Choosing Your Social Networks Carefully
With the available amount of social networks available nowadays, it is difficult at times to choose the best ones for your business. Obviously, they don’t all have the numerous followers that a Facebook or Twitter have. Choosing should be intelligent.
The confusion of how and what to choose
Just because some of the less well-known social media channels are more specialized doesn’t mean that they are not valuable to you and your business. In fact, at times, they hold more value for you than some of the other social media channels that are broader and far more generic. You should look at them as designer social networks. If you truly get to know them and understand how much they can do to help you and your business become successful, you can leverage that knowledge and really make your social media results sing on a long-term basis.
The new available networks
Some of the new networks that you may want to check out for your business are Pinterest (which allows people to come together based on their taste and interests in specific graphics), Houzz (a social network that is specifically for the interior design industry), GetGlue (a social network for entertainment [television, music, and movies]), just to name a few. There are countless others and if you start with a more general search based on your particular niche, you are bound to find information that is of great value to you.
Fools rush in
As a business owner, it is a really sensible idea for your to take your time when it comes to getting involved with too many social networks too quickly. It is a really good idea for you to look carefully at all of the social media channels that you think might be appropriate for your business and narrow them down to the point where you eventually settle on four or five. If you spread it too thin, you won’t end up with social media channels that provide you with the value that you are looking for. If you have a steady, consistent array of top-quality social media channels that you are working for your business, you will have tremendously positive search engine optimization (SEO) results as well, which is, of course, always one of your business objectives.
Before you jump into choosing your new social networks, there are some essential questions that you should ask.
- Are the members of the groups that you are targeting a part of your target audience/market? You need to do some homework and ensure that your target audience(s) are members of the new groups that you are considering joining. If your objective is to interact with both current clients as well as prospective clients, the quality of the specific members of those social media networks is of utmost importance.
- How will you be using the particular new social media channel that you decide upon? Of course, the ultimate reason that you are choosing a particular social media channel is to be able to advance your business. Whether you are promoting one product and/or service or everything in your business repository is not important. What is important is that you will be using it effectively and leveraging it to its fullest potential. It is very important to remember the interactive aspect of your connections as well. Whatever you do with that particular channel, you must make sure to make progress when it comes to building relationships with other people.
- How much time and effort are you willing to dedicate to that particular social media channel? Of course, first and foremost, you need to commit to being consistent and interacting (and working the channel) on a regular and consistent basis. When you first start to connect with a new social media channel, your efforts are bound to be greater than if you were engaging on a social media channel upon which you already have a strong history and following. Only you can decide exactly how you can most effectively focus your efforts.
- How do you envision your success with this particular social media channel? When it comes to business, goals and objectives are critical to your success. You should have both short-term and long-term goals in mind from the very beginning (when you write your business plan before you have actually executed anything). It is important for you to remember that you may not see results for a while but that doesn’t mean that you won’t see them at all. You certainly will find that your efforts will pay off (usually in a matter of months, at the longest).
- Where will your business be in a few years from now? There is no way of knowing for sure exactly what the future holds for your business, although you may be able to get a pretty accurate idea. The reason for that is that you can control your own actions but not other people’s actions. You should make sure to have as solid a strategy in place as you can from the beginning and hopefully, your plan will be realized as time progresses. Of course, it is inevitable that you will need to make adjustments along the way. That is part of what keeps it interesting and exciting.
Conclusion
With the rapidity of the changing technological landscape, it is very important to keep abreast of what is going on and the new tools that are being made available on a regular basis. Your connections critical to your business and where you choose to connect with them is just as important. You really don’t know until you start to do research how some (or perhaps all) of the technology that is being made available will help you to advance your business. You certainly owe it to yourself to check it out. With an open mind and a commitment to hard work, you will absolutely get to where you need to be with your business.
