Lisa Barone reports that a Citibank and Gfk Roper study found that 76 percent of small business owners don’t find social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn helpful in generating leads and business (Can SMB Owners Make Social Media Useful?, Small Business Trends).

Lisa’s take on this is that it’s not that social media isn’t or can’t be useful; it’s just that it takes so much time. The solution? Time management. You need to know why you’re using social media and plan in advance where and how you’re going to engage.

Lisa’s post is full of tips for focusing your time and energy. Planning and scheduling are key, she says, and there are many tools that can help you avoid overload and stay organized such as “Tweetdeck, HootSuite or Seesmic to help you manage conversation and schedule tweets ahead of time” and “Google Alerts via either email or RSS to keep track of social media mentions.”

What I found really useful is her point about establishing a “strong listening station” to combat what I’ve found to be the biggest problem using social media: immediacy. How do you keep up with real-time conversations when you’re a person who isn’t glued to the Web all day and can’t handle constant interruptions? Lisa Barone explains how she does it in How To Find Conversations By Tracking Brand Mentions (Outspoken Media), an article I found really useful.

Now it’s your turn. What’s your biggest problem using social media? Vote in the poll at right. (And if you don’t have any problems using social media to generate business for your business, you can let us know that too in the comments below.)

More on Using Social Media for Business

  • 5 Specific Business Goals for Using Social Media
  • How to Promote Your Business on Twitter
  • How to Twitter: A Get Started Guide

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