5 Daily Social Media Builders In Less Than 10 Minutes (Total!)
September 19, 2008 by ian
I am sick of social media. Social this. Social that. Everyone asks me whether I ‘do social media’, and it's hard to resist the urge to caper around like a lunatic yelling “Am I being social? Am I?! Then quick, call the media!!!!”
I hate the phrase, the concept and the need for sound bites and catchphrases that spawned it. Sigh.
But it’s still important, so I’ve developed a routine that lets me steadily build my credibility in various social media outlets. Remember, social media is partly based on reputation. Build your reputation by contributing to the community, and you’ll get better results when promoting yourself, too.
Here's what you need to do these 5 steps:
- A Google account
- A Yahoo! account
- A Stumbleupon account and the toolbar
- A Facebook account (c'mon, you don’t have one?!)
- A Twitter account
These steps take a total of 10 minutes a day, because that’s all I can stand:
Bookmark/Review 2 Businesses on Google Maps
First, I toddle over to Google Maps, log into my Google account and review two businesses I know:
If I can’t find two to review, then I add one or two to “my maps” instead. This activity (I suspect) makes me a more important reviewer in Google Maps. So, when I review a client business, it'll get more weight, too.
Be honest! I am always honest with my reviews, even if my client doesn’t like my comment about their bathrooms. Remember, you’re contributing to a community. Add value.
Total time: 2 minutes.
Go Buzzing
Visit Yahoo! Buzz. Sign into your Yahoo! account. Buzz up or comment on at least 2 articles.
I use Yahoo! Buzz instead of Digg now because Digg has become a toadying Jr. high school-style crap pile that makes Mt. Etna look like a minor belch.
Total time: 2 minutes.
Stumble Five Times
Then, I click the “stumble” button in my StumbleUpon Toolbar at least 5 times. Skim each site. Give it a thumbs up or thumbs down.
If something looks interesting, put it on your to-do list. You don’t have to read it right now.
Total time: 1 minute.
Comment on Your Favorite Blog
Take a piece of paper and write down your favorite 1 or 2 blogs. Every day, leave a useful comment on one of them.
This builds your relationship with the blogger, at worst, and gets you a few links, at best.
Total time: 2 minutes.
Follow Someone On Twitter
Go to Twitter. Log in. Look at one friend on your friends list. Follow 2 people they follow.
You just expanded your network.
Total time: 1 minute. Less if you can type faster than 20 WPM.
I just wrote about Twitter even though I swore I would not. I made it all the way to September 2008, OK? Close enough.
Update Your Facebook Page
I freely admit I am terrible about this. I’m never thrilled about dealing with the river of application requests, zombie bites, knighthoods, images of gifts I’d like (instead of the actual gift), weather trivia, quizzes and other utterly worthless junk that await me.
Nevertheless, go to Facebook and update your profile page. Update you're status and add a link or comment, if nothing else.
You just ‘pinged’ every Facebook friend you have.
Total time: 2 minutes.
Be Smart
Don’t just go to all of these sites once a day, spam them, and then never return. The idea here is to set the minimum level of participation. After that, you should use these sites as designed: Stumble cool stuff. Twitter interesting thoughts. Buzz really great articles. And so on.
Other sites to consider in your routine:
- Plurk is a nice Twitter competitor that I thoroughly enjoy.
- Del.icio.us is a great bookmarking service.
- Reddit is another social news site that”s not quite as annoying as Digg.
There are, of course, others. List them below as a comment if you think of any.
Join the Conversation:
Sue says:
September 19, 2008 20:49
Ian, good advice on checking in, making a meaningful contribution without getting sucked in and losing track of time. Thanks for that!
Laurie/Halo Secretarial says:
September 21, 2008 07:45
This is a great starting point for social networking. I think I'll have to incorporate this as my starting 10-15 minutes of my day. Then maybe pick one weekday for each item to spend an extra allotment of time to focus on it (ie Mondays are my big facebook day, Tuesdays could be for lots of stumbling, etc)
Thanks!
Terri says:
September 21, 2008 09:19
Great advice! All the different social media sites is a great way to procrastinate on what really needs to be accomplished. They are so easy to get sucked into. By following your advice, you can do what needs to be done all round you.
davelaw00 says:
September 22, 2008 02:19
Great rundown of daily tasks. Now I just need to think of things to comment on.
David Aronchick says:
September 22, 2008 10:11
Any thoughts on participating in the Digg/Reddit/Etc scene (jr. high school, though you say) for the sake of weighting your account for when you really want to get something on there?
Janine says:
September 22, 2008 11:41
Terri is right, it's easy to get distracted on some of these sites. What you suggest is a good way for me to stay on track. Gracias!
Ian
says:
September 22, 2008 12:06
@David It's a good idea. Just realize you can't make progress in 10 minutes a day on either of those sites. They're too spammed, too busy and yah, too Jr. High School.
Ian
says:
September 22, 2008 12:11
@Janine I restrict my time to ten minutes maximum. I also have a system, so that if I see something interesting I can quickly add it to my 'read' list for later.
Thomas says:
September 22, 2008 13:04
Nice way of codifying what I'm trying to do every day. I can't say that I'm actually achieving this, but you've put a stake in the ground for us all to aim for.
Other services to consider: Yelp (for reviews), Google Reader Share and remember to twitter questions and answers, don't just expand your network; engage it!
Jai Cole says:
September 22, 2008 14:48
Thanks for the great info Ian. You set it out in an easy to follow fashion and I am going to give it a run.
j
Marie Adams says:
September 22, 2008 16:01
Thanks for breaking down you're routine, very helpful information here. I think getting started on the social media scene can be very overwhelming, causing some to stop before even trying.
Your post shows how to stay involved without getting overwhelmed and exhausted. Thanks.
ram says:
September 22, 2008 20:08
hi Ian
Thanx a ton. practical everyday use advice is far superior to some arcane article about SMM. keep it up. will try and give u feedback
Joe says:
September 23, 2008 10:53
Seeing as so many of these social media tools plug into Facebook nicely, if you spend the time to setup these Facebook Applications, you can focus that much less time on updating Facebook as it will have a constant feed of information from these other sources.
Mark McGuire says:
September 23, 2008 16:05
Thanks for the advice Ian, as I've used blogging and Digg extensively in past companies, but I've never thought about others like StumbleUpon. Digg can be frustrating, but we actually got more sign-ups/traffic from getting to the front page of Digg in my last company than we did from articles in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
Marcus says:
September 25, 2008 15:08
If you haven't already, give Twine a shot. Still in beta and lacking some of the features I've grown used to in Delicious, but I'm really enjoying it.
Cheers
frank says:
September 25, 2008 19:29
Love the candidness (that a word?) ...
i like the idea of having a plan of action or at least a framework for daily 'social media' interaction. that, to me, would really alleviate the stress or feeling of being overwhelmed that a lot of us can feel.
Question ... you use Buzz and Google maps ... interesting choices? why did you chose them specifically? (i know you talked about digg - just wondering if there was any value you have seen in buzz vs digg?)
thanks for putting your thoughts out there!
---
http://twitter.com/franswaa
Ian
says:
September 25, 2008 20:13
@Frank it's either candidness or candidity. Spelling checker went berserk on the latter but not the former.
I go with Yahoo! Buzz because I see more possibility there than on Digg. Digg can send more traffic but it's very, very hard to get a fair shake. Google Maps has a lot of control over Google Local rankings, so building up some credibility as a reviewer can be helpful.
Cheers,
Ian
hondagrrl says:
November 2, 2008 21:56
Rock and Roll, Ian. great advice and a great way to identify how to effectively spend 10 minutes each day!