It’s a big issue, and a valid one, because responsibilities and goals of people in business seem to multiply every year, and everyone agrees that social media can eat up many precious hours.

Crafting effective content for updates can be tricky and time-consuming. And the multiple distractions that bombard you every time you go to a social network can be impossible to resist. You plan to post one tweet and end up spending an hour reading irrelevant but fascinating posts by others.

Truly profiting from social media requires strategizing and streamlining. Here are 6 pointers to help you along:

1) Be choosey. Carefully select the social media networks you will use, the content you will produce, and the time you will devote to marketing online. Consider engaging a consultant to lead you through a process for making these decisions.

2) Make a plan.  Make a plan for content sharing that will be attractive to your targeted market. And commit to a specific amount of time each week. Steadily contributing to a small number of networks, sharing worthwhile content, and showing up regularly is a reliable basis for your online branding.

3) Work smart.  There are two kinds of participation online: the 20% straight out self-promotion that you want to do; and the 80% listening to others and responding that builds your reputation and clout. Compose your promotional updates in a batch in advance may be composed and scheduled in advance, and take just ten minutes a day to write responsive posts in the moment.

4) Leverage the tools.  Scheduling posts in advance is easy through Hootsuite. Here’s a previous post, as well, with five-tools-plus-a-bonus that make the job so much easier. How to keep it to ten minutes a day, or whatever time you allocate? Set a timer and obey it.

5) Use what you’ve got. As the executive or business owner, you want the right messages going out and the right relationships established. But that does not mean you have to do it all yourself. If you have staff, involve them in the everyday social media duties. Designate your most agreeable staffer as your online PR person. Invite colleagues to contribute. If you’re a solopreneur, consider outsourcing some of your content creation.

6) Reset your strategy. Measure results to make sure you’re not wasting time. Are the stats showing that your time spent online is paying off, as in more website visitors, more inquiries, and more sales? Take a look at them regularly. You don’t have to show huge gains every week, but some progress should be evident or it’s time to either modify your approach or switch to a new strategy.

Our next Smart Networking Shift expert interview with productivity expert and author Dan Markovitz will help you streamline your OFFLINE activities so you can find even more time in your day to get the right things done. Join us on Wednesday, August 22 at Noon Eastern!

photo credit: Tristan Martin

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© 2012, Liz Lynch International LLC