Solutions Stars: Time Demands

The Network Solutions sponsored Solutions Stars Video Conference (today at 1, don’t miss it!) features nine content themes:

Building Web Presence

The Social Opportunity

Start with Listening

Strategy Drives Outreach

You Need Social Networks

To Blog or Not to Blog

Visibility Through Search

Rising Above the Noise

Time Demands

This is the ninth and final of nine posts in nine days, offering thoughts on each section.

Time Demands

Let’s be frank! This stuff takes time, a lot of it. In fact you can spend your entire day in social networks and blogs, commenting and participating. This can become a detrimental force for a small business that also has to sell, fulfill, and maintain operations.

Balancing time online is critical. You need to market and build a reputation, but finding the right balance is critical. Here are five suggestions to save time:

1) Focus on the two social networks that your community most cares about. A lot of people tell you need to be anywhere, I say BS: You need to be where it matters, and that’s the back channel where your stakeholders are congregating.

2) Set aside a limited amount of time to participate. A quota on time is helpful.

3) Focus on quality, not quantity. How are you building your online social media community? What are you doing to contribute? People remember someone who has delivered great quality to them, either through actual networking or valuable information.

4) This one came from my time saving friend Jared at AwayFind. Get all of your email sent to second email address that does not affect your workflow. Check it on your terms, when it makes sense.

5) Never supplant facetime with Facebook time. Know what pays the bills.

I hope you can join us for the conference today. It should be outstanding. And with that, I am done blogging about Solutions Stars.

In addition to the main site, please visit the Solutions Stars Video Conference event pages on Facebook and Upcoming:

One Response to "Solutions Stars: Time Demands

Beth Kanter Says:

I think that point 2 is really important – it’s called Time Boxing. I have my kid’s time out timer and I use a lot for social media stuff – otherwise, I would never get anything done ..
Recent post I did re: time and social media
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/10/how-much-time-d.html

Oops, the bell just went off – back to work

2 Trackbacks

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media: Prioritizing Your Web Marketing Budget - What Slice of the Pie Should Social Media Get? Says:

[...] Geoff Livingston live blogged the Network Solutions Solutions Stars Video Conference — by a team of Internet marketing and social media rock stars. The advice is geared for small businesses, not nonprofits, but a lot of it relevant and translatable. The topics addressed include: [...]
marketing 2.0 » Blog Archive » Network Solutions - Voice of the Customer Says:

[...] of the Customer Written by Valeria Maltoni on November 17, 2008 – 10:01 am – Recently, Geoff Livingston created a social media program series, Solution Stars under the banner of Network Solutions. This initiative was one of many Livingston [...]

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