Is it just me or does it seem as though a new social media site launches every other week?
There’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Foursquare, Tumblr, FourSquare, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, and even MySpace is trying to make a comeback. As entrepreneurs, we wanna (and need to) be “in the know.” It’s a free platform for networking and promoting, so why not take advantage? But…
What happens when you find yourself doing more tweeting, status updating, pinning, and linking than you are working? Or, what happens when you haven’t updated your status in months? Or, what happens when social media equates to more work vs. fun? Is it even worth it? Do you even need all of these damn accounts? (As if those aren’t enough questions…) Here are four questions to ask yourself:
1. Am I familiar with all of its features?
Did you know that you could create groups on Facebook? Did you know that you can feature an ad on Facebook for as little as $5? What about exporting your events to third-party 
calendars such as Google, Outlook, or iCal? Did you know that LinkedIn is a great place for freelance writers to find work? What about the professional groups on LinkedIn? Pinterest is an excellent spot for authors to create characters or scenes and for jewelry-designers to showcase their work. Did you know that?
Don’t knock what you don’t know. Set aside a few hours out of one of your days to get know the site. Google the features of it and try it out on your own. Read reviews online. While you’re doing that, be sure to ask yourself…
2. Who are its members?
Is this social media site flooded with a bunch of teenagers that are only posting “selfies”? Nothing’s wrong with that if these are your clients. Knowing who the members are is important.
In addition to your clients, are you potential clients, here? Perhaps you make clothing for adults and are considering branching out and doing teen clothing as well. Then this teen-site would be a good fit for you.
In addition to finding out if your clients and potential clients are there, see if your competition is there. What are they doing and saying? Even better, what are they NOT doing or saying?
3. Does it serve me?
After you’ve familiarized yourself with all of the site’s features and general population, ask yourself if it serves you. Are you giving this your all, but to no avail? It may not be you. So, pause in beating yourself upside the head for a second. It’s a good chance that it’s not your territory. That’s okay. It’s better to let that shit go, then to continue wasting your ever-so-precious time and energies on it.
If it doesn’t serve you, do yourself a huge favor and let that shit go!
4. How can I best manage it?
Okay, so you’ve gotten comfy with all of the site’s features, your potential clients are here, and you’re ready to launch. You wanna make sure that you do this effectively. I got it. First, you need to become a site-stalker. Peep the scene. See what everyone is doing and how they’re doing, especially those with a large number of followers.
Decide if your account will be strictly professional, of if you’ll merge some of your personal life into the mix as well. Personally, I like to see the personal-side of solopreneurs. If you choose not to, that’s totally fine; be sure to create two separate accounts.
Schedule your posts. Facebook has a tool that allows its users to do this. It’s so helpful. From your page’s sharing tool:
- Choose the type of post you want to add to your Page
- Click
in the lower left of the sharing tool - Choose the future year, month, day, hour and minute when you’d like your post to appear
- Click Schedule
You can do the same with Twitter as well, however, you have to use a third-party site to do so. They include: FutureTweets, HootSuite, CoTweet, TweetFunnel, etc.
If you choose not to use any of these tools, that’s fine. Make sure that you keep a social media calendar. You can create one in Google, on your phone, or the old school one that you gotta flip through (yes, I still have one and get ridiculously excited when it’s time to buy a new one). Remind yourself to update your accounts. AT LEAST, do this once a day; preferably, do this a few times a day.
Social media ain’t your thing? Don’t have the time for it? Hire someone (or undertake an intern) to do this for you. They may be listed as a social media consultant, a social media expert, or a social media writer. Many copywriters offer this service as well. Prices will vary on the writer/consultant and your needs.
Now quit making social media harder than it gotta be.