Social media cocktail is our own recipe for managing a social media presence in the most efficient manner. If you are not doing social media for a job there is very little reason to be spending more than 60 minutes on it daily. Social media is very important and obviously shouldn’t be ignored but if you’re running a small business, you already have lots on your plate. There is no reason to freak out. All it takes is a bit of technology and some common sense.

Ingredients of a social media cocktail

Let’s start with one of our favorite tools: Buffer. Buffer lets you add content easily while you browse, integrates with a lot of apps and lets you share to your social networks at times pre-set by you. That way you won’t flood your fans, friends or followers with updates but instead spread them over a longer period of time.

Before you start sharing and getting engaged try to remember it is not about you. Provide the value and share content that is relevant and timely. It is OK to mention your own business but the context has to be right.

Content curation. Try to think outside of the box. Don’t share the same thing everybody else is sharing.

Blog. Writing can be hard but what makes it special is that it is the most original content you’re going to share. Try to write a certain amount of words every day. That way you should be able to do at least two posts a week.

Facebook is hard to resist. But assuming you’ve seen more than a fair share of kittens and inspirational quotes, you should limit yourself to one status update and a few comments on friends’ posts. There are some proven techniques to get more engagement for your business page too.

Twitter. It’s easy to get many followers by spam-following lots of people. Somehow people feel obliged to follow you back but in reality they are unlikely to interact with you in the future. Spam-following: don’t do it. Take your time, follow a few people who really have something original to say, retweet them and perhaps send a DM or two.

LinkedIn is the ultimate social network for professionals. Connect with your peers, join an industry group or a discussion, or answer a question or two.

Google+. Google likes it a lot and that should be enough. Try to add some people to your circles if you can. Comment on a post if you find one.

Social bookmarking helps spread your content. Going to all these sites can be tedious so use Socialmarker and don’t forget about StumbleUpon and Delicious. Start with this page.

Analytics. Not exactly a social network but it’s good to see if your efforts are paying off.

Enjoy a social media cocktail!