Time management and social media are the ultimate odd couple.

The social aspect of the Net is miraculous. Families share simple moments and joy day-to-day and their reach is unencumbered by distance and oceans that lie between them. Childhood chums reconnect and fortify bonds untouched in decades.

The business side of the social Net is less than miraculous. Social media is probably the single biggest time wasting exercise in the history of mankind from the perspective of business outreach.

Social media corridors see increasing hordes of real estate agents and vendors commiserating night and day at Facebook, the mother of all social media water coolers.  Twitter runs a close second, pounding the Web with a staccato of micro bursts, hashtags, and retweets.

It’s easy to see that most agents engage without a plan. The social Web is very transparent. It does not take a rocket scientist to measure the quality and frequency of an agent’s social media engagement with his prospects for financial success offline.

Few agents seem to block their time to engage with a sound strategy. That fact is obvious following a scan of ill tended Facebook business pages, an absence of meaningful engagement, and weak, uninspired seeding. Sadder is the lack of original or thought provoking content coming from their own blogs.

Here are 6 tips to manage your weekly social media engagement.

1. Block at least half an hour daily for strategic Facebook engagement and Fan Page management. This does NOT include exchanges with family, friends, and other real estate professionals.
2. Block at least half an hour daily for consumer-facing Trulia Voices or Zillow Discussions or Yahoo! Answers.  Real estate consumers gather there by the tens of millions., looking for answers to their questions about real estate.
3. Block at least half an hour each week to an hour for LinkedIn network building and engagement. LinkedIn is the most underutilized social platform and the richest professional networking site. Join several human resources groups! LinkedIn is the social media darling among human resources professionals. Think about it. Who knows who’s coming and who’s going in any company? Who the first to know who’s moving into town?
4. Block two to three hours a week to blog. Your blog is your center of gravity in the online world. If you are not blogging yet, you should be blogging. If you are already blogging, think about ways you can take your blogging to the next level.
5. Consider traditional prospecting methods and consider social media alternatives to save time, increase production, and economy. How can you weave social media into your FSBO prospecting plan, or your expired prospecting plan? Put on your thinking cap, think out of the box and make social media work for you and help you make more money.
6. Review risk management protocols, reputation management, and overall compliance goals. Stay on top of news and trends about protecting your online identity. Implement best practices that will keep you out of trouble and out of court.

Ready to get started working on your blog? Login to Club Zebra to download your free handout, Develop a Blog Business Plan.