I received an email from someone asking my take on the latest Charles Heflin post at Charles Heflin. com. It’s entitled, “The social media bubble that wasted your time“.
In it Heflin wonders out loud if being on numerous Social Media sites is redundant and therefore a waste of time. He says,
“If 80% of the micro-blog market already uses Twitter, do you need to network with those same people on Jaiku or Plurk? … NOPE! … It’s not efficient and it widens your brush stroke, thinning out the paint. If you can reach StephenColbert on Twitter then why do you need to reach him on Plurk too?’
He goes on to accurately state that our goal should be to build relationships, versus trying to reach as many people as possible. His take is it’s really only about
…how many “meaningful” relationships you can build and how many people are willing to give you a piece of their mind share.
Mind share. I spent a previous lifetime in the radio broadcast industry. Starting from on air, then to ad sales, and then eventually trying to get radio station ownership. Tough business…much tougher than this Internet business.
In radio we always talked about top-of-the-mind awareness (AKA mind share.) The rule of advertising which helps to create top-of-the-mind awareness (or TOMA) is
it’s what you say TIMES how many time you say it TIMES the quality of the people you say it to.
Does it mean after reading Heflin’s post you should heed the impending implosion caused by a supposed Social Media bubble and drop all efforts being used to promote yourself in Twitter, Jaiku, Plurk, or any dozen other type sites?
Heavens NO!
I agree you don’t have to be everywhere to make an impact, but there are tools out there readily available to leverage your time while still “getting you out there.” How? One could be using a service like PostLater.com. With Postlater.com (at an affordable $10 bucks a month) “you can write several posts when you’re experiencing that energy and inspiration boost, and then drip feed them into your blog. And, you don’t need to tie up your time by being in front of the computer at the date and time you want those posts to appear on your blog.”
But the best part of this is you can drip feed it at the same time into some 25 sites. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, Pownce, MySpace, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Identi.ca, BrightKite, FriendFeed, Jaiku, Blogger, LiveJournal, Bebo, Hi5 plus more. Keep thinking of leverage.
According to Heflin, it’s not truly a relationship building mode if you attempt to be on all these types of sites. Hmmm…don’t know if I fully agree.
Leverage…what if with a single post I could post to 10 or 20 sites so that if, and when my prospects/audience goes to one of these sites, I AM there. What if my my competition takes the advice of Heflin and stops working Jaiku or Pownce? What if I’m still working it? Don’t I dramatically diminish the gene pool from which my readers have to pick from? The part of the formula to repeat to the right audience is realized using a service like PostLater.com.
Let my competitors lay down in the effort of energy conservation while I keep staying in the faces of my prospect everywhere I can using smart tools.
I like what Sean Tiner, a Creative Brand Strategist, stated in his post The Value of Exposure
“Twitter and Facebook continue to be valuable marketing entities for companies, brands and individuals. The sites naturally encourage repetitive exposure, because of simple organization and navigation. According to Zanjonc’s Mere Exposure Theory (1968) the more a person is exposed to something, the more that item, person or profile becomes likable. …And likability translates to profitability, just ask Apple.” The Value Of Exposure http://seantiner.blogspot.com/2008/09/value-of-exposure.html
Created a strategy and track the results. Find out which one of these types of sites are getting you the maximum impact. The ones that are weaker can eventually be dropped or just maintained with services like PostLater. The strong ones can be more personally addressed so you can masterfully relate to the reader.
It’s nice when we can accept our political candidates and allow them to retain their personalities even after they take office.
Another pic designed to get you thinking and talking. We’ve moved these pics to our new Ole’ Watercooler section.
