The screenshot above was taken on June 14, 2010 to show the daily page views of Facebook, compared to Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and Youtube. As you can see, Facebook is declared number 2 (for now) and that’s a pretty huge deal. When it comes to traffic, Facebook is the only competitor to Google, which has been the “king of the mountain” for a very, very long time.
With social media becoming a huge trend for businesses and organizations to get their name and message out there, I’d like to take this opportunity to offer a few suggestions to “newbies.”
After taking a look at the graph shown above you may understand why I recommend focusing on Facebook and not worrying about Twitter or LinkedIn. You’ll make your own life much easier, and the purpose of social media marketing is to reach your audience. If you don’t see a point to fishing in a mud puddle: focus on Facebook.
Without further adieu, here are a few free tips to ensure that your social media marketing campaign is as effective as possible.
Social Media Suggestion # 1: Budget Your Time Wisely!
Many “newbies” are spending far too much time on social media… and in many cases this is because they are trying to learn something new. Of course I’ll recommend social media training, so you can receive personal coaching in developing and maintaining a network for social media marketing purposes. However, the most important step to take is limiting the amount of time you spend on exploring and understanding how social networks work. Create a plan before you jump in and stick to your time budget every day, week, and/or month.
Social Media Suggestion # 2: Pick One Platform & Stick With It!
In some situations it is more appropriate to practice “niche networking” but in most cases where social media has not been a critical medium for marketing… just one platform is all you need. Once you get too many balls in the air, it becomes a burden. Yet if you focus all of your “social media time” on just one networking venue, you’ll be able to make the most of your budgeted time and become a pro. Following the statistics, it shouldn’t be too challenging to decide which platform to focus on.
Social Media Suggestion # 3: Plan Ahead!
It often helps to have a list already written of acceptable “Tweets” or status updates. This makes the process of maintaining social networks a less daunting task, so you can move on to more important things. Every once in a while, you’ll have a great idea… write it down and wait! (This is a great way to prevent posting anything you may regret.)
At the same time, you also want to have a set schedule for how you will make your posts, and understand what type of posts you’ll be making. As an example, you may want to post 3 times a day for 5 days a week. In this scenario, you might want to do one promotional post that is self serving (such as announcing an event or special offer.) To compensate for this and avoid producing spam, you would want to do a promotional post for somebody else in your network, such as a compliment, comment, or re-post. For the remaining post, a conversation starter is always a great idea. (Think of commenting on local or industry specific news topics, sharing a joke, or an inspirational quote.)
Social Media Suggestion # 4: Keep It Social!
Whether you use Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn… you have a very high chance of running across somebody who only wants to talk about themselves. When you do, you’ll see how annoying this can be and you’ll understand why that is never effective. But you don’t really need to be in that situation to recognize that networking in any environment requires etiquette.
It may be challenging for you to find the best way to utilize social media for marketing without being too promotional, but it is possible! For personal, in house social media training customized to your unique needs please call Caryn at (315) 876 – 5925.
