Can you really do social media marketing in 30 minutes each day successfully? When I see article titles or headlines claiming that you can automate your posts and work smarter on your social network by doing this or that, I think to myself, Really? Running a social-media strategy is just like any other process: It takes time. There are no shortcuts, you just need to be agile. So when you decide to join social media, make sure that your strategy is not just “post and run”. Be active in the community, follow and reply to your customers. True, there are times when you do not have access to the Internet and you are just happy to be able to get a post out, but to me, that would be the exception. For instance, if you were traveling, you may not have access to the online world 100 percent of the time, but even then, you should check in and respond as soon as possible. Here are some strategic steps you can take to build a strong social-media presence.

Put the work in to

see the rewards.

To me, social media is almost a round-the-clock enterprise. It takes me hours to read and gather tweets each day to share across my network. Over the years, I have been even more selective, which makes it even harder for me to take on this particular task and this is just a fraction of my social-media undertaking for each day. The trick is that when you don't have time, follow people that are extremely selective with their tweets, put these folks on a list and share their content. If you do this generously, they will in return be happy to promote your work.

Don’t tweet for the sake of it. Another one of my favorite social-media suggestions is to limit your tweets per day. I’ll admit that I used to tweet way too much, but I now post about one per hour on average. (That is, unless I am working on promoting an event or participating on a chat.) Do what works best for you but moderation is always a good rule to follow, as it is nice to give your audience a break. Also, you don't always have to broadcast from your social-media page; you can say your piece by commenting on others’ social-media channels. I usually hop on all my social channels and watch what others are up to and really engage with them. Try to comment rather than just like or re-tweet, because that does not open the door to starting a conversation.

Reconsider have all your

social-media posts

automated.

If I hand-selected the content and want to share this with my followers globally but just can't do it right now, it is sometimes better to wait. I’ve noticed that my fans do not have a problem with me responding at a later time. We cannot possibly acknowledge, return or reciprocate every social-media transaction, but I do the best that I can. On the other hand, there are situations when scheduling some of your posts makes sense. By scheduling your tweets, you’re not flooding the stream all at once. By spacing your posts out, you are providing a variety of information at a variety of times for all to enjoy. Be fussy with what you choose to share and when you share it. I find that a mixture of automated and live tweets works well for me. I try to participate on different travel chats whenever I have time in my schedule. By implementing these simple steps, it has helped me stay at the forefront of the social-media sphere and it definitely has helped me grow my following across my social channels. In social media, absence does not make the heart grow fonder. Be active!