Social media encourages two common and contradictory mistakes. Social media is fun that way.
Over-committing to social media
You wake up and check your Twitter, check out the new followers and send five replies and seven retweets. Then off to Facebook to respond to 82 comments on your fan page (you get through 20 by copy/pasting 
as a response), then back to Twitter, three more replies and a direct message about a new article from someone you want to connect with so you StumbleUpon and Digg the article and link in Twitter and realise your feed’s been pretty quiet so you announce the first thought in your head (bagels. Less crispy than when I was a kid, amirite?) Then back to your personal Facebook page, quickly scan the sixteen pages of updates, strategically use your smily face again, go to a forum you like and hang out for awhile, then spend twelve minutes answering a few questions in LinkedIn, back to Twitter, Digg another post… where did the day go?
You feel tired, frazzled and unfulfilled, because none of those “relationships” went anywhere.
But why would they? You just spent a whole day making hasty, impersonal and shallow connections on social media. That wasn’t strategic, that was a waste.
To build relationships you have to keep showing up with your full attention. There’s only so much you to go around! You need to choose the social media sites that:
- Your potential and existing customers use
- You enjoy using
- Are aligned with your online strategy
And you shouldn’t use many! One is fine. Two is possible. Three is stretching it. There is no four.
Choose them, and invest in them. Turn up every day and add some value. Keep connecting and showing how reliable and interesting and funny and knowledgeable you are.
Under-committing to social media
You open your Twitter client and skim through the latest tweets, then close it and go do something else. You read the lastest forum posts and reply with “great job!” You give five thumbs-up on Facebook. You connect with 500 people on LinkedIn, post nothing, and wait for them to offer you work.
Is it any wonder this goes nowhere?
To connect you have to bring some value. Your insights, your advice, and most important, yourself. Saying you’re “using social media” when you’re not interacting is like going to a networking event, lurking in the corner all night, and wondering why no-one has your business card.
Step it up! Start conversations. Leave comments. Write about your ill-fitting shoes or your fantastic clients or your football team. Be interesting, interested, engaged and personal. Write in your voice, not corp-speak. Act like you’re at a family barbeque. Be a real person.
Your five-minute mission, should you choose to accept it…
1. Decide on which social media sites you’re going to use.
2. Stop using the others.
3. Spend a half hour on each: connecting, joking, advising, replying, linking and commenting.
4. Too much? Then go back to step 1.
What social media are you using? Tell us in the comments!