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Posts Tagged ‘Managing Time Social Media’

Social Media is Sexy

By “sexy” I mean alluring and enticing. And Social Media is just that for marketers.

It’s immediately accessible.
It can give you instant feedback.
It enables you to touch your customers individually.
Public usage is growing like wildfire.
It’s fun!

In the past year I have attended countless workshops, seminars, and programs to educate myself on how I can help my clients use Social Media effectively to reach their goals. I have set-up profiles and pages, developed campaigns, and coached my clients on blogging, using Facebook Fan Pages, LinkedIn and Twitter. And we are seeing good results (even my dentist is getting new patients from his Social Media effort!).

But…last week one of my clients told me that he was encouraged by a friend in marketing to discontinue his Paid ads on the Search Engines (which have been responsible for a huge increase in his revenues) in favor of Social Media marketing. Hang on a minute there!

Paid Search is still the only guaranteed way for many types of businesses to be in front of their target market on Search Engines. Yes, Social Media can increase your company’s Internet footprint, but it can’t substitute for Paid Search for:

Having control over where your message appears.
Having control over when your message appears.
Being where your competitors are (remember, your brand can be used as a search term).
Reaching the most targeted ready-to-buy customers.

Social Media IS sexy. So, my advice is: incorporate Social Media into your marketing plans, but take a deep breath and think about what’s working now before you throw away the baby with the bathwater.

Your thoughts?

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Tags: Internet Marketing, Managing Time Social Media, Paid Search

Posted in Internet Marketing, Marketing, Paid Search, Social Media | 1 Comment »

December 14th, 2009

Managing your Social Media Time: Six Hours per Week

Lately I have been speaking to groups of entrepreneurs about Social Media. Once I finish explaining the benefits of using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging, I take questions. In every case, my audiences’ biggest concern is that Social Media will become a huge “time drain” for them. And, I can totally understand their worry.

However, an article published today in MediaPost, states “81% of all marketers indicate that their social media efforts have generated exposure for their businesses. At least two in three participants found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours a week invested in social media marketing.”

So, if you devote as little as 6 hours a week to Social Media, your business will benefit. If I were to limit myself to 6 hours a week, I think I would do it this way:

Blog for 2 hours: write one blog post per week and make sure your blog is set-up so that your posts are will appear on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Twitter for 2 hours: choose the people who interest you the most, and see what they are talking about (I get cell updates from the people I want to learn from the most, and there are only about ten of those). Read what they are talking about only when it relates to your business. If there is an article or blog that they particularly like, bookmark it to go back to later, read on your handheld, or print it out to read when you can (it’s OK to skim).
Explore for 1 1/2 hours: give yourself some time to just float around, discover new sites, find new people to follow, etc.
Update for 1/2 hour: check your profiles to make sure they are up to date.

6 hours is hardly a “time drain” and can have an impact on your business.

Need help getting started? Be Visible Associates now offers “Instant Social Media Packages” where we set up all your profiles, integrate them, and train you on how to use them.

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