By Erika Icon

YNOT – Andy Warhol famously said everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. With the help of online social media, individuals and companies are proving he underestimated.

In just 15 minutes a day, you can make your business or brand a little more famous and potentially drive profits by engaging the online masses. The trick is to keep Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr and all the other networks from taking over your life.

Social media can be a time suck. If your company doesn’t have a dedicated social media expert and/or publicist, the responsibility can be overwhelming — but you need to carve out the time. And 15 minutes is a day is all it should take.

Spend five minutes on your company’s Facebook page. Start by looking at the wall for new posts, comments and questions. If you take the time to acknowledge your fans or customers, they are likely to take a greater interest in your product and spread the word.

Keeping the wall fresh is also important, so try to post an update, photo or link to a story or announcement of some kind. You could even post a press release. A good way to get people’s attention is to talk about current events. Offer a coupon for customers if they mention a specific word or if they get people to “like” your page.

Depending on the number of followers you have, Twitter can be your best social-media weapon. Try to add followers every week. If you don’t care how full your timeline gets, follow lots of people and follow back anyone who follows you first. Check Twitter’s list of trending topics to see if any apply to your business, and then join the conversation about those topics.

Be very careful about scheduling tweets using applications that tweet for you. Some break Twitter’s terms of service, which could lead to a suspension or deletion of your account.
It’s best to tweet throughout the day. I always tell my clients to shoot for 10 tweets a day, even if you’re just commenting about something very basic. Retweets — which occur when another Twitter user picks up your message and tweets the news again, usually giving you credit — can attract new follows and give old followers a reminder about you or your company. Also remember to use hashtags (keywords with a # sign in front of them). Hashtags influence the results users see when they do a Twitter search for topics, people, products, etc.

Pinterest has gained traction over the past few months. Pinning images to topical Pinterest boards can be difficult for the adult industry, because the site doesn’t allow anything inappropriate for children. That’s both good and bad news. The bad news: Unless you’re interested in posting G-rated content only, Pinterest isn’t a good tool for your social media arsenal. The good news: Pinterest is one tool on which you can spend two minutes or less per day and still remain visible. Don’t spend a lot of time trying to be clever. If you can’t think of anything to pin, pick a broad topic like customer service and mention the salesgirl at Nordstrom who went the extra mile to find the shoes you couldn’t live without. Pin a photo of the shoes and stick the whole thing under a category like “customer service” or “retail.”

A blog can be an invaluable social media tool. Try to blog at least once a week, even if all you write is a simple announcement about a new client or a product launch. Sprinkle popular keywords in each post to help drive search engine traffic to your site. Setting up an RSS feed of your posts is a good idea, too. Add a blog navigation menu that allows readers to find posts quickly and easily.

A few times a month, upload a video to YouTube (if the network is appropriate for your business model). Videos don’t have to be fancy or professionally produced to attract a crowd. Buy an inexpensive, hand-held camera — or even use your phone — and start recording. Don’t worry about making mistakes — you can always edit the raw footage later. When you’re finished fooling with it, upload the video to YouTube. Mention it on Twitter, Facebook or one of the other networks, and keep an eye out for responses. Also make sure to comment on other people’s videos, and you will see your YouTube subscribers increase. Make sure to let your Twitter followers and Facebook friends know about your YouTube channel.

What should you shoot for YouTube? Interview a friend or coworker about some aspect of your business. Film a demonstration of a new product. Almost anything will work as subject matter as long as it’s not explicit. Here again, uploads that are deemed potentially harmful to minors may be deleted by site administrators.

Whatever form of social media you use, remember to respond to others who mention you or your company. If someone gives your product high marks, acknowledge the compliment. It takes just a few minutes to say “thank you,” and letting your customers know you appreciate them will help your business grow. Personal responses also give your business a voice, making other users of the medium feel like they know you, and people love that.

Social media can seem like a lot of work, but it’s all worth the effort. Allocate just 15 minutes a day; manage all of your accounts at once, or break up the work into small chunks throughout the day. Treat social media contacts the same way you’d treat real-world friends: Both need attention.