You ever see those books promising you will that you will have Warren Buffet's riches through social medial on just 15 minutes a day? Yeah, just an FYI, they lied. If you actually were involved on all the social networks and blogging, don't count on less than 3 hours per DAY, and that might be the minimum.

How did I come up with this horrid number? By experience. Let's look at just some typical stuff.

1. Read tech or industry news- Long form articles get saved. (15 minutes)

2. Twitter has multiple parts: A)Look over Twitter Trending topics to find out if there was a disaster, big announcement, or whatever that I might want to tweet about or blog about. B)Look at tweets from list C)RT ones you think followers will enjoy. D) Quick glance at regular stream to see if I can answer a question, thank someone for a RT, or whatever. (15-25 minutes)

3. Facebook- Look over topics being discussed in groups I belong to. Make comments, if appropriate. Look over your personal stream to catch up on babies, marriages, divorces, and food porn. Add a video or blog post to your business page, if necessary. (15 minutes).

4. Pinterest/Instagram- Pinning, liking, commenting, and adding your own pins. (20 minutes)

5. Snapchat Watch the snaps of interest, post your snaps, and comment (15 minutes)
6. LinkedIn/Quora- Look at notices, skim read the new stuff, congratulate, invite some for connections, answer a question, comment (20 minutes)

7. Blog Post- I had not forgotten the post. Actually, you could do this second, but for our purposes we will put it last. Write your content, make or find an accompanying picture, and then distribute if not done automatically. Respond to comments throughout the day. (30 minutes)

8. Youtube- You could forgo the Blog post and use video instead. Either way, you need to also view your subscriptions, comment, respond, and share. (15 minutes)

9. Instagram- Take photos, submit, hashtag, view other photos, comment, and follow (15 minutes).

These are just the top ones. If you belong to special ones, then you have to add those on your schedule. Of course, these times will vary, and if you want to stay sane, I don't recommend doing them all everyday. There are some shortcuts like using Buffer to schedule your posts. The only thing here is that if there has been a major tragedy and you send out an auto tweet, you will get hounded.So, plan your tweets, but also be quick to adjust the posting time or content if something major happens during the day. And please, don't use tragedy to try to sell. That doesn't go over well at all.

Other things that could add to your social media time is doing Google Hangouts or Twitter chats. They generally last an hour. If you want to run your own (hint. hint) set up one on a weekly basis.

A sample Twitter chat #smallbizchat


So, as you can see, it takes time to be social online, just as it does offline.

Social Media· social media for business· Social Networking· social networks

Social Media is Time Consuming But Worth It

You ever see those books promising you will that you will have Warren Buffet's riches through social medial on just 15 minutes a day? Yeah, just an FYI, they lied. If you actually were involved on all the social networks and blogging, don't count on less than 3 hours per DAY, and that might be the minimum.

How did I come up with this horrid number? By experience. Let's look at just some typical stuff.

1. Read tech or industry news- Long form articles get saved. (15 minutes)

2. Twitter has multiple parts: A)Look over Twitter Trending topics to find out if there was a disaster, big announcement, or whatever that I might want to tweet about or blog about. B)Look at tweets from list C)RT ones you think followers will enjoy. D) Quick glance at regular stream to see if I can answer a question, thank someone for a RT, or whatever. (15-25 minutes)

3. Facebook- Look over topics being discussed in groups I belong to. Make comments, if appropriate. Look over your personal stream to catch up on babies, marriages, divorces, and food porn. Add a video or blog post to your business page, if necessary. (15 minutes).

4. Pinterest/Instagram- Pinning, liking, commenting, and adding your own pins. (20 minutes)

5. Snapchat Watch the snaps of interest, post your snaps, and comment (15 minutes)
6. LinkedIn/Quora- Look at notices, skim read the new stuff, congratulate, invite some for connections, answer a question, comment (20 minutes)

7. Blog Post- I had not forgotten the post. Actually, you could do this second, but for our purposes we will put it last. Write your content, make or find an accompanying picture, and then distribute if not done automatically. Respond to comments throughout the day. (30 minutes)

8. Youtube- You could forgo the Blog post and use video instead. Either way, you need to also view your subscriptions, comment, respond, and share. (15 minutes)

9. Instagram- Take photos, submit, hashtag, view other photos, comment, and follow (15 minutes).

These are just the top ones. If you belong to special ones, then you have to add those on your schedule. Of course, these times will vary, and if you want to stay sane, I don't recommend doing them all everyday. There are some shortcuts like using Buffer to schedule your posts. The only thing here is that if there has been a major tragedy and you send out an auto tweet, you will get hounded.So, plan your tweets, but also be quick to adjust the posting time or content if something major happens during the day. And please, don't use tragedy to try to sell. That doesn't go over well at all.

