I love Twitter.

It’s a fantastic social media platform to build relationships, spread your word and grow your small business.

However, if you’re not careful, Twitter can turn into a time hungry work avoidance strategy and reduce your productivity.

So if you’re finding Twitter has become an addictive time drain that’s distracting your attention away from those bigger goals, it’s time to wean yourself off.

To help, here are three techniques that maintain your visibility but cut the time you need to spend tweeting.

Try them and see…
 

1. Use Twitter lists:

 
Twitter lists are a powerful way to cut the noise from your fast-moving timeline and quickly focus in on the key people you want to connect with. For more ideas on how Twitter lists can save your time and boost your engagement, read this Twitter Lists post.
 

2. Schedule tweets:

Twitter is all about 2-way conversation which may leave you feeling a little uncomfortable about scheduling tweets. However some scheduling is a very useful way of making a smart presence on someone’s timeline without needing to be there in real time.

For sure you shouldn’t schedule everything, but pre-posting some of your content in one block of focused Twitter time, is a great way to boost your productivity.

What’s more, with tools like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck and Buffer it’s really easy to do. Just write the tweet and set a future time for it to be posted. Simple.

A powerful way to get the most from your scheduling is to create a formula of “tweet” types that you post each day. Here are some examples:

A.   Tweet related to your industry:   extremely effectively at establishing your niche authority.
B.   Tweet a question:   useful for market research & initiating conversation.
C.   Tweet an opinion:   helps establish your personality.
D.   Tweet links to your blog:   helps drive web traffic (don’t forget to use tracking URLs).

In addition, stay alert for great content tweeted out by other people in your niche. You could schedule these retweets into your Twitter plan to add value to your followers.
 

3. Plan in focused Twitter time:

 
I find a lot of small business owners dip in and out of Twitter and then respond to what they see. Or even worse, they keep their Twitter feed constantly open to be sure they don’t miss anything.

For sure this approach will give you maximum presence, but for the amount of time required, is the return you’re getting really worth it?

Instead, plan focused Twitter time into your working day.

For example, schedule a 10 minutes slot in the morning, one at lunchtime and again in the evening.

And during these focused time slots have a strategy.

• In the morning schedule your tweets for the rest of the day.
• Respond to any @ mentions.
• Thank people who have retweeted your tweets.
• Respond to DMs where appropriate
• Lookout for opportunities to retweet content from key people.

 
Then be spontaneous. Look out for those opportunities to showcase your personality, build new connections or learn more about your audience. Tweet a picture or link to a cool video you’ve spotted. Aim to make your timeline interesting, relevant and valuable for your target audience.
 

Over to you

 
How much time do you spend on Twitter each day? How do you ensure you maximise your presence whilst minimising time spent? Please let me know in the comments below.