Social Media and Blogging In 20 Minutes a Day

One of the hardest things to make time for, especially when you are working full time or have small ones at home (or both) is finding time for blog posts and creating content for social media sites.

And, this can be a stumbling block for some who wonder - What can I write about? What do I say?

I have felt your pain, many years ago when I started online marketing and realized that I needed to be able to add value and content online to get my name out there and develop relationships with like minded people. After all that is what the internet is all about.

Here is how I create content and make my time count and "get it done."

If we are connected on facebook or twitter, you may notice that I have a "Note" or blog post added every day. But, here's a secret. I don't create this content everyday. I do content in blocks of time for one or two weeks in advance, and then use the "Posting options" feature that most blogs have to allow your content to "post" at designated times.

I may create 10-14 short business blurbs in one, two hour sitting, add them to my blog and set them up to post everyday or two. I have my blogs hooked in through Friendfeed.com, Twitter and Facebook applications so that my postings automatically show up.

I learned how to do this just by playing around, so if you have a blog, look at the posting options and see if you don't have a function allowing you to set the date and time.

Go to Settings and then Application Settings at the top right of your facebook page. Or, do like I did and get the book "Facebook for Dummies!"

If you can set your Single Daily Actions and weekly actions up to make the most of chunks of time, you'll get extremely efficient and effective and will find that managing a business both online and offline is not that tricky.

Where to find content? Last week I pulled out two 1999 Upline Magazines and took ideas from that. No, I didn't just copy what I read but I took one person's 10 tips for something and found 5 ideas from that and put those into my own words. I found someone else's article on relationship building and re-wrote it.

If you don't have Jan Ruhe's M.L.M. Nuts and Bolts, GET IT! There is limitless content that you can take from that and put into your own words. Same with Zig Ziglar's Network Marketing for Dummies.

Priceless nuggets that you can pull from and create great content.

Finally, search out other blogs and post comments (of value) and begin generating name recognition from those who also visit that blog. What do I mean by value? Don't just say "Good job." That doesn't provide value to those who read comments (and there are many!) Writing something more about what you actually GOT from the content is best.

I made a blog post comment last week on someone's blog and got a personal email thank you from the blog owner, picked up 10 names for my own newsletter and 14 Twitter followers. Never know where those things will lead!

Squeeze in time for your internet marketing efforts as you continue to build in other ways. I spend only about 20 minutes a day actually ON social media sites, unless I am done with other things and it's into the evening and too late to be calling leads, etc. Sometimes while the kids are doing homework, I can hang with my laptop and "Tweet" on twitter or jump around on facebook. I always work to make that time count.

And, remember to be SOCIAL as much as business on SOCIAL media sites. Instead of blasting your opportunity, mention what's great about your business that fits into your lifestyle. People will become attracted and click on your profile to learn more. You don't even need to post a link if you are providing value!

EXPECT Success!

Jackie Ulmer