1. BUILD SOCIAL’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA SELF-SUFFICIENCY
© BUILD SOCIAL
Build Social’s
Guide to
Social Media
Self-Sufficiency
10 Steps for Social Media Self-Sufficiency
I love helping people set up and run their social media presence, but let’s be realistic – not everyone can
afford a social media consultant! The good news for those of you with a tight budget is that you can run
your own social media presence, as long as you’re willing to be a self-directed learner. Check out these 10
steps to becoming self sufficient and let me know what you think!
1. Start small – with one, maybe two platforms at most. If you’ve already started a presence on several
platforms shut down what you’re not using. As a small business, when in doubt, start with
LinkedIn.
2. Determine clear goals. For example: I want to use a Facebook Page to drive traffic to my website; I
want to use my LinkedIn Profile to stay in touch with my clients so that even if they change
companies, or their email address changes, I can still get in touch with them, etc.
3. Determine, as specifically as possible, who you want your target audience to be.
4. Map out some demographic information about that target audience: age, race, education, income,
etc.
5. Do research based on this demographic information about which platforms this target audience
uses. I suggest conducting this research at the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
6. Plan to spend at least one hour per week per social media platform (if you have a pretty basic social
media presence). If you’re new to this and will need to spend a lot of time learning as well as
developing a system for tracking down content to post, plan on spending about two hours per week
per platform. If you don’t have this kind of time, either scale down what you plan to do, or bring
someone in to help you.
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2. BUILD SOCIAL’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA SELF-SUFFICIENCY
© BUILD SOCIAL
7. Use a free application like Hootsuite to help you manage your presence by scheduling out posts.
Note: I don’t recommend scheduling out posts for a Facebook Page using an application like
Hootsuite. I suggest you do this within Facebook itself. Here’s a great resource on how to do this:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-scheduled-posts/
8. In general, try and make posts between 1-4pm. For more information on when to make posts check
out this Bitly blog post: http://blog.bitly.com/post/22663850994/time-is-on-your-side.
9. Plan to post about 5 times a week. A great way to track down content to post on social media is to
set up a Google Alert: http://www.google.com/alerts
10. Be interesting and engaging. Throw out your sense of caution and be fun, casual, and informal.
People want to know the authentic you on social media, so let your personality shine through! One
of the Facebook Pages I like a lot is Darigold (https://www.facebook.com/darigold) because it
reminds me of how being silly and fun can be successful.
My Favorite Resources
• Social Media Examiner – great resources specifically for small businesses
• Social Media Today – good, short blog posts with great tips
• Mashable – all the most up to date news about social media, and some other fun techy stuff too
• Social Mouths – a little more advanced, but has some good intro articles and great infographics
Free Beginner’s Guides
• Getting Started with Social Media: A Resource Guide - http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
getting-started/
• Mashable’s The Social Media Beginner’s Guide - http://mashable.com/2012/06/12/social-media-
beginners-guide/
• 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report - http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/report/
The Takeaway
Creating and managing a successful social media presence is free, but it takes time and energy. To be
successful be realistic with yourself about how much time it will take and then set aside that time
intentionally and you’ll be able to reach your wildest social media dreams! And when in doubt, do a
Google search. The secret to my genius is captured in this delightful comic from xkcd (see the next
page): http://xkcd.com/627/
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3. BUILD SOCIAL’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA SELF-SUFFICIENCY
© BUILD SOCIAL
For more information and resources visit www.buildsocialconsulting.com
or contact Brittany Smith at brittany@buildosocialconsulting.com
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