Other things that could add to your social media time is doing Google Hangouts or Twitter chats. They generally last an hour. If you want to run your own (hint. hint) set up one on a weekly basis.

A sample Twitter chat #smallbizchat


So, as you can see, it takes time to be social online, just as it does offline.

"Understanding Twitter for Marketing’ has been incorporated as a new
module for Online Digital PR Training, the one-day course in digital PR
techniques from The PR Training Centre, to be held on Friday 24th April in
Covent Garden, London. The course content has been updated to cover the
latest developments in both Twitter and Blogging.

The practical one-day workshop is designed for PR and marketing
professionals who are keen to get up to speed in using Twitter, social
networking and Blogging for online marketing and PR campaigns.

According to principal presenter Jacqui Green, ‘We cover in detail the
crucially important new aspects of social networking such as how to
identify influential Bloggers – and, more importantly, how to devise
engagement strategies for connecting with Bloggers – as well as
developments in Twitter and how Tweeting can form a key part of your PR
campaigns.’

The workshop has attracted rave reviews from both in-house PR people and
from PR agencies. Agency personnel who have attended the workshop have
heaped praise on the course and its joint presenters. Says Scott Clarke
of Whiteoaks Communications, ‘Both Richard and Jacqui presented the
course well and really explained to the room how digital marketing can
benefit PR. Also useful info about social networks. This course has opened
up a number of possibilities which I will implement for my clients.
Fantastic!’

According to Chloe Handy of Fleishman-Hillard, ‘Learning about raising
profile on Google was very useful! Will be bumping my clients up as of
Monday’

Says Fiona Reece of Fiona Reece PR,’ Good day and lots of great
information - especially on blogging and digital press releases’.

Says Jacqui Green, ‘Now more than ever, PR people have to be competitive
and in the online world competitiveness means using the internet
effectively. The organisations who get this right are the ones who are
still growing their businesses, while those who ignore the challenges and
opportunities of the digital world are the ones who are being rapidly left
behind.’

The PR Training Centre provides practical one-day courses for PR and
Marketing professionals tasked with responsibility for PR and marketing
communications, media, press and public relations, web marketing and other
marketing functions. The Centre runs regular monthly courses in London's
Covent Garden. Its most popular course is the one-day Masterclass ‘PR
Skills Workshop’ designed for anyone who finds themselves responsible for
raising the profile of their organisation and gaining favourable media
coverage.

blogging· blogosphere· social networks· Twitter· viral PR

‘How to use Twitter for Marketing’ - new module added to Online Digital PR training course

"Understanding Twitter for Marketing’ has been incorporated as a new
module for Online Digital PR Training, the one-day course in digital PR
techniques from The PR Training Centre, to be held on Friday 24th April in
Covent Garden, London. The course content has been updated to cover the
latest developments in both Twitter and Blogging.

The practical one-day workshop is designed for PR and marketing
professionals who are keen to get up to speed in using Twitter, social
networking and Blogging for online marketing and PR campaigns.

According to principal presenter Jacqui Green, ‘We cover in detail the
crucially important new aspects of social networking such as how to
identify influential Bloggers – and, more importantly, how to devise
engagement strategies for connecting with Bloggers – as well as
developments in Twitter and how Tweeting can form a key part of your PR
campaigns.’

The workshop has attracted rave reviews from both in-house PR people and
from PR agencies. Agency personnel who have attended the workshop have
heaped praise on the course and its joint presenters. Says Scott Clarke
of Whiteoaks Communications, ‘Both Richard and Jacqui presented the
course well and really explained to the room how digital marketing can
benefit PR. Also useful info about social networks. This course has opened
up a number of possibilities which I will implement for my clients.
Fantastic!’

According to Chloe Handy of Fleishman-Hillard, ‘Learning about raising
profile on Google was very useful! Will be bumping my clients up as of
Monday’

Says Fiona Reece of Fiona Reece PR,’ Good day and lots of great
information - especially on blogging and digital press releases’.

Says Jacqui Green, ‘Now more than ever, PR people have to be competitive
and in the online world competitiveness means using the internet
effectively. The organisations who get this right are the ones who are
still growing their businesses, while those who ignore the challenges and
opportunities of the digital world are the ones who are being rapidly left
behind.’

The PR Training Centre provides practical one-day courses for PR and
Marketing professionals tasked with responsibility for PR and marketing
communications, media, press and public relations, web marketing and other
marketing functions. The Centre runs regular monthly courses in London's
Covent Garden. Its most popular course is the one-day Masterclass ‘PR
Skills Workshop’ designed for anyone who finds themselves responsible for
raising the profile of their organisation and gaining favourable media
coverage.