I may just be a social media Scrooge.
There has to be a point of saturation in the world of social media right? A point of complete saturation for our brains, our inboxes and our overall attention span and ability to provide interesting thoughts and content on a very regular basis. I am finding that re-establishing and re-connecting on new sites seemingly every 12 months is becoming truly exhausting. Maybe I am just getting old. I love social media. I use it. I’m using it now. I need it for my business, but I just hate it sometimes.
We have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace (isn’t that dead yet?), Tumblr, myYearbook, Tagged, Ning, Google+, Mylife, Pinterest, Instagram (we all know what happened there last week)… unfortunately the list goes on and on.
Ok, I admit it, a billion people currently on Facebook can’t be wrong. It’s here to stay a while and a great way to connect and market. I use it for both social and business purposes. I find it to be a great tool for my photography business. However, I don’t have a lot of interesting things to say most of the time on my personal page, but from what I see, many others don’t either. I don’t care what you are eating for supper and I certainly don’t care to hear that your baby has diarrhea or just threw up Spaghetti O’s all over your couch. Sorry, I have (grossly) digressed.
I really like connecting with business folks on LinkedIn. I think it’s a great fit for professionals. “Here’s what I do, here’s my experience and what I offer. Connect and hire me.” Pretty cut and dry. It also offers updates and interesting posts…nothing about your sick kid here. Twitter is cool if you have cool things to say every half hour. I don’t. I am pretty busy running my business, which keeps me in business. Twitter does not keep me in business. When I get a break -like today- I post. I, in fact, break a few social media rules while doing so. My business Facebook posts are tweeted and show up simultaneously on LinkedIn, Twitter and my website. Blog posts from my website are also are posted on Facebook which is then fed through Twitter, which shows up on Linkedin…whew! I figure I am so boring that when I do have a brilliant idea (much like this exact post) I must put it EVERYWHERE all at once for my millions of followers to jump on and read immediately. Social media experts say you should post different content to each site. Again, I’m just not that exciting nor do I have a vast amount of worldly knowledge to share.
So Google+ does look like it has potential but good grief I just updated and polished my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. For now, I think Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter are the current leaders for business but Google+ is upping the ante. You may get yet another request to connect from me. Or not.
Perhaps I will just buy a robot to monitor and post on ALL available social media sites from here on out. Rosie-the-Robot from The Jetsons comes to mind. She always seemed pretty hip and techy. So if you see some weird posts about needing oiled, a fantastic sale at Spacely Space Sprockets or maybe Astro and Elroy making a mess around the skypad apartment, I apologize. That’s how Rosie rolls.
Ok, So what to really do? I simply look at my target audience and focus on them. I am a commercial photographer and find connecting with folks in business and industry benefits me the most. I generally direct potential clients to my hybrid website/blog. Linkedin or Facebook contacts are also driven to my site ultimately. Social Media marketing 101…you need to figure out which social media sites are best for YOU and your business and utilize and market them the most. Keep things fresh too. You want to make it easy for clients, contacts and friends to connect with you. I have found that once you establish yourself though, when someone needs your services they will get you one way or another regardless of your posts.
I found a recent “anti-social” media old school feature on my iPhone that seems to work well. I “connect” or “Friend” them by punching in 7-10 numbers, I hear a ringing sound and magically somehow a voice answers and we TALK. It’s amazing and I am finding others enjoy it too on occasion. Sometimes I even use this technology to schedule…dare I say it…a face to face meeting at a coffee shop.
I am not a social media wizard if you haven’t figured that out but I am interested in any feedback. Good or bad. Is anyone else a bit social media-ed out and how are you managing it for your business?
Bah! Humbug!
Actually, Happy Holidays and best of luck navigating new and old social media in 2013!
Jason
(Jason Minick, is owner/photographer at Minick Photography)