I read recently that many micro marketers are now doing all their social networking in ten minutes. I find this very hard to believe. I budget 20 minutes a day and limit myself to 2 hours a week on this aspect of my marketing.

It obviously depends what you may be promoting that week as well, maybe less or maybe a little more. But I definitely don’t think you can do it in 10 minutes a day…very well at least.

Based on the research I’ve done this week alone, on over 30 articles on the subject, the rule of thumb seems to be set aside an amount of time a day and hit these sites:

1. Twitter- Say something, follow someone
2. Facebooks- Say something, update something
3. Linked In-Comment on a group, link to someone
4. Check Google Alerts-Check Your company name, your name

I go about it a little differently
1. First I use www.ping.fm to say something to these accounts, post a video or a link: I have it set up to go to twitter, plaxo and linkedin ( I could use it for Facebook too, but I don’t like the set up personally, so I choose to do that seperately)
2. Facebook- Add to one or more of my groups and make my comments
3. Once a week I’ll check out other sites like Naymz, Biznik or Seesmic and see if I can post additional information if need be.

I already have google alerts set up to my email so I get them once a day without having to check the site. This program works for me, I’ve seen results and I can get it done before most folks are out of bed in the morning. Hope this may give you ideas to organize your social marketing, set limits and market effectively on the web!

My Best,
Kathy Kane
Market Insights, LLC