With all of the ways to reach out to potential clients how much time does everyone dedicate to using social media?  What is your best strategy?  How do you stay current with the the changes in all of the sharing platforms without hiring someone to do this for you?  Bottom line – how do you avoid the overwhelm?

@maureendenny The best way to avoid being overwhelmed? Know where your ideal prospects hang out and go there then share valuable information in a format that appeals to them (for instance, if they love to read, you won’t want to repeatedly post long video clips of you talking).

@vincentedwards, I’ve got to agree with you. I’ve heard the term “relationship marketing” applied to social media. And building a relationship does take time. There’s no way to automate it & in order to be successful it takes an ongoing presence. I think the same applies to a degree with products, although they are different ~ at least if you think of larger, main line brands.

I’ve been doing a cross of automation & “showing up”. Focusing on the full showing up at Facebook, automating Twitter at this point. But on Facebook, I make sure I spend time every day, perhaps a 1/2 hour to browse my news feed, comment & like.

@maureendenny, you’ve got some serious questions Along with my main job doing web design I teach a series of web marketing classes for small business owners & frequently get asked the same questions.

The way I keep up is 3 fold:
1: Subscribe to several blogs/sign up for several newsletters (SME is a great place to start & the people that guest post on their blogs are also great to follow). Not that you have to read every post that comes out, but you’ll train your eyes to skim & pick up the most important pieces & then slow down to digest a meatier piece or two.
2: When some of the true leaders offer a webinar, take it. I’ve been a part of some where it’s beyond a sales pitch, but depending on who it is & how they do it they provide valuable info even is pitching their service.
3: Find someone to share what you’re learning with. As they ask questions, it will make you think through what you’ve learned & in your explanation many times things will click & stick in your brain better. I’m not saying teach a class, but share with a friend or business colleague.

Because I’m in a field that requires me to keep up more than the average business owner, my simple answer to a question like that is “total immersion” ~ of course I follow it up with a longer description with details.

Making time for all of it? I’m working with a business coach for the first time in my business career this year. They’ve helped me think through the process of identifying the times of day that my brain clicks best for high payoff activities. In-between these times – 1st thing in the morning, just before lunch & before I wrap up in the evening I’ve got 30 minute slots for low payoff activities. I’ll give myself 10-15 min. during those times to engage.

I’m not blogging yet, but when I do I’ll be following the ideas that @deereinhardt shared with you :~) An editorial calendar is a must & I’ll probably be roughing my blog posts in for the month on a single day so I’m not diddling along all month long. If you take what she’s outlined, it will work for you. The biggest challenge is keeping the line between Facebook for personal & Facebook for business separate.

@maureendenny

With all of the ways to reach out to potential clients how much time does everyone dedicate to using social media?  

• For me, because so much of my day is teaching small business owners to leverage web marketing (including social media) to grow their business, I spend more than I recommend for clients, because of my audience. There’s no one right answer for everyone. Your company, Moxie Creek, appears to focus on people running online businesses, so I’d recommend dedicating more time to social media that a typical business might. Also, I’d DEFINITELY recommend that you spend some time improving your own site’s SEO so you can be found by your audience when they’re doing appropriate searches. (Just my humble .02.)

• I make the blog the hub of my web marketing and social media, and attempt to build up an audience in all of my “social media outposts,” such as Tw, FB, and LI. Haven’t dedicated too much attention to G+ as of yet, b/c most of my audience doesn’t seem to care about it.

• SME is a great resource, and I’ve created a Twitter list of industry experts I learn from every day: https://twitter.com/#!/therichbrooks/industry-leaders

• Um, no comment.

@deereinhardt, @designbykiltz, @rich-brooks,@davidhebert, @debbielynnava

Thanks all for some great feedback!  It’s apparent that I need to put more thought into this and get a strategy in place.  Another thing I am learning is that I need to schedule the time and jump in!

Maureen