
I hope I succeed in this goal through the wide-ranging articles on business development, self-care, goal-setting, marketing, etc., that I post links to on my LinkedIn status updates and my Twitter feed. You tell me: do you find them useful? I know I do!
But, contrary to how it must look from the outside, I am not spending all day, every day in the social media whirl ... and you don't have to either, even as you strive to expand your profile, demonstrate your expertise more widely and (hopefully) attract clients. I actually only spend a couple of hours a week (sometimes less) researching articles and making my posts ... but I do this using two excellent free online tools that, if you want to develop your online presence, you may want to explore.


Bufferapp (www.bufferapp.com) is a service for which you can register online, for free! It provides an extremely neat solution to the problem of how to keep your social media presence consistently visible.
You can schedule up to 10 posts at a time (more, if you use the paid-for "Awesome" feature) to your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts, to be delivered on a schedule that you determine across whatever time-frame suits your needs.
So, for example, I have my account set up to post my content three times a day to my Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn feeds, Monday to Friday, with the times these get sent out staggered (based, again, on my timing choices) across the day and across each account. Each item I choose to post is automatically sent out by Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and to ensure they are not too close together in time, I use the simple 'shuffle' facility to mix them up and keep my postings varied.
All I need to do is visit my Bufferapp page twice a week, update it with content culled from my Google Reader, or with items about my own services that I want to promote, and in less than a couple of hours a week, I have created a consistent and varied social media presence that keeps my profile high with my readers. When those readers then choose to share or Re-Tweet my postings, my reach is expanded even further and my name recognition as someone who has a degree of expertise in this area of marketing and coaching is enhanced, drawing new followers and, ultimately, new enquiries and, yes, clients!
If you're looking to increase your own use of social media, I can't recommend Bufferapp enough (by the way, no money has changed hands in return for this endorsement :D) ... there will be other similar services out there, but to date, my experience with Bufferapp has been second-to-none and I know you'll agree if you choose to try it out. Go on ... why not get buffering today ...
Cheers for now
Author: Colin Clerkin
For more ideas about how to grow your business, check out my Business Breakthrough Programme and learn how Mirror Coaching can help systematise your marketing to maximise your referrals.