Effective today, I am starting a new social media experiment for the month of April.
For purposes of my business networking and marketing strategy, I am active on four basic social networking sites on a regular basis: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn.
So, for the month of April, I will only engage with one network at a time...one each week of the month.
The critical lesson I am hoping to learn here?
I worry every day that I am spread too thin... Is splitting time and focus on each of the four networks negatively affecting the impact of the entire network? Will I emerge from April with a decision to eliminate one or more of these networks?
TWO DISCLOSURES: One, I will be monitoring all four key networks in case someone reaches out to me there. So, if a client or prospect directly messages me on one of these networks, I will respond (sorry, but I am not going to ignore a client). And two, when I publish content to the blog, I will distribute it to all four networks, as I've done for years.
THE CRITICAL ACTION: The real value, however, in social media, is engaging and conversing with real people. So, in this experiment, I will ONLY engage and interact, talk about stuff, and share content on ONE NETWORK AT A TIME.
Here is order of engagement:
Week 1: LinkedIn
Week 2: Twitter
Week 3: Facebook
Week 4: Google+
[note: this order was established using the "eeney, meeney, miney, mo" strategy]
WHAT I HOPE TO LEARN:
1. To see if increased focus on ONE network dramatically improves the conversation there.
2. Increases connection.
3. Drives significant more traffic from that specific network than usual.
4. At the end of the month, will I decide to eliminate one of these from my ongoing time investment?
5. Will I get better at using the specific apps for each network on the iPhone?
6. What will I learn more about each specific network?
We'll see.
Look to hear back from me on May 1st. Will be sharing what I learn.
P.S. My apologies in advance if I am less responsive this month. I am not ignoring you, I might just be focusing on a different social network...
Drawing by Hugh Macleod