Are You Keeping Up With Social Media

by Jennifer Brown on February 7, 2012

related person on Google+ 1024x509 Are You Keeping Up With Social MediaYesterday I was talking to a guy I partner with on some work. I am a subcontractor for his business. In other words, he sells my ghostwriting services and makes a commission each time he signs me up with a new client. We were discussing social media and how we could add value to one of our products if we could add a social media package.

I know there are many companies out there already who provide social media services to companies that understand how important social media is to their bottom line. I’m not really comfortable taking someone else’s social media tasks because social media is so personal.

And yet it’s so necessary to have a busy social media presence on the web.

The truth is I can hardly keep up with my own social media obligations. I use Facebook and Pinterest as my main social media outlets but only because they are so easy to use and I am familiar with how they work. Most importantly they are easy to use and fun. Twitter and now Google+ have me bewildered.

I know how to use both Twitter and Google+ but to me they are redundant. I’m already communicating with the same people on Facebook so why is it necessary to do so as well on Google+ and Twitter?

With regard to Twitter, I don’t know. Sure there is more traffic to gain but Twitter to me seems like an old party line with everyone yelling in at and few people hearing what is being said. I know there are people who really enjoy the chaos that is Twitter but I prefer something more intimate.

Google+ on the other hand is necessary  if I want to be an authority on particular topics and thus garner more traffic. The more you post on Google+ about your industry the more likely you will appear in related person search results that appear on the right side of the search results. Posting more often on Google+ could be the biggest thing your do for your SEO and yet it’s redundant and if you follow the same people (and we all do on each network) it could be a little spammy.

There are only so many sites I can visit and interact with each day and due to the nature of social network sites (they are a huge time suck) I have to limit my involvement or automate the process with feeds. The problem with automation is your friends and family don’t want to interact with an automated tool, they want to interact with you.

How do you keep up with your social media obligations?

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  • http://www.everydaytrish.com/ Trish

    Sometimes I think we get TOO caught up social media. Especially if you’re a blogger, you have to give yourself time to produce quality content, otherwise you’re making “friends” but having nothing of value to give them. I try to split my time between the outlets I frequent the most, usually 15-30 minutes a day per site. That really adds up, especially since I have a full time job on top of blogging. But to me, that’s enough. I get caught up, reply to friends and post about what’s going with me and the blog.

  • http://nonamedufus.blogspot.com/ nonamedufus

    It’s impossible. It’s too much. Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, Pinterest, 2 Blogs, visiting my blog roll. It can’t all be done every day. And that thing called “real life” is always getting in the way.

  • http://www.weworkforcheese.com/ Nicky

    Gah! I started to write a comment and it became a freakin’ novel!! Ok, I’ll try to be brief:
    - IMHO, a business shouldn’t use more than 2 types of social media
    - Choose your social media based on what your clients (or potential clients) are using

    Some Twitter advice from one who learned the hard way:
    - Avoid following spammers, random people, self-professed “marketing gurus” and anyone with thousands of followers. This is what causes the party line effect.
    - Follow your customers, your suppliers, indirect competitors, others in your industry. Chances are, they’ll follow you back.
    - Don’t just talk about your company!! Share articles, information, breaking news. In other words, talk the same way you would if you were meeting a customer or supplier face-to-face (except using only 140 characters).
    - Share other people’s tweets or comment on them, same like you would for a blog buddy

    In the end, it is better to be followed by 200 people who are interested and engaged, than by 200 000 who couldn’t care less!!

    Here endeth the lesson :-)

  • Pingback: Businesses trying to keep up with social media savvy customers | Tribal Blogs

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    tribal blog i think its a good idea to know more about blogging
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