We were busy enough before Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogging came along, and really most Local Business Owners simply don’t have the time to use all of these tools on a daily basis.

So what you do need to do is to create and maintain a social media presence in as little time as possible, but also in an effective a way as possible.

Here are my three top tips in managing your social media presence in as little as 15 minutes per day.

1: Concentrate On One Site at a Time

To really make your Social Media presence felt, yes, you will need a solid presence on Twitter and Facebook, and maybe others, but it doesn’t mean you have to do it all at once.

If you only have 15 minutes to work with, then you will need to focus on one at a time. So start with the one that interests you most and get to grips with that first.

Make sure you learn all about your chosen site and know everything you need to know to manage it effectively before you move on to the next site.

If you are already Social Media savvy:-

I recommend that you alternate between sites on a daily basis, so that you can spend your 15 minutes on Facebook one day, Twitter the next – this will probably work better than a few minutes here and there.

2: Respond to Your Friends and Followers

Many people feel the need to talk first and reply later, but really people aren’t listening to you, they want you to respond.

This is an opportunity for you to create an excellent experience for your potential customers. If you can make a difference with just one reply, then you get noticed.

Spend the most significant portion of your time responding to questions, and be an effective listener. There are lots of tools you can use to track and monitor so that you can be there to respond.

Try to spend some time getting to know your people better. Don’t differentiate between customers and prospects, you never know when prospects turn into customers.

3: Help People

Help people without expecting anything in return

Maybe someone is tweeting a question about your particular industry which you can answer, or someone in a Facebook group wants to know something about which you are an expert.

Don’t ask them to follow you and don’t link a product. Just seek out those who need help and advice and give it to them.

The goal is to get people to notice you and to talk about you.

Think of it like this – when you go to networking groups, you do not force business cards on people, do you? Well online networking should be approached in the same way – don’t force Twitter and Facebook links on people – be subtle.

So keep extending a helping hand so that they know who you are and how to find you.

With a bit of practice, you should be able to hit both Twitter and Facebook in less than 15 minutes. In 15 minutes you should be able to send out 5 to 10 tweets and reply to a dozen Facebook threads.

So don’t try to do it all and get quickly overwhelmed

Take one step at a time in your Social Media journey

The power of viral marketing

What are RSS feeds and Google alerts?

Daily tasks

Who does the work?

Tracking your progress

Monitoring the results

My final module tells you how to put it all together, the full strategy for creating a really powerful online presence and a viral marketing machine for your business.

How do I create my account?

How to create your unique branded channel

Fascinating facts about video and You Tube

What can video do for my business?

Video creation without a camera

Show your products and services in action

Use recordings of events

Introduce your staff

Create how to videos

The use of video in your marketing mix will really set you apart from your competitors, and it will definitely help in getting on that first page of Google.

Who you should link with and how

The ‘Professional’ network

The power of LinkedIn answers

How and why to join groups

This module explores LinkedIn the professional network. 

I will teach you all my secrets about this site, how to communicate, whether you should accept every invitation, how to leverage the power of LinkedIn answers

Unbelievable Face book statistics

What can Face Book actually do for my business

Is it for kids, and a complete waste of time for business?

How to create your profile to really build relationships

In the earlier module you will have created your basic Face Book account, and this module builds on that and goes into great detail on how to best use Face Book for your business.

Learn the awesome power of the correct use of the Face Book business page, how to link Face Book with your other social media sites, how to place Face Book ads, how to join groups, how to build a really powerful viral community.

Community building secrets

How to create a really great profile

Content creation tips

Twitter etiquette

How do I sell my services and products on Twitter

So what can I really do on Twitter?

Can Twitter really increase my business?

This module begins your Social Media education.

We covered in module 1 how to set up your account , and this module goes in great depth on how to create and optimise your account in a professional way.

You will learn how to build your community, how to create the very best profile, where to get your content, how to actually sell your services and products on Twitter.

You will realise that Twitter really can increase your business, and this module guides you step by step in how to automate your tweets, how to schedule your tweets, what to say and how to say it, how to shorten your links, everything you need for a successful business Twitter account.

Installing your lead capture mechanism

Automate your follow ups

Build trust in your prospects

Why you cannot be too giving

Why and how to resell to existing customers

In this module I share with you how to perform follow up marketing.

I am going to tell you how to install your lead capture mechanism on your website, and I will show you how to automate follow up emails.  You will learn how to build trust with your prospects, and why you cannot be too giving, and why you must resell to existing customers and how to do this. 

This module is very powerful.  If you have a database of customers I will teach you how to upsell, downsell, cross sell, to rapidly increase your sales quickly and easily.

If you do not have a database of customers then I will teach you how to get one.

The 7 steps to strong conversions

Essential tips for home page design

Your website toolkit

Website health check

Simple steps to improving visibility

7 reasons to redesign your website

In this module you will learn the crucial steps you should always consider when deciding on a website redesign, and exactly why you should redesign your website.

You will also learn how to compel your website visitors to give you their email address, and how to analyse and improve your existing website.

Why small businesses must have a blog to succeed today

Benefits of blogging for every business

Content creation tips

Your blog is your home base

7 essential design elements for an effective blog

How to create powerful blog post titles

How to write the perfect blog post

How to drive more traffic to your blog

Build a list of loyal followers

This module will give you so many ideas for blogging for your business and you will begin to understand the very real and awesome power of business blogging, and you will learn my secret formula for creating the perfect blog post. 

Are your current income levels really enough?

Know the lifetime value of a customer

Know your target market and why this is crucial

Differentiate or die

Perfect your ‘elevator pitch’

Competitor research

Always track your results

What’s in your sales funnel?

How to plan your social media strategy

This module helps you to establish your overall marketing strategy for your business, and everything in your business will fall into place much easier and clearer with a marketing strategy in place. 

You will learn all my secrets for a successful marketing strategy, and you will learn exactly how to advertise your business, where and when for the very best sales results.