Television talk show host Conan O’Brien (in typical Conan O’Brien style) recently “announced” that even though lots of other celebrities had great presence on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, that he was setting out to “conquer” LinkedIn. True to his word, the next day, his very own LinkedIn profile appeared, and (if you happen to like his brand of humor) was pretty funny. You can read more about it here. (Word is still out on whether LinkedIn has succumbed to his advances.)
Conan, however, isn’t the only one who has felt a need to “conquer” social media. Lots of businesses have been told that they need to be on a variety of social media platforms (Twitter, Pinterest, Yelp, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn) if they are to survive. Do you really need to master all of those platforms in order to stay afloat in today’s marketing world?
Social Media Can’t Be Ignored
Even though the platforms and the options keep changing (and there seems to be something new every week), social media is not just a fad that’s going away anytime soon. But there’s more to it than seeing how many people “like” you on Facebook. And it’s not all about seeing how many “followers” you can get on Twitter. What you need to be focused on is where your customers are. And what’s important is being able to reach them with the right message (the information they want), in the right way (the way they want to receive it).
If you’re putting all of your efforts into flickr—while your audience is looking on YouTube—you’re missing the boat. And if you’re focused on Facebook when your potential clients are looking on LinkedIn, you’re losing opportunities.
You don’t have to “conquer” social media platforms in order to use them to your advantage. You should, however, have a grasp of what’s going on so that you can make a good decision about where to put your efforts.
So where should you start? I’d recommend downloading our free e-book, 3 Steps to Social Media Success. This 10-page guide will provide you with information on how to get started with a variety of social media platforms—and how to get the most out of them.
You may not conquer the social media world, but at least you’ll have a better grip on how these tools can improve your online marketing efforts.
