People often ask me, why I am only active on 2 social networks – Google+ and Twitter.
The answer is that with only so much time available every day to connect with people on social networking sites, I had a decision to make. I could either have 2 highly valuable social networking assets or join another 6 or 8 and have a diluted presence.
I think of it like this:
- If you have just enough coffee to make 2 really good cups, then spread it out across 10 cups, you end up with 10 bad tasting, weak cups of coffee.
- If you have enough time to be relevant on 2 social networks, yet you spread that time over 10 different social networks, you end up with 10, weaker, social networking profiles. You end up automating. You end up cross posting the same stuff everywhere. You end up vaguely relevant on 10 networks, rather than directly relevant on 1 or 2 networks.
For example, I currently have almost 12,000 people connected with me on Google+, which puts me in the top 1% of users, based on my number of contacts (circles). It’s a network, where I have developed some high quality connections with lots of great people and learned a lot too. Now, if I was also having to spread my time across Facebook, Linkedin, StumbleUpon, Digg, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit and Mixx etc, I would have a series of diluted presences. I’d be weak in many areas, rather than relevant in 1 or 2.
Getting the most from your Social Networking time
Yes, if you have a lot of spare time each day, you can be relevant on more networks than me. However, if you run a successful, growing business and time is in short supply, as it is for most people reading this, I believe you will get a far better return from focusing on relevance rather than volume.
I’d like to know what your experience has been. What works best for you? How do you feel about people who have many social networking accounts, and cross post the same content on them? Share your thoughts.
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Hi Jim, you’ve hit the nail on the head with this posting.
I’ve no doubt that doing little and well in a few select social media venues will beat trying to be omni-present. Of course, the trick (before deciding where to spend your time) is to figure out: a) where your audience is online & b) whether they are likely to engage with you there.
Speaking to which – I’d be interesting in your thoughts re why you believe Google + should be considered a more valuable tool vs other options for service providers. It seems you’ve found ways to make it work that others are struggling to figure out.
Here’s my twopence worth. While it has clearly been adopted (big time) by many people in the international blogging community & I’m guessing it’s quite helpful for SEO reasons – I wonder how it fares when it comes to attracting more SME users. My impression is that SMEs who have created accounts aren’t really that active there yet – which could be a function of the fact that ( a bit like FaceBook) people log more as themselves vs make use of business pages.
Something to mull over of a Friday morning – what do you think?
Maybe the lack of presence of SMEs – and in particular so called ‘solopreneurs’ – is that some (perhaps more than a few) of them are still trying to figure out what on earth they are supposed to do with their accounts once they’ve got them – personal accounts or otherwise! With the proliferation of ‘how to’ posts, webinars and what have you, I can’t help but think I (as an avid avoider of anything bearing the words social media) am not necessarily in the minority of dinosaurs occasionally frequenting this webbed world!
Hi Linda.
There’s a huge amount of ‘how to’ information out there, often written by people with little idea wat they are doing.
If it smalls like bullshit, it probably is. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too.
Best and thanks as always for the feedback, my friend.
Hello Eamonn.
Google+ is a very different proposition to Facebook and the other networks, because of the SEO potential it offers.
Regarding which to choose, the best answer I know came from Seth Godin. Seth said; “you have to make a choice. It doesn’t matter too much which network you choose, but you do need to choose.”
In other words, make a decision to be as relevant as you can on a chosen network or two. Then do the work. Connect. Learn. Share. e useful.
Thanks for the feedback sir.
I agree that (in addition to the blog) two is a good number for social media outlets to concentrate on.
No-one I speak to (apart from you Jim!) seems to know what to do with Google+ whereas several of my clients have said that they like my facebook page and read it So I have decided to major on facebook and twitter.
I always think of twitter as being rather like talking (or maybe shouting) to someone in a busy street with lots of traffic rushing past. Its good for getting things out there but its all a bit frenetic.
Facebook is a nice place to present followers with links to relevant content I have found for them, interspersed with links to some of my own blog posts and messages from me. Its a lot quieter there and they have time to read and consider things. I really like the new facebook timeline BTW which I think works very well.
I NEVER automate posting on facebook (or Linkedin either for that matter) as I think it is a big turnoff. However I don’t think a modest amount of auto tweeting is bad, as I can’t be there all day to post messages for people who happen to be passing by.
Thanks for the feedback, Tessa.
I know you work well with Facebook, though I personally have many issues with how they move the goalposts and ruin people’s strategies and investments. A medium sized company I read about last week had invested £30,000 on Facebook, which will be close to worthless when the new Facebook changes come in at the end of this month. Christopher Penn and John Wall recount an almost identical experience on this week’s Marketing Over Coffee Podcast.
Regarding G+ and Facebook, it’s a case of some basic numbers to me.
In 2 years, I managed to attract just 650 friends on my Facebook page.
In 5 months I managed to attract almost 20 times (yes 2,000%) more people via Google+.
The value of Google+ to my sites is actually greater than that 2,000% in terms of targeted traffic and, of course, SEO. My search traffic has exploded since I started using Google+.
I believe that it’s horses for courses. It’s about picking what works for you and getting the best return from it you can.
Thanks as always for sharing your ideas here, my friend.
Yep. Yep and YEP!!
We saw an immediate 35% lift in organic search traffic when we switched to Google Plus.
Also our posts get crawled within minutes of sharing them on Google Plus, whereas Facebook isn’t even indexed. Your stuff shared on facebook’s only alive on facebook. No link love or Google juice.
Thanks Jim
S J XxX
Hi SJ.
VERY good points there. I was going to mention the immediate indexing benefits of Google+, something few people seem to have picked up on. Anything I share on Google+ is indexed within a few minutes. This was a boon for my new site, when we launched!
Also SJ, when any of the 12,000 people who have circled me on Google+ search for anything related to what I have shared on Google, my results will get prominence in their Google organic search results.
Facebook and Google+ are very different platforms. Many people seem to think it’s same old same old. They could not be more wrong.
I agree that spreading yourself thin is not as effective! Picking a lane is easy for me in terms of twitter and G+ and Facebook is merely that old cousin you don’t want to leave behind. LinkedIn is the primary revenue generator in that our leads there are the most effective but from a marketing and branding perspective G+ is a no brainer. I guess it’s that simple equation of social media giving you true results based on the time you put in. So focus yields that much more!
An interesting perspective there, Thabo. Thanks for sharing.
I use LinkedIn & Twitter for my consultancy business and so far LinkedIn works best. I use Twitter mainly to get information rather than give to be honest. I am starting to use Facebook for another business venture of mine http://www.thefinancementor.com purely because I think it’s more suited to my target market. Time will tell. I do agree that you have to invest time & you should always measure the return you get on your investment!
Two is the number I generally suggest to people.
I use Linkedin to connect with people, but not a lot more – I find the interface not particularly user friendly.
I have increased my activity on Facebook, and now run a thriving little group as well having a business page.
I’m on Twitter but not convinced of the effectiveness of it for my business.
I would like to get to grips with Google+ sometime soon though, and maybe leave Twitter behind when I do so.
Ultimately, everyone is different, and it’s about finding what works for you, your business and your clients.
Hi Jim,
This is a great post. I actually have a related article posted here: http://emarketingfreak.com/the-social-media-marketing-fallacy/
In short, I believe that social media marketing is becoming the next “marketing bubble”. Soon, traditional advertising will become effective once again due to the advertising noise proliferation in the social media space.
Check out the article and let me know your thoughts and if you agree.
-John