The first steps for creating a social media process for your business include:

1.  Establishing your objective for using social media,
2.  Identifying the online communities you’d like to join, and
3.  Choosing the tools you’ll use to reach them.

The next step is to commit to a system for managing your time.

Start early

If you develop time management habits during this early stage, it’ll be easier to carry those habits into later stages – when you’re fully interacting and engaging through new media. If you don’t adopt time management practices early on, you’re likely to become discouraged and quit before you realize any benefit from social media at all.

Because your time will represent a major portion of your investment in social media, a time management system will help to determine the ROI of your social media.

Get organized

During the planning stage for your social media process, you’ll analyze elements of your business strategy to help answer questions related to your products, services and purpose. All of that information should be cataloged in a simple format that can be used later when you’re implementing your social media process. The system I use is an Excel spreadsheet that contains five pages:
Community – lists of people in your existing face-to-face networks, organizations you’d like to connect with, and people in your industry or field who already have a presence in the online social space.
Conversations – key messages and the resources you currently use to get those messages out. If you already have a website, many of your key messages will probably come from that. Some of your resources might include video that you’ve uploaded, or even brochures or flyers that you’ve had printed (and could convert to .pdf or html for distribution through your digital channels).
Keywords – Every business can be described by a distinct set of key words. They are used to describe the people who use your services and products. People find your website by typing keywords into search engines. List those and refer to them often. They will provide direction on countless levels as you develop your online presence.
Comparisons – People and entities that may not fit into your community, but who are using social media and digital communication in ways that might work well for your own business. It’s a place to come for inspiration and ideas.
Daily Checklist – Critical to managing your time. Before creating it, know how much time you can afford to spend each day or week maintaining and growing the social networks that will support your business. Here is an example of some of the tasks that might be included on this list. Start with just a few, and add more as you hone your skills and become more efficient using the tools.

Be patient

Transitioning to the use of social media for business purposes is not the slam-dunk that most of us were cajoled into thinking it was in the earlier days. It takes serious planning and effort. You’ll make mistakes and experience set-backs. Approaching social media systematically, with an organized plan, will give you a good foundation. Track what’s working and what’s not. Build on your plan as you make progress. Nurture it and let it be your guide to online success.

Photo by Juggling Frogs

The question about the ROI (return on investment) of Social Media comes up all the time; the answers are numerous, varied and often vague.  An approach discussed recently among my Social Marketing for Businesses MeetUp group suggested that before calculating the R (return), it makes good sense to analyze the I (investment).

Anyone with any experience using social media, knows that your investment is not hard dollars. In fact, many social media tools are virtually free.  Your investment, however,  is time; and your time is valuable.  Therefore, managing the time spent on social media is critical in the ROI equation.

Social Media in 20 Minutes a Day

Start out by committing to a set amount of time each day or week that you can realistically afford to spend on social media.  Then, create a checklist of the tasks you need to accomplish within that set amount of time.  Here is an example – Social Media in 20 Minutes a Day.  You might be willing to invest an hour a day in social media. Or, you might decide that all you can afford is 20 minutes a week.  A checklist like this can be customized depending on your situation and your expectations for social media.

The trick to making a checklist like this work is to exercise discipline.  It’s easy to get distracted and lured into an unintended direction. (We’ve all done it!)  To help you avoid this:

1. Keep a printed copy of your checklist on your desk, in clear sight.
2. Set the timer on your phone.
3. Commit to getting through the checklist before the timer goes off.
4. Reward yourself each time you successfully complete your list.

Social Media Doesn’t Have To Be All Work

Even if you’re using social media for business, it doesn’t have to be all work.  Make it fun by rewarding yourself for accomplishing your checklist within the allotted time.  You’ll be less likely to give in to distractions if you know you’ll be rewarded  later with 15 minutes to go check out your best friend’s photos on Facebook, or go back to the YouTube video one of your college friends sent you on Twitter.

Social media is a wonderful playground.  It is, after all, SOCIAL media. So, we should allow ourselves to socialize and share with our family and friends.

While you’re working, though, and trying to manage the ROI of social media for your business, stay focused on your business objectives . . . and keep an eye on the clock!

Photo by Anna Hendy

In conversations with other social media enthusiasts I often hear it predicted that the term “social media” will eventually become just “media.” While I believe this to be true, I, for one, want to hang on to this more descriptive term, at least for the time being. Here’s the reason why:

I work with small businesses that are ready to embrace social media as a business tool. Most of them, however, are doing it because they feel they have to. That’s it. Their objective for using social media goes no deeper than that. I’m then faced with the challenge of getting them to think through their rationale. That process usually reveals the fact that they don’t really understand social media . . . in fact, most aren’t even using social media as a consumer. They simply want to jump in and start using it as a business.

Traditional methods fail in new media

The first thing most businesses want to do is use new media – emerging media – social media – as a channel to deliver traditional marketing messages that are formed using traditional marketing methods. That’s when I enter the scene and begin chanting the mantra, “It’s SOCIAL media, not SALES media.”

I can’t take full credit for that snappy little chant. Unfortunately, though, I can’t give credit to the rightful person, either. My own understanding of social media has developed over the years with the help of brilliant minds like Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li, Brian Solis, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Jay Baer. I can’t remember where I read, “It’s SOCIAL media, not SALES media” [my emphasis]; but when I did, it resonated so clearly with me that I found myself saying it in my sleep. I’m still having difficulty getting it to resonate with owners of small businesses, though; especially if they don’t have even a fundamental understanding of what social media is.

First, use social media as a consumer

Since adding social media strategy services to my consulting practice two years ago, I have revised my requirements for taking on new clients interested in using social media as a business tool. Now, before I discuss helping a business enter the social media environment, the business owner must already be using social media as a consumer. For example, they must have a personal Facebook profile, be tweeting from a personal account, and regularly view or upload YouTube videos. If they don’t have this experience, I’m happy to guide them and get them familiar with how us consumers use social media.

Social rules apply to social networks

My rationale for this approach is that social media platforms are designed for social interaction. Social rules apply. Social networks are a lot like social events, and those who arrived early have set the pace, theme and mood within their communities. Jumping in and disrupting the atmosphere with inappropriate behavior (i.e., spam, marketing messages, selfish blabber) will get you ousted.

Business owners need to see how this works. They need to respect the social network for what it is – a social setting. If they don’t, they’ll know how it feels to be a social outcast.

Photo by bonkedproducer on flickr