Make Your Social Media Count

Want to have a contest? Let’s see who can create the most social media profiles by the end of the week. Sure, you’ve got your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts up and running already, but I’m talking about all the others out there. There are hundreds of them; social networking sites as far as the eye can see, each with a name more whimsical than the next.

With monikers like Naymz, Bebo, ReJaw, Yammer, BlabRoom, and Brightkite (only one of those was made up just now for effect; can you guess which one?), there’s no shortage of social media sites to enlist in your efforts. Your only limitations in this competition are your number of waking hours, and your desire to talk about yourself.

So on three, let’s race. The organization with the most social media profiles wins!

Or do they?

If this sounds a little ridiculous to you, you’re in better shape than some of your competitors. There’s an unsubstantiated belief going around right now that when it comes to social media profiles, more is better. Let’s address that for a second.

Sometimes More is Just...More
We've found that social media has a lot to offer, as long as you don't try to use it all at once.

I recently came across an “about me” page for a self-proclaimed marketing guru who was obviously proud of his social media proliferation. On his site, he showcased a list of no fewer than 35 social media profiles on which he can be followed. I work with social media regularly, and there were several sites on his list I hadn’t even heard of.

A closer look at his accounts confirmed what I suspected. Most of his profiles had little or no content on them; some were set to automatically re-post what he was sharing via Twitter; and a handful of those that did have content hadn’t been updated at all this year. In short, most of his 35 social networking profiles were devoid of any real value.

I’m going to give this guy the benefit of the doubt and assume he’s naturally savvy in a lot of other business areas. What his social media activity says about him professionally, however, is that he values quantity over quality.

Be Valuable
Think about this as you navigate the sometimes uncertain waters of business social media. If you're representing your business or non-profit in the social media spere, print out the following few questions and post them where you'll read them every day:

• What are we saying?
• Would I follow us?
• Are we mixing in content that’s more broadly valuable to our followers (i.e. not written from a self-promotional standpoint)?

Admittedly, social media gets it's fair share of ridicule on account of the noise it produces. In the midst of that noise, though, there are organizations who are doing it right every day. They're communicating, innovating, sharing, growing, and adding to their bottom line. But they're doing it all very strategically.

Minneapolis internet marketing firm August Ash helps businesses and non-profits make sense of their social media options every day. We treat social media as a tool that can bring value to an organization when used strategically. If you have questions about this blog, or are ready to see how your business can benefit from a tested, intelligent approach to social networking, let us know.