Social Media Primer - What to Do and How Much Time to Spend Doing It

Don't gag, but I love social media. I am an all-out, hands-down social media junkie and love to talk social with anyone who can stand to listen. I love tweeting and yelping and poking and...wow, that sounds a little disturbing.

First of all, if you aren't into social media, that's ok. I have OCD, and a little ADD thrown in there too. So, you may not be as excited about all thing social like me, but I think you can agree that online networking is what it's all about today. Sharing content with your friends and family (especially your Hubs that you've worked so hard on!) is super easy now with all of the different social networking platforms there are out there.

What to use

So, what are the best networks to use when promoting? Depends on what you plan on doing with them. I have an account on practically everything but I don't always keep up with all of them. I like to test effectiveness and see what counts. Some are definitely better than others, and some are just a waste of time altogether.

Main social networks you should be focusing on:

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. LinkedIn
4. Google+
5. YouTube

The secondaries and just-for-funs:

1. Flickr (unless you're a photog, then this is a main focus)
2. Goodreads (for book-a-holics like me)
3. StumbleUpon
4. Digg
5. Yelp
6. Foursquare (similar to Yelp, but you can be a mayor instead of a duke or duchess)

There are a gazillion more networks out there, but most are very specific or not relevant any longer (remember when Myspace was a thing? So sad).

How much time?

Unless you have a job as a social media marketer like me, you're not going to be sitting around all day commenting and whatnot on all of your networks. And even then, I do not watch or read every comment that all of my followers or fans make (shocker!) - I just don't have that kind of time or patience (I'm OCD, not psycho). But I do check at least 3 or 4 times a day to read and respond to customer comments or to post content.

So, how much time should you be devoting to social media? Ten or fifteen minutes a day should cover you. No, really. That's it. If you're a Hubber, then you want to be spending time writing, not cyber stalking.

What to do in your 10 to 15 minutes a day

Post your links on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn for best coverage. Write creative and clever headlines that grab people's attention and draws them to your article. I like to post/tweet at least 2 or 3 times a day to try and hit people who might have missed with an earlier post/tweet (HootSuite is great if you want to schedule them - I use the freebie version). I jiggle the headline of the post/tweet each time to try and capture interest.

And make sure you interact with other people too - invite others to follow you on your different networks. Comment on what other people are doing and saying - it's not all about you. Follow the social media marketer's 20/80 rule (sort of a bastardization of the Pareto Principle): 20% shameless self-promotion, 80% everyone and everything else.

The point of your social networking should be to drive people to your content on Hub Pages or wherever you want them to go. But getting them there is only half the battle. You've got to hold up your end by producing interesting and worthy content for them to be rewarded with.