ask the expert | How to Create a Social Media Editorial Calendar for Productive Networking

today we have a fabulous guest post from our expert partner in social media, Perna Malik from Social Media Direct. i love the ideas she has here to help us manage social media engagement for our biz.

One of the challenges that most mom entrepreneurs face when they come to me for consultations is the time that social media requires. Let’s face it, we only have a limited number of hours to work on our businesses and while we do know social media is important for us to create a community, reach out to our customers and boost sales, we don’t really want to get sucked into spending ALL our time on Twitter and Facebook, right?

I’ve been there more than once. After all, managing the social media accounts for several businesses along with our own means that I really need to be on top of things, all the time.

So, here is my go-to tool for focused, productive social networking – a social media calendar.

1. Identify Your Core Values

Begin by identifying 5-7 of your business’s core values. This would determine the essence of the messages you’d be sharing via social networks and ensure that you stay on track and don’t get overwhelmed by ALL the content that’s out there.

2. Outline Your Goals

Next, you need to know what you’d like social media to do for you. How can social media support your vision for your business? It is vital that the time you spend on social networking sites supports the end goals for your business in some way. So, spend some time on this step and outline your goals from each of the social networking sites that you’ll be a member of.

3. Create Themes or Topics for the Next 3 Months

Here’s the fun part. Once you know your values and goals, you need to brainstorm themes for the next 3 months. I like working on 3 months at a time, since trends change so fast in the online world. But if you prefer you can thrash out themes for 6, 9 or 12 months.

A good way to arrive at theme is by answering the question – what problem would I like to solve for my clients or customers this month?

Once you have broad themes in place, break them down into sub-themes – one for each week, if you’d like.

For instance, if you have a business that sells toys, your monthly theme can be Indoor Play and the sub-themes can include board games, creative or imaginative play, activity-based toys, vehicles and remote control, and puzzles and games. If you’re super-organized, break these down further into tips, ideas and brands, so that you have content for every day.

4. Put it All Together

Finally, it is time to put your calendar together. You can either use Google Calendar or Docs which is awesome for sharing and mobility or you could use a simple Excel document and chart out your calendar, print it out and put it up on the office bulletin board. Next, schedule some updates using an application like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck. Third, schedule time in your daily planner for real time networking because a completely automated process would remove the ‘social’ from social networking.

A social media editorial calendar can help you focus your efforts, use the right tools for networking and optimize the time you spend on Twitter and Facebook.

Do you use a social media editorial calendar for your business? How has it helped you?

Prerna Malik works with ‘little’ businesses on their web content and social media strategy. Co-owner of Social Media Direct, she offers quality, customized support to entrepreneurs and business owners helping them to build better brands online. Be sure to sign up for a FREE one-on-one strategy session and move towards focused, productive social networking. 

ask the expert | Maximum Impact, Minimum Time: Tools to Help You Manage Your Social Media Presence Effortlessly and Effectively

today we are introducing a new expert partner to build a little biz. Prerna Malik is a social media rock star and a social media manager for a number of small businesses. 

As a busy mom and small business owner, chances are you realize how important it is to have a presence on various social media networks but the odds are that you don’t have enough time to stay on top of them all.

While one easy option is to (ahem!) hire a social media manager to update your social profiles and engage and interact with your community, you can always be more productive by using some of the amazing tools and applications designed to help you manage your social presence.

Here’s a look at some of the best options in the market:

HootSuite 

One of the best social media dashboards out there, HootSuite not only lets you update multiple social networks at one go, you also get comprehensive statistics to show you whether your efforts are bearing fruit or not. You can use it to update, schedule and manage your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles in one go. It also allows you to integrate your Foursquare account, should you need that. 

Tweetdeck 

Like HootSuite, Tweetdeck, too, allows you to update and manage your social media accounts from one place. However, unlike the former, this tool does not give you analytics that you can use to tailor your social media strategy. Having said that, I have used Tweetdeck for long and, quite love the fact that I can set up columns for my tweetchats and Twitter parties and follow the conversation quickly and easily. 

Also, it is incredibly easy for you to set up and manage multiple Twitter accounts, should you have different ones for your personal professional lives.

CrowdBooster 

Figuring out when to tweet or post can be really difficult but CrowdBooster simplifies it for you. Your dashboard not allows you to schedule tweets and Facebook posts for pages that you administer but also shows you the best times to post, top fans or influential followers, fan or follower growth. All these numbers in one place are great for creating a robust social media strategy that can help you have the maximum impact with minimum effort. Cool!

Manage Flitter 

Want to know who’s following you and who isn’t? Or maybe weed out the inactive, dormant accounts so that your list is clean and consists of engaged followers? Turn to Manage Flitter. While the application is only for Twitter and you can link it to Google+, it is a timesaver, since you can clean up your Follower list in next to no time.

LiveGo 

This social media dashboard is still in beta but shows a LOT of promise and potential. Why? Not only can you manage your Twitter and Facebook accounts from this application, but can also manage your email and your Instant Messaging accounts, such as YahooIM! and others. Plus, if you have an iPhone, you can always download their application and stay synced while on the go as well.

How do YOU make managing your social media presence effortless and effective? 

Prerna Malik is the owner of Social Media Direct, a digital creative agency offering affordable and effective web content and social media solutions. Learn more about using the best social media tools for YOUR business by signing up for a FREE one-on-one strategy session today.

Prerna is also the editor of The Mom Writes, a site for work-at-home moms and the author of the How to be a Work-at-Home Mom eBook: The Happily Ever After Guide to Leading the WAHM Life. (note from karen: the eBook includes an interview with me & build a little biz! so definitely go have a look!)