By Angie Haggstrom

When using social media for marketing, you’ll likely use a few different mediums to reach as much of your target market as possible. Unfortunately, you’ll also be working on several different websites and spending a fair amount of time updating them all. This doesn’t have to eat up all of your time, however. You can streamline the entire process and make it far more efficient with a few simple tips.

Use Social Media Tools

Third-party tools are the best way to keep all of your accounts current and full of useful information. These tools include systems such as Digsby, Flock, and Ping.FM. Generally, you add all of the details for each platform into the tool and update them all from there.

You’ll also want to check the settings in each profile. Some of them such as Facebook allow you to connect with other social media accounts so that you can update them all at once. This makes it extremely easy for everyone to keep up with what you’re doing no matter which site they are following you on.

Promoting Your Networks

The most important thing you can do when running multiple networks is to promote them on your other sites. This gives your target audience the chance to get information where they are rather than making them come to you. You’ll also get a better reaction to your campaigns because people will start to trust you and become familiar with your brand.

Tweet your other profiles, link to them on your blog, include them in the signature of your email, and add them on your YouTube channel. You can also use tools such as Zooity or a digital business card so that your followers can connect with you on all of their favorite networks.

Consistency

To make all of your channels effective, you need to be as consistent as possible. First, use tools such as Knowem to ensure you get the same username on all platforms. Then, you’ll want to be sure to use the same photo or avatar and a similar profile on each account. Most importantly, be sure to brand yourself right from the start.

Regularly update and care for all of your networks and platforms. This is the only way for you to build a regular following and powerful relationships. You don’t need to post something every day or a few times each day, but you do have to be consistent. For example, you might want to upload a video to YouTube once per week, tweet ten times every day, and check your Facebook profile twice per week. Lastly, be sure to respond and interact with your followers.

Social media shouldn’t be much different from interacting with your customers on a regular basis, but it can get overwhelming. Using these tools and strategies, however, will make it far easier. Your marketing will require less of your time, you’ll have a better following, and you’ll get the return on investment you need.