You don't have to do everything. It may feel like it sometimes. Particularly when people ask, "are you on such-and-such?" and you answer no and you get the face. You know the one I am talking about!
Be choosy, select the social media tools that make sense for you and your business. Choose a few and do them well, rather than spreading yourself thin and too many platforms and networks.
Over-exposure is never a good thing.
People often lament the ROI of social media. This really is a dated statement and yet I still hear it. A better way to look at ROI is not as "return on investment" but rather Risk of Inaction!
Perfection does not exist! And people are very forgiving when they know you are giving an honest effort to try something new. So your blog design isn't perfect, so what? So what if you accidentally "poked" the wrong people of Facebook? And no one is going to flame you if the first time you "Re-tweet" something, you do wrong! Just get out there and do it...where it is appropriate. If you are waiting to have "all your ducks in a row" you could miss an opportunity.
Also don't worry so much about your numbers. You do not need thousands of followers, you need a few influencers. Don't wait to do something because you don't think you have enough traffic. Do it anyway, you may get the right one or two visitors who can make your business explode. It takes awhile to build up a community. You need to do it slow and steady like any relationship. The very foundation of social media is the community or relationship aspect.
Lastly, these days there are tools to measure traffic and performance so you can get an idea of response to your efforts. Analytics can give you valuable insight from a small group of customers in a matter of hours. Your most enthusiastic customers become word-of-mouth agents, spreading the word about your business or your product for free.
Free....that's pretty good ROI....
How do I get started social media? This is a question that is often asked of me. The answer is simple, you start by listening.
May people have described social media as a cocktail party. Like most cocktail parties where you only know a few people, or maybe no one at all, it can be awkward at first. But if you grab a drink and sit back and listen as you make a tour of the room you might find a conversation that you'd like to join.
Listen some more and introduce yourself. Add in your appropriate two cents worth and see where it leads. Once you figure out where your conversations make sense you can join the community and contribute. It is as simple as that to start.
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