Artists, non-profits, and small business owners who are pressed for time sometimes ask how they can be successful with social media while spending only a few minutes a day on Facebook and Twitter. My initial response to this question is that social media isn't a magic tool for instant success. Social media provides one more opportunity for you to work hard to build relationships and achieve success in your goals.

Rather than trying to minimize the time spent on social media, I prefer to reframe the question as follows: "How can I be successful in my real world goals by using social media as efficiently as possible without wasting time that could be better spent in other marketing and networking efforts?" This question explicitly clarifies that the individual actually does spend time and effort on marketing and networking and is not seeking to achieve success with only a few minutes a day of any type of relationship building.

My response to this rephrased question is more straightforward: Focus your social media efforts on complementing and enhancing your real-world relationships and goals. Anchoring your social media plan in your existing priorities will reduce the risk of spending time in activities that don't move you towards your goals. By leveraging your existing momentum, social media does not have to add significant time or energy to your efforts.
So what does this mean in practice?

Below are three strategies that you can incorporate into a social media plan without getting overwhelmed.

Read the full post at Piccadilly Arts.