Ever feel like your social media efforts are weighing you down? I sure do! So I thought up a way to make some changes. Just created a little spreadsheet starting with a list of all the social media accounts that I have, both personal and for business, and the list includes just the ones that are active. The count? Eleven major social networks with 15 business accounts and 7 personal ones. The personal accounts may be related to my businesses to some degree but only slightly (say less than 20%). That’s a LOT of accounts to handle! No; wait a minute! It is insanity! And it explains why my days get bogged down at times. Putting it “in writing” brought things into focus.
A big thumbs down! Ah, but a spreadsheet is really useless without data. A list has been created and nothing more. A little birdie tells me that I've been checking these accounts all too often because they’re checked on a whim; kind of like an “ooh ah! I haven’t checked that one in a while!” Need to add some structure! Time to put in some columns. How ‘bout times of the day? I put them in intervals of 2 hours, starting with 7AM …on second thought, I snuck in 8AM too since I tend to do a lot of “busy” stuff in the morning. And for good measure, 12PM is now there too. Started using the spreadsheet today. A couple weeks from now when there's enough data: Analysis! Will it eventually show patterns and and where there’s too much time being spent, or perhaps not enough? The good news is that not all social networks need my attention on a daily basis, such as Pinterest. However, it’s there on the sheet as a reminder not to forget it; it is important that I pin my blogs there as well and also see what other people have pinned, however, it just can’t be every day! See, I'm already prioritizing before even getting started: Mindset! This little “experiment” is going to pan out. While I feel like I'm twiddling my thumbs, I know that’s not actually true and now there will be evidence of how much work is involved with social media upkeep. How ‘bout you? Would you try something like this? The Rolling Stones sang about something we all want to have better control of (see below). If you need better control of your time spent marketing, let us help you with your strategy. Stop by our website, or stop by on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
True story: A post on my Groovy Reflections Facebook page received over 185,000 likes and 50,000 shares. It was never posted on the Groovy Reflections Google+ page, but I figured it could get a few likes and a share or two there. So, a week after it went viral on Facebook, I posted it. It received one like. Okay, it may not have been the same time of day. And there’s close to 10,000 fans on Facebook and somewhere in the 300’s for Google+. However, I wasn’t exactly seeking great expectations! A figure amounting to less than the digits on my hands was a reasonable objective, no? Guess not. I admit that I’ve been concentrating on Facebook and Twitter and not enough on Google+. Number one reason is that there’s just not enough manpower (uh, womanpower) to keep it going. Sure, even with Hootsuite adding posting capability for Google+ I’m still swamped at this point and having been utilizing that new feature. I’ve also thought a lot about the two social networks. Google+ is not just another Facebook. It’s somewhere in between Twitter and Facebook. Posts fly at lightning speed just like they do in Twitter. There’s a second or two where posts can catch your eye. Based on that fact, you should expect the response for your public post on Google+ to be similar to when you tweet. So, unless you’ve taken up the time to build up a base of folks that will specifically seek out what you have to say, either by adding you to one of their more special circles or by going directly to your profile, you’re going to have a hard time being heard. Couple of basics as far as build up goes on Google+:
Post often
Content must be of high quality and it must be the right content
Eye catching photos help
Create a circle of quality GPlusers and share it (with you in it too)
Respond to people as often as you can
Thank people when they circle your page; after all, they have to reach out to you!
And thinking about Google+ pages, in all honesty, I don’t see the advantage of having one at this point. But stay tuned; I’ll write more about that eventually. My main reason for having two pages on Google+ is to keep two different subject matters (and businesses) separated. Sometimes I share those posts on my personal G+ account (which is growing like a weed for some strange reason) but often those posts fall flat as well. Funny thing is I like to toss out “help” posts like one the other day when I was stuck in Excel and needed some assistance. There are always a few knowledgeable folks out there that are glad to lend a hand! You’ll be seeing more of me on Google+ in the future; stay tuned. Eric Clapton sang about allowing things to blossom in this gem of a tune. And hey! Stop by and say hi!:Twitter,Facebook,Google+, or thewebsite.
Ever feel like your social media efforts are weighing you down?
