I’ve been involved in social networking for a few years now on sites such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed and Twitter, to name a few. I even ran a few BBS’s back in my day. Sometimes it feels like there’s a new one every day. I feel like an old man when I complain about how much noise there is these days.
But for someone just getting started taking their business into the social media realm, the volume can be a bit overpowering. You need a little social media optimization.
Not every social network is for you
I came to learn that I hate MySpace. I agreed wholeheartedly with PC Magazine, when they declared it the #1 Worst Website. Now I know a lot of people who love MySpace, but it’s not for me. I really enjoy Twitter, but I know quite a few people who can’t stand the platform. This is why not every social network is for you.
When it comes to social media optimization, there are 3 key questions to ask:
- How much daily time do I have to dedicate? I have come to realize sites like Twitter and FriendFeed require a bit more attention to be truly involved. Other sites such as LinkedIn require an investment up front, but maintenance is relatively easy and requires less time.
- Who is my target market? You must always ask this question! Social media optimization depends on it. If you don’t know who you are targeting, you can’t decide which social media outlet is right for your business, you also can’t establish the best methods on each individual social network to maximize your returns.
- Do I recognize that there is such thing as Return On Relationship (ROR)? Some of these networks may seem like a waste of time. There’s no call or coupon code to track your results. You may not understand how to read your web analytics to see if and how much traffic is being pushed to your site. And what about “brand evangelists”? People who love your product or service so much, they tell everyone. That isn’t very easy to track using traditional ROI methods.
Once you know the answers to these three questions (I can help with this), you can begin your social media optimization and drive relationships and therefore business via online social networks.
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