Social networking can be not only fun, but productive, as well. In Tip #6 of 7 Social Networking Tips for the Busy Entrepreneur, I tell you to automate to leverage your time and extend your reach.

Hmmm…social networking…automation…is that really a good idea? Seems counter-intuitive, at first glance, at least to me. But the biggest hazard of social networking is the time suck effect it can have on your day, which of course, is the lure of automation…4-hour work week and all that jazz. Somehow, though, automation in social networking feels somewhat anti-social, doesn’t it?

I’m going to go on record here and say that I’m not a fan of auto-DMs on Twitter. I don’t like being thanked for following someone only to be thanked 13 more times in the next 10 minutes. I don’t feel all that thanked by then – I feel spammed. I used to know how to set up an automatic DM (Direct Message) to people who follow me, but after being the recipient of it going bezerk too many times when I followed other people who use it, I quickly removed it…and deleted it from my memory banks. Making people feel spammed (on purpose or by accident) is not a good way to win friends and influence people.

On the other hand, does it really make a difference if I personally take the time to log in to Twitter and tweet the fact that I have a new blog post up on my site or if I have a little automation helping me out? As long as the automation method is reliable and doesn’t start spamming the Twitterverse, I think it doesn’t matter. There’s no value added by me personally typing it versus a little program Tweeting it for me. The net result is the same: I have Tweeted my new blog post. The time savings, however, are HUGE.

I’m an advocate for effective automation in social networking that doesn’t compromise your authenticity (so that leaves out farming out all of your social networking updates to your VA.) If all that’s going on is some mindless notification update at each social networking site I use, I say bring on the advantages of technology! When I post something new here, it automatically gets Tweeted, added to my Facebook account, my LinkedIn account, and a handful of other social networking sites I use for various reasons. I save loads of time and LOTS more people get notified that I have published something new. THAT’s what I’m talking about when I say leverage your time and extend your reach.

Of course, if that’s all you do, it’s going to be really obvious really soon, so you want to make the rounds to the social networking sites on a regular basis and actually interact at each one. The kind of automation I advocate does not take the place of you interacting at these sites…it just saves you administrative time. In fact, I now use the administrative time I save to get social on Twitter and Facebook.

Another thing I do that helps keep my various social networking sites active AND helps a few of my blogging friends is I have my little automation helper set up to automatically Tweet the blog posts of a very select few other bloggers. By very select few, I mean very select few…3, to be exact. These are folks who I have NEVER seen post a half-assed post in any way, shape or form. I’ve been reading them all for over a year now, and never once have I seen them post anything but great quality posts. (To tell you how selective I am – I don’t even qualify by my own selection criteria!) When I noticed that I was always Tweeting their posts because they were so good, I realized I really ought to automate it and save myself a little more time.

People have asked me if I’d hook their social networking stuff up like I have my own, and finally, I have a service that does exactly that to offer! The methods I use do not require that your blog be a WordPress blog – any blog with an RSS feed will work. And if you’re not on Twitter yet, I recommend you set up a profile…yesterday. (Twitter is the one social networking site that seems to have people from all industries, all fields, all target markets. Doesn’t seem to matter what you do or who you serve – you’re likely to find at least some of your peeps on Twitter.)

So, get your Social Networking Hook-up today and start leveraging your time and extending your reach!

More From Suzanne-Bird-Harris.com

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