Let’s face it, there are a lot of Social Media sites out there. You may be rushing around trying to participate in each one.
Relax, take a deep breath.
I know it seems like “the next big thing” is waiting to pass you by, but calm down for a moment and consider this: with each site you add you are reducing the amount of time and quality of thought that you can devote to every other site.
Let’s do some simple math. You have 24 hours in a day; for the sake of this argument, let’s say you use 8, which is 1/3 of your day. Now, let’s say you have 4 sites to pay attention to. It you were to spend EVERY working minute on those 4 sites, you would have 2 hours to devote to each. That’s a fair amount. But you probably aren’t devoting a full day to your social properties. So let’s say you realistically can afford to spend 2 hours of your work day on these 4 sites. Now we’re looking at 30 minutes per site..not too bad.
Let’s add another site to pay attention to.
Now you’ve got 5 sites. Now you are down to 24 minutes per site. Add another, now you are down to 20 minutes per site. You get the point.
Do the math and you’ll see that each site takes away from the time you are able to commit to sharing, commenting, engaging and meeting new people.
What is your goal?
This is why we ALWAYS start with strategy because trying to keep up with things as they happen is like “Whack-a-Mole.” Social Media sites are going to pop up and gain popularity faster than you can keep up with. You don’t need to join every one of them.
If you start by determining what you want to accomplish you can avoid wasting time on sites that lead you in the wrong direction.
But what about…?
Pintrest? Well…
Is you audience primarily female? Do you have a series of topics that would be well presented visually? Do you have expectations of what all that curation will get you? Is this curation worth taking time away from fill in the blank?
Quora? Well…
Do you have a wealth of knowledge about a particular topic? Do you have a plan for how to convert the person who asked the question into a customer? How long are you prepared to answer questions without generating a dollar? Is this worth taking time away from fill in the blank?
These are the types of questions that you need to ask before getting involved in any new network.
Don’t just jump on the bandwagon without first thinking about where it’s going.
Peace in the Valley: Consolidation
What’s nice about consolidation is the same thing that’s nice about focus, it creates a certain intangible calmness. The prospect of simply changing a profile avatar across 35 sites is mind-boggling, let alone answering questions and engaging in conversations.
What if you only had 3 sites but you worked them to the bone? How much easier would it be to create a progress report if all you had to worry about was Twitter, Google+ and your blog?
The funny thing is that many companies and individuals that jump for “the next big thing” haven’t even figured out the last “big thing.” If 2012 is the year you plan to move the needle with your internet marketing, think about what you do and don’t need. Our suggestion, lock down your branded name everywhere, point it back to a single page and measure where your traffic to that page is coming from…that’ll tell you if you need to pay attention to that “next big thing.”