We’re all busy.  One of the top complaints from small businesses is they don’t have enough time to do social media and run their business.  I think the problem is right there.  Being on social media should be part of running your business.  You network, right?  You help customers out and build relationships in order to increase sales.  Guess what?  That’s what social media is all about (or should be, if you’re doing it right).

Sometimes we get asked if we can do social media for a client.  We certainly can help clients understand which social networks to use and some strategies for using them (including training), but the whole point of social media is that it puts YOU directly in contact with your customers (and potential customers).  So, while you may hire a salesperson to help, you’re probably not outsourcing your sales outside of your company.  The same goes for social media.  In order to capture the true power of it, you have to do it yourself (or at least someone in your company does).

Chris Brogan had a good outline of what to spend your time on if you’re pressed for time.  If you have 3 hours to spend time on social media (and this can scale with whatever you can spare), spend 1.5h listening (reading blogs, twitter, facebook, etc.), 0.5h commenting and 1h creating your own content (video, audio, blog, tweets, whatever).  Figure out how much time you can spare, and try to divide it up similarly.  Even an hour or 30m a day is better than nothing.

How do you find time for social media?

This is a guest post by Sarah Worsham, CEO & Web Strategist at Sazbean Consulting and blogging at Sazbean.com. Sarah is passionate about creating Internet strategies to help companies reach their business goals. Sarah provides guidance through Internet Marketing, Strategy & Business consulting. Connect with her on Twitter, Facebook or the Sazbean Facebook Page.

I recently came across this note from Natalie Brundred of Spark and enjoyed reading it. I thought I’d share it with you, so with Natalie’s permission, here you go:

“The You You are Afraid to Be
Five ways to change your self image

Years ago, I went to a Halloween party called Boo Here Now: Come as the Person You’re Afraid You Really Are.

I won 3rd prize for best costume. That in itself is not surprising – I’ve always been creative. The scary part was that my costume was composed of items I wore every day!

I went dressed as a Librarian. Now, you know I’m no librarian – but underneath, I was afraid I really was – and I had to hide it and put up elaborate pretenses so no one would know that part of me.

Somewhere deep inside most of us is the person we were meant to be. But we worry that who we are will not be accepted or approved of by others… and that scares us down to our toes.

How often do you find yourself suppressing or ignoring parts of yourself that call you to something so much greater than the life you are living right now?

We all have those parts. Just think about the times you have said, “A part of me feels… but another part of me says…” We all do that – it’s very human.

But when you give the people around you nothing but the surface, the “safe” you, all they really get of you is pretense. And, all you get of yourself is a shadow — and you know it. That’s why you are frequently dissatisfied with yourself. And that’s no life.

Many of us live the Boo Here Now party every day – pretending to be one person while hiding our fear that we’re really this other way. And longing to be something else, but scared to take the steps that will get us there.

So how do you stop attending the BOO Here Now party and live instead in the BE Here Now party? Here are five steps to get you started:

Five Things to Practice to
Help You Be the Authentic “You”

1. Acknowledge who you are afraid to be every time you see it arise within you. Awareness is 95% of winning the challenge!
2. Look for your pretenses — the smoke that points you in the direction of the fire. Start to identify the particular ways that you cover up to divert people’s attention from what you don’t want to see about yourself.
3. Forgive yourself — you’re human, after all. We all cover up our heart’s desire at one point or another. You can’t move in a new direction — with or without your perceived faults and quirks — until you can forgive yourself for being human.
4. Visualize who you “want” to be. Dress up that skeleton. You have a bare-bones idea, now flesh it out and make it real for yourself.
5. Take one small action to start expressing that part of yourself. Then take another, and another. Before you know it, you’ll be living a different life, an authentic life, a life on purpose.”

Natalie Brundred
Spark Coaching
P.O. Box 70905
Rochester Hills, MI 48307

248-390-4191

www.TheSparkSite.com

Natalie@TheSparkSite.com

Social media equals conversation. Social media marketing and marketing to people is about having a conversation about what you do, and getting people to talk about what you do, and spread your message.

Social media conversations are typically held online. Online conversation: There are many, many sites where you can become involved with social media. You don’t have to have a profile on every single one. You don’t have to spend time on every single one. But there are several sites that we highly recommend that you become familiar with (Facebook, Twitter and Linked In to start). Put your profile on those; create your online presence.

To implement a strong social media campaign, it is important that you come up with a strategy, you figure out what it is you would like to accomplish with social media. You need to design a plan and work on the ways that you can add this element of promotion into your business. The most important thing to remember when you are starting your social media campaign, is social media is not about your company. Social media is about you.

You have the rights to your own story, how are you sharing it?