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Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Freelance Editing Network
Discussion: Choosing Your Social Networks Carefully
Carolyn, I agree completely with your statement. For instance, I do not have a Facebook account simply because of their woeful privacy issues and the number of times they have been hacked. With the regime change, even though Zuckerberg, et al will still own the lion’s share, we’ll be seeing more ads and more opportunities for our personal information to be stored and sold to third parties.
I do have a Twitter account, but use it only to send and receive professional info/queries and learn more about my particular interests. Boundaries are especially important so as not to become a victim financially or personally. Social Networks are shaping up to be the new area for cyber criminals to proliferate. And of course, stalking is a real threat, too.
Posted by Haley Verrin
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Freelance Editing Network
Discussion: Choosing Your Social Networks Carefully
I see no problem with using any or all of the social networks. You just use them carefully. I have a business Facebook page. It doesn’t have my phone number or street address. Same with LinkedIn and Twitter. I only talk about business on these venues, although occasionally I might mention something amusing my kids do that relates to books, writing, or literacy.
Information you put online can be hacked. However, the likelihood of my personal data being specifically targeted is pretty much nil. It’s far more likely that my data would be harvested via data mining, which is what Google and Facebook do quite openly. Privacy is something to be educated about, clearly, and Facebook has numerous privacy controls that just take some investigation and understanding. They may default to less privacy, but then that’s caveat emptor just like anything else.
Posted by Kristine Hunt
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Freelance Editing Network
Discussion: Choosing Your Social Networks Carefully
While it’s true that the average Joe won’t be hacking your account,
specifically, all of the social networks collect and sell your personal
information (that which you signed up with to open your account) to third
parties. This in itself is not an issue, unless you don’t mind more spam,
which is definitely going to happen due to the Facebook changes wrought by
the present shares sale.
Within this issue lies the hacker called a botherder who just sends out a
wide net of spam or malicious stuff and this will definitely affect you,
and everyone on the network. I won’t go into the many ways and means it
could damage but, at the very least, it could cripple the network for an
extended period. Beyond that, the information that they harvest “quite
openly” isn’t the problem, the data warehouse it’s stored in can be
hacked…it’s
like the equivalent of panning for gold.
Caveat emptor does apply, here, as you noted. What is interesting is that
many do not know how vulnerable they are. It’s easier to prevent cybercrime
than to come back from victimization from it.
I do applaud you for keeping your personal info off the page itself; that’s
definitely number one toward keeping you and your loved ones safe.
Do you use Facebook’s SocialCam, Kristine?
Posted by Haley Verrin
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Freelance Editing Network
Discussion: Choosing Your Social Networks Carefully
No, I don’t use Socialcam because I don’t have a smartphone and don’t watch videos online that way, usually. I use Gmail for both professional and personal e-mail, and rarely get any spam. I also have a Mac, for which trojans and other viruses are rare.
I have my Facebook privatized almost to the maximum. I set my profile etc. to not be searchable outside of Facebook. Photos are viewable by friends only. I don’t add a lot of personal information to my timeline. And so on.
I guess I take the view that my “personal” information online shouldn’t be considered private to a great degree. Have you searched for your name online recently? It’s shocking what is publicly available for free or a small fee already, without the social networks even being involved.
Google can use my search history to try to push ads at me, which never works because I rarely even notice the ads and never click through them. Also, my search history is completely random because I use it for work so much!
Posted by Kristine Hunt
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Freelance Editing Network
Discussion: Choosing Your Social Networks Carefully
I have a Mac, too, which does help, and you’re right; we are all pretty
searchable online even without social media. Still, I’ll stick to Twitter
and LinkedIn and a blog for professional reasons to cut down on it.
As long as you don’t click on any links in emails, you’re probably ok. Of
course, it’s good to change passwords once a month, just in case. I only
know of 2 viruses against Mac…that will change as the number of Mac users
grows.
Sounds like you keep your usage clean and lean. Smartphones are overrated,
in my humble opinion. I don’t have one, either.
Posted by Haley Verrin