Keep your Twitter account running smoothly, efficiently, and successfully – in a lot less time.
Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, oh my! It may not be lions, tigers, and bears, but trying to balance all of your social media accounts can feel as overwhelming and exhausting as trekking through an unknown jungle . When it comes to your presence on Twitter, there are some shortcuts available that can save you all that hair pulling and leave you ample time for other marketing efforts.
Create a weekly content schedule
After posting on your blog or updating content on your website, develop a list of bulk tweets and schedule them to post at popular times throughout the week using a social media management system like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck. You can schedule the same posts for the next few weeks – at different times on different days – since tweets have an extremely short shelf life and need to be repeated for maximum exposure. This allows you to save even more time, as each week you’ll already have posts planned from the weeks before.
For even more time saving, you can actually outsource the writing and scheduling of your tweets. Here’s the best (and cheapest) program we know of!
Use a checklist of daily activities
Nine out of ten successful entrepreneurs agree: nothing increases productivity like a checklist. (And 39.7% of all statistics are made up, including that one.) But I know for sure that a daily checklist allows me to spend no more than 15 minutes a day on Twitter, while still attracting paying clients. And every Ghost Tweeting account manager uses the same checklist. Checklists are an essential way for us to save time by keeping us organized, forcing us to focus on only the important tasks, and eliminating unnecessary shiny objects and overwhelm.
How would you like to have the same checklist I use each day? If you promise to use it, I invite you to download the checklist for free.
Be strategic; Have an objective
Spending your days aimlessly clicking and tweaking your Twitter account without strategy is a BIG time waster. Having a plan in place is essential to maximizing your time spent on the Twittersphere. Outline your marketing plan by identifying what your biggest objectives are and who you want to connect with. And each time you log onto your Twitter account, keep these goals in mind. If you focus on your intentions (i.e. attract equine enthusiasts, get media attention, connect with influencers in my field), you’ll be less likely to fritter away time doing things that result in nothing.
Use lists
When you’re following more than a few people, your Twitter feed can be full of excess chatter, and you’re likely to miss out on what your target audience is tweeting. Cut through the jumble by creating lists to organize who you are following. Curate your lists however you choose, but designate a list for key influencers so you can easily scan their content, making it easier for you to retweet, comment, and network.
Need help creating lists? Learn how in this 3-minute video tutorial.
Set a timer
You do want to make yourself available every day to be present on your Twitter account. You must engage with, add value to, and build relationships with followers. Set a timer if you tend to get distracted easily, and remember you only need about fifteen minutes of engagement each day – not hours.
With these tips, you’ll be well on your way to marketing on Twitter in an efficient and strategic manner. If you’re looking for some additional help, try our Twitter Essentials Program where we strategically plan, develop and post content tailor-made for your business.