Overcoming Social Media Procrastination
Over the past week, I've posted a lot about consistency and creating an effective social media strategy. It is at this point that people seem to start getting overwhelmed and believe that social media is out of their reach. It really isn't It is about knowing how to network effectively and building relationships and top of mind awareness with your customers - not the number of minutes a day that you are on social networks nor the number of social networks you belong to.
A consistent five minutes a day liking, sharing and making comments on posts is much more likely to build relationships than all the scholarly white papers in the world. Still, many business owners miss out on many opportunities because they are sporadic social media users - or they get fed up and stop building relationships all together
Whether you have an on and off relationship with social media or you've given up all together - really we are talking about procrastination. And yes, even if you are too busy to breathe - a tiny bit of time each day will do wonders for your business.
Here are the most common causes of social media procrastination:
Whatever the cause, you need to tackle that issue right now. (Remember, we're not talking becoming a social media guru here: We're only talking about a few minutes a day with two or more of the "Big Four" networks.
Think about it - if you owned a restaurant - would you just put up a website and expect people to find you? No, you would be out meeting people and drumming up business.
We all know that your best business leads often come from word-of-mouth recommendations - and the fact that people "know" you. If they've met you helping out at a school fundraiser they're able to put a face to your name, when they discover it while looking for social media consultants or business coaches. People want to get to know you- and that's even more true on social networks.
So ignoring them is akin to sitting at home, never, ever volunteering, taking a booth at a craft fair, offering to give a talk to your local Chamber of Commerce, attending networking breakfasts, carrying your business cards around with you or whipping out your elevator speech. Doesn't make sense, does it? Perhaps on a after school special or in a fantasy novel large clients might drop out of the sky… but that's not real life.
Networking via social networks eliminates hours and hours of time needed to run all over town meeting people (not that networking in person is a bad thing either).
Here is a quick social media baby step for those of you who have no time at all to spend:
Spend 5 minutes a day commenting on posts your like or sharing content you find on blogs by tweeting or liking it. (If you are looking for some great content to share search for #blogboost in Twitter and read what members of the Ultimate Blog Challenge are writing. Make it the same time every day and do it for three months in a row. NASA experiments show that the human brain will actually create a neural pathway for the new behavior… but it takes a good couple of months for these pathways not to "grow back" if you don't walk there every day.
How do you stay consistent in your social media efforts?
Once you've created the habit you'll have plenty of time to refine your social networking skills.
But start today!
This article was written by Michele Scism. To get more great advice from Diva Toolbox Media Diva Michele Scism, visit her website at: http://DecisiveMinds.com
