One of the benefits of participating in the AADMM branding initiative, under the expert guidance of Pat Heffernan and Dave Bowers at Marketing Partners, has been learning about social media marketing and how it can be used to promote our message, connect with new audiences, and build community.
Too Much to Do, Not Enough Time
As a business owner, I’ve known from the beginning that social media is important to develop exposure to potential clients and referral sources, but who has the time for all that posting, sharing, and commenting? I certainly don’t. But what I am coming to understand is that with a little knowledge and a little more self-discipline, I can find a few minutes each day or so to attend to social media to help spread awareness of AADMM as well as my own business.
This issue of time is a critical one. Once I’m on a social media site, I can become so distracted looking at other people’s posts, looking up friends and family, and watching cute cat videos, that before I know it, an hour of unproductive time has gone by.
Tips and Habits that Work for Me
The antidote for me is to set notifications on each site to send me an email when someone of interest to me (in this case AADMM) posts or tweets something. I learned from my business coach some time ago that it’s ok not to answer every email within minutes of receiving it (gah!). He taught me to simply shut down my email when I’m working on something important, like writing this DMM Note for example, so that I won’t feel interrupted and lose my train of thought.
When I am finished here, I’ll open my email to check my messages. If I see that AADMM has posted something on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, I simply click on the link in the email which takes me directly to the post in question. Right there and then I “like” it, comment, and share it (sometimes with a comment there too). Now here’s the sometimes-hard part: I simply close the program so that I don’t get sucked into all the other fun stuff like more cat videos. And back to work I go! Simple, right?
Writing comments is also a sticky point for me. I am learning that what I say does not have to be profound, and that most of the time no one is going to remember exactly what I say anyway. But I do believe that whatever I say has to be positive. It can be as simple as saying “Wow, this is great!”, or congratulating someone on an accomplishment. It’s probably a good idea to stay away from anything political, or controversial. My purpose for being on social media in this case is on behalf of AADMM and my business, neither of which should be involved in anything political or controversial.
Join the Community
Did you know that AAMM has a Twitter account? And a LinkedIn account? We also have two Facebook pages, one inward facing for AADMM members only, and one outward facing for the general public. While we have a YouTube channel, AADMM does not have an Instagram or a Pinterest account but whether or not that would be appropriate for you depends on your business and audiences.
Marketing Partners has produced a nifty “Social Media Best Practices for AADMM” sheet that is very helpful, not only for posting on behalf of AADMM but for my business posts as well. Let us know if you’d like a copy by filling out the form below and we will publicly welcome you to the DMM social community!
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Alison Salisbury, CDMM, of Fiscally Fit, Inc. provides daily money management services from Los Altos, CA. Alison is an AADMM board member. Connect with her on Twitter @FiscallyFitInc or on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonsalisbury/. For more information: https://fiscallyfit.us/
