how to use it for business:

• Twitter 101 for Business [Twitter]
• 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business [Chris Brogan]
• Newbie’s Guide to Twitter [CNET]

Community: 10 Minutes a Day

There are many out there, Yelp, facebook, beebo, seesmic, jaiku, LinkedIn, MySpace, superfan, etc. The plethora of choices is a good thing, in this case, because more than likely there is an online community for your business, whatever it is. In the travel biz? Try Passportstamp. Game developer? Wakoopa. You get the idea. Here’s a big ol’ list to get you started.

More ideas on business and online communities:

• 10 Best Practices of Business Networking [About]
• Four Ways Social Networking Can Build Business [bnet]

Conclusion

This plan is a starting point, adjust the times and tools as you see fit and use the sites that make the most sense for you. You know your situation best. Measure consistently. Tweak accordingly. Repeat daily.

Remember, Social Media Marketing is about your space, not your product. It’s about how you can empower users, highlight others work and bring something of value to the community and to your customers. Business will follow. Seriously.

One more thing, many of these sites have search functions that allow you to set up and monitor keywords like your product or company. Use them. (Or as Chris Brogan puts it: Grow big ears.)

Good luck and let me know how you adapt this strategy to your situation. I’d love to hear about it in the comments or drop me and email at blog at keithmonaghan dot com.

Thanks for reading.

See also:

• Help Your Fans Spread The Love
• Study: Adults Dominate Social Media
• Is Seth Godin Wrong About Social Networking?
• You’re a Social Media Expert!