Welcome to day 21 of Reboot Your Blog!

Did I beat everything into your head enough yesterday?

Sorry.

It matters that much though.

Being efficient matters to. So today we work on streamlining processes around social media – which, as you know from yesterday’s post, isn’t about if you want to – this is a critical SEO move.

DAY 21 OBJECTIVE

Develop a process for “doing” social media.

DAY 21 ASSIGNMENT

There are two main reasons why some folks don’t “like” social media:

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1. They’ve used it to broadcast their message but didn’t receive much response
2. They’ve used it and received some benefit (click throughs, comments, etc.) but not enough to justify the vast amount of time they spent on it

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I think I was pretty thorough yesterday when I wrote about why social media is an SEO “must” now that author rank and social sharing are ranking factors. I won’t rehash that.

But it’s important to remember that behind the SEO reasons we’re engaging in these activities are real people – real people who are seeing our message on Twitter, Facebook, Google+. There is still a social component to social media. And we get the best results from social media when re recognize that.

So, to address reason #1 why folks might not have success with social media – you’re broadcasting, but not “engaging.”

OMG I JUST BARFED!

Sorry, telling people to “engage” makes me nauseous when other pople do it, so it’s only fair I feel like shit when I say it too.

But it’s the truth. As wishy-washy as it sounds, if you’re not engaging, you’re kinda just coming off as a blowhard.

In real life, you can’t just scream at a pretty girl to pay attention to you and your sweet 6 pack abs but never listen to what she has to say. Thinking the internet – which is just a bunch of people after all – would be any different is silly.

Read the most important post I’ve ever written on social media for more on how to work social media.

That link is a step by step post to dominating social media in your niche.

The second problem folks have with social media is that they waste their whole dang day on it!

If you’re tweeting, you’re not making a product, writing a blog post, etc. It’s not a direct income maker. You’ve got to be more efficient!

Tool Talk

Here are a few tools that I use to keep my social media participation efficient.

Buffer! Buffer posts to Twitter and/or your Facebook Fan Page. (Don’t have a Facebook Fan Page? Get one. It’s part of market leadership and SEO).

What’s nice about Buffer is that it has a browser extension for your desktop and it jives with popular iPad / iPhone consumption software like Reeder, Flipboard and Zite.

I do most of my Twitter reading and Facebook checking from my iPhone or iPad, during down time throughout the day. This lets me browse some tweets while waiting to pick up fish & chips from 4th and Sea here in Petaluma.

I post to Twitter and Facebook via Buffer or by hand as things come up.

But just like your daily Google Reader habit, you’ve got to have a daily social media habit – with a firm time limit.

You’ll find items during your Google Reader browsing that you may not want to curate to your site, but that your audience would still enjoy. These are perfect items to share on social media. The rules remain the same though – include your own thoughts or WHY your audience should take a peek. Don’t just use the articles title and hit “Send.” That’s not “engaging” or “adding value.” (Cough).

What makes Buffer important though is that, as you go through your daily Google Reader – well, you’re doing it all at once. You’re getting through those feeds in 30 minutes or less. But if you blasted out the 4, 5, or 6 links of tidbits you found all right then, you’d be bombarding your social media audience all at once, possibly annoying them, and then not being around for much of the rest of the day to catch the rest of your audience.

[box type="note"]Everyone isn’t all online at the same time![/box]

Buffer spreads your social media updates throughout the day so that you don’t freak everyone out by post 6 times in 30 minutes AND spreads those updates out throughout the day, so you’re catching more and more of your followers when they’re online.

So that’s the part of social media where you’re curating content, breaking news, and sharing interesting things with your audience.

But there’s the other part – the part you set aside a specific time each day to do – that we need to address.

This is when you check your Facebook Fan Page for comments, check Twitter for @ replies and respond to them. This is when you moderate and reply to blog comments. This is when you check in with Google+ and see if anyone is paying attention over there yet.

Not getting a lot of conversation directed at you on those channels yet? That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook! It’s time for you to make conversation! Follow influencers in your niche and other up-and-coming bloggers. Talk to them. Reply to things they say. Start a real, actual conversation.

Listen, a lot of the time you won’t get a response. Keep working it. Stay positive – both in your tone ond your belief in your self.

I know you took care of the quality of your content since we’ve talked about it so many times. Keep reaching out and people will see the value.

Oh, and don’t be a douche!

(That never works).

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By the end of today’s Reboot Your Blog, you’ll have:

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• Use Buffer to post to social accounts from Google Reader
• Replied to @ posts, blog comments and Fan Page comments
• Reached out to other bloggers and market leaders via social channels
• Set a time to do this social process daily
• Set up your iPhone / Android so you can do this stuff on the go

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