“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
~Jim Ryun
I know. Social media again.
Does it ever stop? Nope.
Do you worry about constantly finding stuff to talk about? Yep.
Well here’s the kicker: you already have all the content you need, right there, at your fingertips. Keep reading I’ll show you where.
I’m going to start off with talking about habits and how if you work a couple minutes a day you can create a new social media habit that will streamline your content production enormously.
Do you read the newspaper? Online or in print it doesn’t matter. Maybe you watch it on TV. I know you have opinions about what you read and hear and I know a lot of the time it is related to your business life, which let’s face it takes up the largest portion of your real life. If it’s a personal opinion about who you are and what you believe in, even better. On Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn people out there want to know who you are and why they should trust you in order to even think about buying your service or product in the first place.
I’m guessing based on a quick unscientific survey of mine (aka what I do and my business associates do) that you may read, view or listen to approximately 3-10 articles, posts or media every week. I am sure you found some good, some bad, some that made you think, and some made no impression at all.
This is the trick: For one month, each time you finish ingesting this new content I want you to jot down the article, the url, title (whatever identifying marks you may need to find it later) and then a quick impression. Maybe it brings you to ask a question, maybe it brings out a strong opinion, maybe it has some value for others in your business, maybe it sparks an idea for your clients.
Take one to two minutes tops and write this down in your phone, or on a little piece of paper (I recommend keeping a tiny notebook for such things if you plan on going this route so it’s all in one place easily found)
Then once or twice a week sit down to engage. Yep this is what you are doing when you add your thoughts on social media. Grab your coffee or your glass of wine and set aside 30 minutes because this is important: you are engaging others on your business, you are engaging past and future clients, and you are engaging your message out there online.
Pull out your handy notebook of jotted references, grab your phone and pull up your notes from the week and schedule your thoughts about them into the social media platforms you currently engage in.*
For example:
- I just read an amazing article that will help me save money in my business [link]
- What does everyone out there think about this Obamacare mess? I think the government is a disaster. [link/title]
- This post really inspired me today, enjoy [link]
It might be one or two posts a week and it might be ten. This is not a race, this is about adding value and spreading a message that is uniquely yours.
Keep at it for a month and let me know how it goes – I’d love to hear about your progress!
*For a great scheduling app that is easy to use I recommend https://bufferapp.com
Need this broken down and taught simply step by step? No problem! Go to www.katetweets.com and schedule an appointment on my calendar today. I’ll walk you through this plan in one quick phone call.
Kate Traci is a Featured Speaker in the Heart Centered Business Bootcamp. Hear Kate’s interview, and 20 other experts, talk about how you can take YOUR business to the next level in 2014. CLICK HERE for more information.
Kate Traci is a California raised beach girl at heart who now finds herself residing under the hot desert sun. Thankfully her sister has a pool. A writer by love she found the internet is a place to be heard and started on an adventure that lead her to create KateTweets @ www.katetweets.com where she hopes to help others spread their amazing message through social media. Trying daily to coax clever words, her German Shepherd to fetch, and herself to the gym, Kate can be found patiently waiting for her next adventure under the star-filled desert sky. Follow Kate’s stories at katesyear.com
Thanks Kate! I like the idea of keeping a notebook of ideas and links. I use Evernote for this as I can just hit the Evernote Clipper icon in my browser and instantly clip (and add a note) to anything I spot on the web worth sharing. For me, the ideas are endless – my problem is getting sucked into social media and not coming up for air! I love it TOO much 🙂
Great tip! It’s nice to have resources to dip into when I need some social media post inspiration. Instead of a notebook, I now use Evernote. Anytime I come across a great article or blog I’d like to share on my Facebook page, I use the Evernote Clipper function to clip it straight into a notebook. Then when I am sitting down to schedule in a bunch of Facebook posts for the forthcoming week, I can go to this online notebook and just cut & paste. voilà!
Great tips for starting engagement!
Excellent tip! I love sharing new and interesting articles but often don’t put aside the time myself to read them in depth. Thanks for sharing!