Your time is important, and you want to make the most of it and be efficient. Stick with these 4 pillars and you’ll be on your way to a fruitful and successful social online experience
Be Active:
If you don’t show up, how can you be social? Well you can’t. A few tweets a week, a Facebook post here and there, maybe 1-2 blog posts per month. That’s not going to cut it. You need to show consistency, otherwise how are you ever going to make any connections? Get out there and make it happen.
The amount of time you have allotted for Social Media will determine where you spend your time. The more time you have will enable you to participate in more networks.
Spend your time in the High Rent District:
Under 20 hours per week to spend on Social
Facebook Groups – A great place to make connections with like-minded individuals. Just search in FB for topics of your interest. Ask to join, most groups are open and welcome anyone. Once inside, start participating at least 3-5 days per week.
Twitter – The world’s largest open messaging system, with 140 million users. It takes time and consistency, but once you get rolling it’s a great way to share information and build rapport with other users. It’s important to maintain lists to keep your experienced organized.
LinkedIn Groups – There is just about a group for every field. You should have a mix of industry groups that are similar to yours, and groups that are your target market. The mindset should be to provide value to the conversation, and not to stuff your services down someone’s throat.
20 Hours Plus per Week to spend on Social (Add 2 from below in addition to the above)
Google Plus – It boggles my mind how many people are not active on Google Plus. If you write and publish articles on the internet, you absolutely have to get active on G+. Google is going to reward you for playing in their sandbox. It will help your SEO, and your content stands a better chance of getting searched and found. Go join after reading this article. Dust it off if you’re registered, and dive into G+. Google Plus tends to be more serious than Facebook, with less riff raff, and is loaded with Technology and Photography. While you will notice lighter activity overall than Facebook, there is plenty of intellectual conversation to be had.
Pinterest – The growth has been through the roof. Even if this isn’t a natural fit for your business or interest it’s worth the time to set up an account and spend some time here. People are visual, and people online are incredibly visual. Set up some boards, pin some photos, and discover others content. There is some great content on Pinterest.
Instagram – There are a lot of people out there that are passionate about photography. A good photo is worth 2000 words. You can certainly build a network on Instagram, and if you have any interest in photography you need to be on board. Users here love talking about photos. Keep in mind that Instagram is owned by Facebook. While Facebook has let Instagram alone to date, you have to figure at some point they will use the Facebook engine to grow the user base at Instagram. You still have time to get ahead of any move.
There are new networks and apps coming out daily. Stay the course with the platforms above. That’s where the majority of people spend their time. Don’t get distracted by the shiny new toy, chances are it won’t live up, and will only suck your time. Based on your niche you should also spend time on networks that are a fit. For example, if you’re in the restaurant business, you’ll want to spend time on Yelp.
Comment, Like, and Share
So you’re active, and you consistently post articles, photos, quotes, etc. However, there are so many that Post and Run. Don’t Post and Run. There are a plethora of posts created daily that are very lonely. Generally they are lonely because the person posting rarely comments, likes, and shares others content. Like it or not, reciprocation is a staple of a successful social presence online. Typically these posters, and there are a ton of them out there, post in high volume. Whether you’re an individual or business you must comment, like, and share the content of others. This is how you make connections and build relationships. Don’t be the person that goes to the party and sits at the corner by themselves. Don’t be anti-social. It’s called Social Media for a reason. Get out there and dance.
Time and Patience –
It takes time to build rapport. If you’re looking for immediate gratification, the online social sphere probably isn’t for you. On each network where you participate, you’ll slowly find your crew. It will continue to grow with time, and your network will blossom. This doesn’t happen overnight. You have to put in the time.
What advice would you give to someone that’s new to social media, but is keen to join? Please leave a comment below, and share this article with your friends!
@sbhsbh
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I think that a very important place to spend time is on forums and online communities that are related to your niche or your business. For real estate agents posting articles to ActiveRain is a huge benefit as Google sees ActiveRain as a real estate community. So seek out online communities with decent pagerank to contribute to and also to build relationships on.
Hi Kate – I totally agree. I mentioned FB Groups and LinkedIn groups, but yes a niche group is a definite must relative to your interest. Thanks for the comment.
Great job Steven. I love the comment about not posting and running. Ahhh so many don't understand it is not a broadcasting platform (no matter LI, FB or whatever). The power is in the engagment. Nicely done my freind…
Hi Gerry – We see it everyday. The broadcaster. He and she are not shy about posting on any and every network. I don't get it, we'll communicate with the people that want to communicate. :)
Be, you know, SOCIAL!
I'll admit that I sometimes fall off the planet some days because I get busy with my job, but I always try to make up for it and not feel too guilty when I'm not around online.
Missing a day here or there is a crime…You just have to show a level of consistency of a period of time if anyone wants to get any value from it…Thanks Jeff
Of course I meant "isn't a crime" oops :)
Steven, thank you for the benefit of your experience [and] your wise counsel! I will be implementing the many gems contained in the is post post haste. ~Stephanie