The Dr. Pepper Method for Managing Social Media

I had an interesting exchange on Google Buzz the other day. In response to my post on Facebook Fan Pages, I had an exchange with Scott Medlock about the importance of being where your clients/prospects are in order to efficiently manage your social media activities.

Scott said that he used the Dr. Pepper method of 10/2 and 4 to connect on social media. Not being a Dr. Pepper drinker, I had no idea what 10/2 and 4 referred to and Scott was kind enough to elaborate:

Remember the old Dr Pepper line...Have a Dr Pepper at 10/2 and 4? I just have in my personal schedule to bring up a firefox that I've saved all my social accounts in as tabs. I bring it up around 10 2 and 4 every day, tab thru them and answer queries, check updates from people, and interact. Usually it takes 5-10 minutes.

That way I'm online and paying personal attention at least three times a day w/o allowing my social web activity to suck away work time. I sometimes get on later or earlier in the day. But I nearly always do my 10/2/and 4 to answer queries, etc. It works pretty well and keeping me connected.

I like this system! It's efficient and keeps one connected several times during the day vs. a once a day approach, or shotgun, the way I do it. I tend to dip in and out of twitter and Facebook several times a day but not in such a structured way. I may set up my calendar to prompt me at specific times instead of when I want to procrastinate or am feeling uninspired by my projects. :-)

How do you manage your time on social media? Or do you manage it at all?

Comments

[Stephanie LH Calahan aka @StephCalahan]

Denise -
I agree with this method. As a productivity coach, one of my biggest concerns when social media came on "the scene" was that it would be a HUGE time waster. I know that this fear is not uncommon and many still feel that way. If you are not careful, social networking, like email, can become addicting and you end up not getting any work done.

However, if you put systems to your social networking --- automate posts where it makes sense and scheduling interaction to build relationships --- you can have the best of both worlds.

I have a few different social networking accounts and have developed timing for interaction that works for my audience. For example, I visit Twitter 4 times a day at set times. (I'll be trying the 10/2/4 interval -- looking for the most optimum for my audience.) I visit Facebook twice a day and LinkedIn or other affinity groups once a week.

I schedule this on my calendar just like I would another face-to-face appointment. The only time the schedule changes is when I have client appointments.

I evaluate the effectiveness of the relationships I'm building and adjust as appropriate.

When I work with my clients on their time and priority management, we figure out schedules that work for their communities and set up similar schedules. It works like a charm.
To your success!
Stephanie

[Debbie Hemley]

Denise,

Thanks for this post. I like the idea of the Dr. Pepper method of 10/2 and 4 to connect on social media, too. While I'm not entirely shotgun (a little more order in the morning than the afternoon) I could definitely use a systematic approach, too.

I start my day by reading through a number of google alerts I set up on various keywords. This usually takes around 30 minutes or so. During the day when I think of it (!) I spend some time doing real-time searches on google and twitter to keep a pulse of what's going on in my areas of interest, too. I've got a few websites I go to on regular basis, and rss feeds to blogs which I find most useful.

There's never a shortage of information but after awhile you start seeing people retweeting a lot of the same info. I love the more original and unique posts!

[Susanne Conyers]

This is a great idea. Now maybe I can stop staying up until the wee hours of the morning/night to keep pace with managing my sites and my elearning. A good primer for those just starting out with social media. Denise I appreciate your willingness to help others.

[Melanie Kissell]

I haven't had a Dr. Pepper in years! Just reading this post prompts me to put DP on my grocery list for the weekend. :-) Although I'm rarely near my computer at 10, 2, or 4 during the week, I really embrace the concept of having a particular sequence of scheduled times for social media.
And I want to "second" Debbie Hemley's remark -- this info is truly unique and original -- the kind of stuff that's hard to come by these days.

[Wayne Roberts]

I like this idea.... make sense to me.... that structure approach.... good!

[Nisha Pawar]

We all work around different times and I guess everyone needs to find a balance that suits their particular schedule. We must also remember when half the world is awake...the other half is asleep. Unless they have overdone Dr P! The beauty of social media is that it has a truely global reach. See http://prperspectives.tumblr.com/

[Tania Halpin]

This is a really great idea! I have really good time management skills, so I am very wary of spending too much time on my social media sites but having said that - I probably don't spend as much time as I should! I generally visit my social media sites once a day but now I think I will implement your rule! Thanks for the post.

[Colin Welch]

This is a useful piece - thanks for sharing it Denise.

If you maintain a presence on lots of Social Media platforms finding time to manage it all can be one of the biggest challenges.

We've also published a short guide to managing social media activity in our Free Resources pages:

http://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/free-resources/manage-social-media-schedule/

[Marc Goormastic]

This is very useful - thanks Denise. One of the most important ideas here is to calendar the time. It doesn't have to be a huge chunk, but set it aside several time daily. Since social media only works if we stay at faithfully, daily discipline is critical or we'll get busy and days will fly by with no posts. Then all of our prior work is wasted. By scheduling "dips" at 10, 2, 4 or any other times, we can stay consistent, which is the key to social marketing.

[Anna Muller]

Oh! I really like that idea... sounds interesting