Something I have learned about serving my market is this; I don’t have all the answers, but I do know where to find the answers. Although I know a ton about building a business online, I know there are colleagues who have expertise in areas that will definitely benefit my readers, customers, friends, and connections.
One such person is my friend and colleague, Denise Wakeman. A few days ago we had the opportunity to share time at Brendon Burchard’s Experts Academy in San Jose, California. It was there I asked Denise to share information on social marketing. Without hesitation she agreed.
She is the first of many experts who will be a featured guest blogger for The Marketing Mindset. In the coming months you will hear other top experts.
Today, Denise Wakeman shares insights into the importance of having a social marketing plan.

 
 
Building a visible presence on the web takes not only consistent action, it also requires that you are constant…constant with your content production on all platforms.
You know, if somebody lands on a site that has not been updated in a few weeks or months, it’s like going into a shop with no stuff on the shelves, dirt on the floor and broken windows.
In order to stay constant, what do you do? You need to start with a plan. If you’re haphazard about your activity it shows. So here are a couple of things to think about when developing your plan:

What is your message?
Who do you serve?
What do you want them to know about you and your business?

Once you have those questions answered you create a schedule and plot out how you’re going to educate, entertain, and engage your community with your content.
You need to schedule time for your blogging and social media activity. So get a calendar and mark off blogging and social marketing time every week. Set aside dates and times. Schedule two to threes times per week for posting on your blogs. The indisputable fact is, the more you post, the more traffic you’ll get. Then also schedule time to read and comment on other blogs in your niche, so you stay up to date with what’s going on in your industry.
So, what goes on your blog? What goes on Twitter? What goes on Facebook? This is where your editorial calendar comes in. Debbie Weil, in her presentation for Blogging Success Summit, pointed out lessons we can learn from Whole Foods about how they organize their content:

• Twitter for real time alerts
• Facebook for less time sensitive news
• Blog for longer, evergreen content

From my perspective, the information that goes on your blog is the deeper, more intimate content that enables your reader to really get to know you, what you stand for and how you serve them.
I often hear people always are talking about time — that they don’t have enough time to do all this blogging and social media stuff. And yes, if you want to build a powerful, visible presence on the Web, there are many things that you need to do. But if you plan it out, you and your team can get it done without it taking up your entire day.

Start with a half an hour day. Three days a week, write blog posts. Two days a week read articles on other sites and repurpose blog posts into other formats so you can leverage your content on other platforms. Automate what you can and what makes sense to save time.
The bottom line…you’ve got to have a plan for your content so you stay consistent and constant and can be found by your ideal client.
Recently I did a search for “editorial calendars.” Here are a few sites that offer free calendar templates you can download – take your pick:

2011 Blogging Calendar and Planner
Save Time & Stress – Blog Editorial Calendar Template
Don’t Miss a Post – Create an Editorial Calendar for Your Blog
An Editorial Calendar for You (and Your Sanity)

About The Marketing Mindset featured expert. Denise Wakeman is an online visibility expert. The focus of her work is helping you boost your online visibility by making sure the pieces are in place and creating a strategy with you to make sure you’re not spinning your wheels and your systems are working for you instead of against you. You can access more of Denise’s information at http://denisewakeman.com/