How to Start, Manage, and Grow Your Social Network Without a Huge Time Commitment

Even if you missed my recent training sessions on Smarter Social Success, you've probably heard me argue that as busy solopreneurs we need to be careful and wise about where we spend our marketing time on social media. Be where your best clients are! LEARN where your best clients are!

Thinking back on that recent training, I remembered this saved post in one of my two awesome news aggregator apps (I love Feedly and Flipboard) about ‘starting, managing, growing your social network' from a site called 3 Girls Media.

Don't you love it when you find things that reinforce what you know, do, or teach?!

I like how this business's post echoes many of the same thoughts I've written about and taught on – being wise about our social presence, learning to curate content (not create everything from scratch), being consistent online, and using automation in a smart fashion (among other tips).

While I wasn't a big watcher of the show, I certainly appreciate this quote that 3 Girls Media shared from character Ron Swanson of the show Parks & Rec says, “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.”

It’s much better to have a strong presence concentrated on one or two sites where your core constituencies exist than seem noncommittal on four or five.

We can't half-ass our marketing and especially not the quick-moving nature of social media. If we can't commit “whole-ass”, then step off the merry-go-round. It's ok.

Don't pop in and out, inconsistently, from every platform on the planet right now

Yes! You gotta do your homework and go where you ideal clients are hanging out – AND where they want to interact with you. And be fully engaged with your audience THERE. (that was a core part of the recent training I offered – how to know where your best customer is on social media)

Which also ties in to this quote on consistency …

Sharing interesting links as you find them is a recipe for inconsistency.

Yep. I admit I am sometimes guilty of this on my Facebook Page profiles – going for weeks with nicely curated content, neatly scheduled out (I prefer tools like HootSuite, AgoraPulse, or PostPlanner), as I keep reading interesting articles that I think my community would benefit from. Or just sending an article directly from Feedly to Twitter or one of my Facebook Pages. BUT … then life and work and news and the world rise up and my consistency suffers! See, just like all of you. 😉

But I also know that if I don't keep up with finding, scheduling, and sharing – I will never build community or engagement. Posting when something catches our eye is also a time waster – and we solos don't have time for that! We can't just ‘do' social when we have a whim, or on the run, or a catchy quote pic hits our feeds. We need a plan and schedule.

So, how about together we re-commit to making consistency a top priority. (psst – it's easier when you've pared back WHERE you are on social media – see tip #1 above)

If you've wondered how you up your solopreneur social media marketing, go check out the 3 Girls Media post. But then come back here. 🙂  Or come hang out in the Mighty Marketing Mojo Facebook Group and let's chat about how taking back control over social media and other marketing tactics. If you're interested in help on getting clear about our community on social media, how to use it for market research, or just want to get even smarter with social media – you might want to click that and grab the special deal on the training I just offered. 😉