When small businesses hear about all of the social media tools they can use to expand business, it can seem like an uphill battle to find the time to put a plan into action. Hiring someone to implement a social media plan can be a good investment (hint, hint), but if you don’t have that option, let’s look at how I would spend just 25 minutes a day on Twitter marketing a Doylestown small business.

Approve New Followers – 5 minutes

Sort through any new followers you’ve received, determine if you should follow them back, and add them to any appropriate lists. If you organize emails from Twitter this should be an easy task. Twitter also lists your followers by the latest that has join, so you can just click on your Followers list and work your way through. Create lists that will help you join conversations. A book store’s lists might include:  known current customers, local residents, book reviewers, and authors.

Find New People to Follow – 5 Minutes

Search for new people to follow that may be interested in your business. Twitter provides a great search feature so you can find people that have mentioned Doylestown on Twitter, and other websites can help you find people that are located in Doylestown or surrounding cities like Twellow, or by interests like WeFollow.

Respond to Tweets – 10 Minutes

If you’ve organized your followers into lists, start browsing through each list and respond to people, ask questions, or answer any problems they’ve had. You can also go back to Twitter search and search for any keywords to find conversations you want to participate in, for instance if a bookstore has just reviewed a new book, search for the title to see who else is reading or reviewing the book and join the conversation.

Schedule Tweets – 5 Minutes

If you are using a Twitter program like EasyTweets.com you can schedule your tweets in advance. While you want people to know that an author’s book signing is happening RIGHT NOW, chances are, you are probably a bit busy and don’t have time to get on Twitter. You can schedule your tweets as far in advance as you want, so make a plan for the week for days and times you need to tweet specific things, and get them in the system so you can concentrate on business.