5 Ways to Protect your Social Media Investment

I hate it I see a client letting their online reputation go … it’s so obvious, too. The neglected blog, the missing updates, the long delay (or lack of) responses; it’s frustrating for those of us who really appreciate social interaction with brands we support.

A couple of weeks ago I used Twitter and Facebook to try to pin down the location of a food truck I like. SEVEN days later the person behind the Twitter account told me where the food truck was that day. Too bad it was a full week ago that I was interested.

If you’ve set up a presence for your business or, if you’re a sole proprietor, yourself in social media, here are five simple ways to make sure you’re protecting the investment of your time and the reputation of your brand:

1. If you’ve “gone fishin'” leave a note behind or hand over the reigns to a trusted associate to manage the presence while you’re out.
2. Create a schedule for yourself — and stick to it. If you can manage interaction three times a week (and mean it!) then get it done.
3. Set alarms, calendar appointments, visits from the goon squad or your Uncle Vinnie — whatever works — just set an effective reminder to hold yourself accountable to maintaining your presence.
4. Find a way to keep it personally rewarding — examine what you, personally get out of online interaction and focus on that element.
5. Reward yourself! When you set goals that are realistically high but attainable, celebrate it when you achieve them. Go ahead. Buy yourself a little something, just for making it to the end of this very important blog post.