My WordPress Blog updates my Twitter, which posts to my Facebook and updates my status and all of this is monitored by FriendFeed which also pulls in information from Vimeo, Lastfm, Flickr, YouTube etc, etc. If I don’t do all of this then I am not reaching everyone in my audience so where do we start.
Is that the slightest bit overwhelming to anyone? Noise overload perhaps, how are you supposed to keep track of it all? It seems to me that so many people and businesses tend to get so caught up in what connects to what and how this program updates the other, that they loose track of their purpose for entering social media in the first place. To foster relationships, whether it be with clients, customers or critic, the point is to make connections!
Here is my advice, and it is something I often say to clients when they start to drum up the subject of social media. You do not need a profile on every single network out there in order to be effective and not every single form of social media will will accomplish your goal.
Before we even decide which ones are going to be effective for you, we need to establish a goal. What is you purpose for venturing into the realm of social media? Yes everyone else is doing so, and yes you are overlooking opportunity if you deny the power of social media, but… Just like any other form of marketing there has to be should be a focus for creating the campaign, otherwise you might just as well throw your time and money out the window.
When that goal is defined we can get started, but let’s start simple. Let’s discover one or two social media networks that are really going to help you reach out and touch your market and let’s get really good at them. Just like any community, group or neighborhood you are the new guy. You need to see how the community works before you can run for mayor and trust me this is not going to happen over night. You need to build, establish a rapport, make connections. Your strategy will begin to develop around your experience.
Now you might be ready to explore further into the realm of social media.
The point is don’t get caught up in “the hype”, there is a lot out there and it can be extremely overwhelming. You should be adapting and embracing social media, but you need to do it for the right reasons and with the right intentions. Don’t just jump in wildly start registering profiles, connecting things that don’t need to be connected. By doing so you will be missing the true value of social media and in the end only adding to the noise that once overwhelmed you.
