I recently found myself in a situation where I no longer had time to continue social media marketing activities for my own business.  All I had time for was keeping up with the needs of my clients.

My number one priority shifted to helping take care of my mom who recently had heart surgery.  Fortunately, my sister and I both have home-based businesses so our schedules were the most flexible.  Other family members who pitched in had to take time off from work.

What I found is that it was all I could do to help with my mom and take care of my client’s needs.  There was no time left for social media marketing for my own business.  I had no time to monitor my social media profiles, write blogs, post resource links or use any of the other online marketing channels that I typically use.  I was the one saying, “I don’t have time to do social networking”.  That is a statement I hear from people all the time.  Well, now I’ve been there…said that!

What I learned is that it was possible to find, write and schedule content for client’s that had a social media strategy and content plan.  Well, then why couldn’t I handle my own social media marketing?  Because I’ve never created a formal content plan for myself.  I’ve always kind of flown by the seat of my pants; writing blogs, posting links, commenting, etc…when I “felt” like it.  I stayed on top of breaking news on viruses and new social media features, etc…and I would post about those as they happened.

Could I have continued my own social media marketing if I had had a formal content plan?  Quite possibly!

So, what am I going to do now?

• Rethink the type of content I want to publish.
• Try not to feel like I have to stay in touch with breaking news as it happens.  (After all, I can’t be everywhere all the time.)
• Create a formal content plan that spells out the type of content I will post (videos, blog posts, resource links, etc…) and which days of the week each type of content will be posted.
• Use Hootsuite or a similar tool that will allow me to schedule my posts in advance.

If I had had the type of content plan I just described, I believe I would’ve…at least in part…been able to continue my own social media marketing even during a time of greater family need.  By the way, my mom is now progressing nicely and hopefully very soon she will be feeling better than she has in years!

Do you have a social media strategy and a content plan?

Have you ever been in a similar situation?  If so, how did it work out for you?  I’d love to read your comments…

Kimberly

A good Social Media Strategy has 4-steps which I call C.I.M.A. Many individuals and companies skip Step 1 because they don’t understand the importance of it.  Having and following a Social Media Action Plan (SMAP) can mean the difference between success and failure with social media marketing.  To maximize your Social Media Marketing results, you need to complete all four of the following steps:

1. Create social media action plan
2. Implement social media action plan
3. Measure goals outlined in social media action plan
4. Adjust social media action plan to meet desired goals

During implementation (step 2) you should:

• set-up & link social media sites
• set-up productivity & streamlining tools
• import blog where applicable
• get training on social media sites as needed
• generate content
• interact
• listen
• prospect

Unfortunately many people fly through the implementation stage and plug along but fail to Measure against their social media goals and Adjust their plan.  Without these two steps it is fairly easy to get discouraged with social media marketing and to abandon it or not give it the attention it deserves!

If you need help creating a Social Media Action Plan or following my recommended 4-Step C.I.MA. Strategy, feel free to contact me at Marketing That’s Easy.

Kimberly