10 Things to Do Every Day to Build Your Social Media Presence

Many of us engage in social media every day in some way, shape or form, whether for business or personal. When you use social media for business, especially if you’re just starting out and not able to hire a part-timer or freelancer whose job it is to handle your social media, carving out time to handle it on your own can amount to 90 minutes spent responding and re-tweeting.

One of the keys to fortifying your social media presence is just to be present.  Take time on a regular basis to engage in social media.  One of the primary reasons social media campaigns fail is inconsistency.  So I’ve got a short list of 10 things you can do every single day to build your social media presence. The time investment probably won’t exceed an hour.

• Check your RSS feeds every day first thing.  If you have Google Reader, you can simply click the list icon in the upper right hand corner and scan the headlines. This gives you something to talk about.  Remember, building a strong social media presence is about being present.  So get your hands on some niche-relevant news before you start engaging with others.
• Check your Twitter feed for follows, mentions and direct messages.  Follow those who follow you if it makes sense andrespond to mentions and direct messages.  You may not be a follower per se (@KanyeWest).   If that’s the case, more power to you.  The rest of us could use the connections.
• Find 5 strategic, brand-building, things to re-tweet on a daily basis.  Find cool tweets that you think your followers would appreciate.
• Respond to messages and invitations to connect in your LinkedIn account.
• Take 5 minutes to read a LinkedIn or Facebook group thread and participate in the conversation if you can add anything of value.
• Check your Facebook wall, comments, requests, invitations and messages.  Respond as necessary.
• Using your automation program, schedule at least 2 updates for each of the Big 3 (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) social media platforms.  At least one of your two updates should be interesting niche news you saw in the reader.
• Add 5 people to your Google+ circles and update your status.
• Check your blog comments and offer thoughtful responses to at least 1 and up to 5 comments you’ve received.
•  Check in with at least three of the blogs to which you subscribe and leave well-written comments on posts.

Monthly Maintenance

Sometimes when you’re busy with the day to day, you forget about the monthly maintenance kind of stuff.  I’m guilty of it myself.  At least once per month, you should do the following:

• Update your LinkedIn profile summary and professional experience.
• Purge your Twitter followers, Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections to make sure the spammers no longer have access to you.
• Analyze your tags to make sure that you’re classifying your posts for optimal search rankings.
• See which of your RSS feeds are supplying you with good information.  You may consider unsubscribing to feeds that aren’t contributing and replacing them with content of more substance and interest to you.
• Review an industry-specific book /ebook you recently read or even the blog of another person in your community that you find helpful and insightful.  Endorsements go a long way toward solidifying relationships and gaining credibility.

The process of building your social media presence is just that. If you are consistent and commit to the process you’ll learn ways to be more effective in reaching your audience and seeing returns on your time investment.

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