Build Your Social Media Schedule For 2012

January 17, 2012

Developing a social networking schedule you can handle, must also keep you accountable. Again, the goal is consistency. Build your schedule and stick with it for an entire month. At the end of the month, stop and evaluate your efforts to determine if you are still on goal. Do you need to tweak the schedule? Do you need to get involved in more social networks or less?

Here’s a sample social media marketing schedule I provide only to stimulate discussion. Use this schedule to generate ideas that will help you create your own schedule to meet your needs and the needs of your social communities, accomplish your goals, and fit your particular business and work style.

Two times a day

• Check your Twitter feed. Reply when required and check the keywords you are listening for. Join a conversation or two.
• Check your LinkedIn profile and visit some of the Groups you are in. Engage with your LinkedIn network in some way twice a day, every day.
• Check your Facebook Page and post something of value or respond to comments.
• Check your Google Alerts for information on your competitors and mentions of your own brand.

Once A Week

• Work on Twitter and Facebook Lists to be better organized and so you are able to send targeted marketing messages when appropriate.
• Really spend some time in LinkedIn Answers and discussions in the Groups you belong to.
• Schedule tweets and status updates for the next week so you are consistently providing your connections with valuable information.
• Spend some time building relationships with other influencers.
• Keep up to date on new products and social tools that will increase your efficiency and reach.

During the Week

Monday

Schedule tweets and status updates to provide meaningful content in addition to the content you scheduled in your once a week session. This information may be more timely and less generic that the other things you scheduled.

Mondays and Wednesdays

Get involved in an industry specific conversation on Twitter.

Tuesdays

Respond to blog comments on your blog and leave a comment or two on another blog. Remember what I said about building trust and credibility!

Fridays

Check on the things you’ve been listening to. This would also be a good day to take a look at your analytics and analyze your website and blog traffic for the week.

Okay, your schedule is likely to be very different from this one. Consider your time commitments. Be sure you are leaving time for yourself to do something like exercise or read. Make the schedule something you will really do every week. Tweak the schedule along the way but remember that consistency is key.