Is the clock running out on your social media use?
Introduction: Marketing Through Social Networking Without the Insanity
Social networking: you know you oughtta do it. But the time it takes is enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the most productive solos. How can you do all this networking/Twitter/Facebook stuff and still run your business?
We’re looking at this topic in depth in our “Ten Rules to Successfully Manage Your Time in Social Networking Activities” series. Yesterday’s post was about Rule #1 — Know Your Goals.Today’s post is about how to create a plan for your social networking strategy based on your marketing goals.
#2: Create a Plan Based on Your Goals
The next step is to create a strategy for marketing through social networking based on those goals you enumerated in Rule #1. Get the list of those goals and read it over again a few times. Next, based on those goals, look at your options for social networking interaction.
There’s the ubiquitous Twitter, of course. There’s also Facebook (which, with TweetDeck and a number of other apps, you can mash up with your Twitter activities, which I’d call “exceedingly inspired”). There’s Tumblr, another microblogging site. There’s BrightKite, which is kind of cool and underutilized, I think. There’s Plaxo, there’s LinkedIn, there’s a whole list here …
Which do you choose? And how do you decide?
First, you have to keep in mind the uber-law behind all marketing: seek out and communicate your expertise to your targeted clients. So — who are your targeted clients, and where are they congregating?
To discover this information, just ask! You can create a short little survey on SurveyMonkey, absolutely free, and email your clients the link to the survey. (Consider offering something of value in return — perhaps a drawing for a gift certificate to a popular local restaurant?) Or, simply ask them directly.
From my own personal experience, I recommend Twitter and Facebook. These are, at present, the top spots in terms of sheer numbers and popularity.
In adition, you might want to consider Linked In and FriendFeed or Plaxo, the latter two as a way of pulling all your social networking and blogging activities into one feed for your contacts and friends.
Beyond that, it’s really up to you and your comfort level, your goals, your available time, and your level of interest. Start small by registering your identity — your brand, which we know as inspired solos is always your self — on each of these four sites. Set small goals of setting up a profile on each of these sites within two weeks, getting comfortable with the user interface options in three weeks, and coming up with a schedule (see Rule #9) within three to four weeks.
As you get more comfortable with the concept and practice of sharing more of your professional life online with others, explore other sites as you wish, but always keep in mind rule #1 and your goals.
After surveying clients and setting up the accounts, I recommend to lawyers that they test out each social media platform for six to eight weeks to see what works for them. If they’re getting a lot of positive attention from their target audience from Facebook, but no one seems to be listening on Twitter, then they should focus most of their attention or Facebook–or replace Twitter with a new platform. Not every social media platform works well for every lawyer. Even if their target audience is using that site, their business may not translate well into that form.