One mistake I routinely see with bloggers is stretching themselves to thin when it comes to social media marketing. They hear about the benefits of social media so they join 10 social media sites and start marketing on each of the sites. After the initial excitement wears off, they find themselves stressed out trying to keep up with each site. And they’re disappointed because they’re not getting the results they expected.
The reason the above strategy doesn’t work very well is because social media promotion requires time, patience, and focus. It’s hard to devote the necessary time and focus when you’re juggling a lot of sites. Remember the old saying, “More is not always better.”
Social media is like the real life social environment. What does it take to influence a group of people in real life? It takes time and focus on those people to earn their trust. You need to add value to their lives for an extended period of time.
Consider the people that you trust offline. Chances are they are people you have know for a while.
Time, Focus, and Adding a Lot of Value
Focus on just one or two sites and really make an impact on that site. Add so much value to that site that over time you become known as the expert in your field. This means not only promoting your best stuff but also pointing to content from other sites. By doing this, you show that you are well read. Also, you demonstrate that you are not a spammer only looking to promote your content.
It takes time to really understand a social media site. Each site has its own culture. You want to understand that culture so you can fit in well with the community and earn a positive reputation.
One of the best ways to build your reputation is networking with the influential members of a community. Again, it will take time and focus to get them on your side and trust you as a valuable member in the community.
Less Stress and More Success
Marketing can be stressful because you don’t know if your plans are going to work. And the stress only increases, if you keep up with too many sites. Reduce your stress by focusing on a few sites. With less stress, you can focus better, which gives you a better mindset to add value to a site.
Plus, you can now be a regular of the few sites you choose instead of the irregularity that comes from picking too many sites.
Marketing on a few sites will lead to more success, which will keep you from getting discouraged. The success will motivate you to continue on with your marketing.
For example, let’s say you want to promote on Digg, StumbleUpon, Mixx, Twitter, and a popular forum in your niche. Think about all the work it will take to become an influential voice on all of these sites. The task is very daunting especially if you want to continue posting regularly on your blog and you have a full time job and a family to take care of. However, if you pick just one or two of the sites, your social media marketing will be a lot more manageable.
Take a long term view and don’t rush social media marketing. It’s like building a friendship offline. It takes time but the rewards are worth it. Once you’ve built that reputation, you can leverage it increase your traffic and income.
A year ago, I was using too many social media sites and not getting anywhere. I scrapped all the sites except Twitter and a popular forum. My stress level went down and my blog started picking up. My subscribers have steadily gone up since that point instead of staying stagnant and I’ve developed good relationships with a couple of people. In addition, I’m having more fun.
Performancing offers social media marketing services to jump start your blog.
18 thoughts on “Maximize Your Social Media Marketing by Focusing Only on a Few Sites”
i have tried social media marketing for getting our new products to be known on the market. it seems to work well specially if the audience is targeted .;
Social Media Marketing is really the trend these days. i market most of my products through social networking sites.
Buy Cheap Aion Accounts For SaleBuy Cheap Aion Accounts For Sale Buy Aion Accounts For Sale is one of the leaders in the buying, selling and trading of Aion Accounts. We have a large variety of cheap Aion characters available from our 24/7 Customer Support.
Fantastic article! Thanks for putting this into such clear words. I’m just getting into Social Media Marketing, and this was a really helpful read for me. Now I know not to spread myself over a million and one different sites just to drive traffic to my blog. You have shown me that it only takes a few good SM sites to still be successful. Thanks!
I totally agree as im doin Social Media marketing…wht the post says has a good value..
Guilty
I am guilty of doing what you talked about and I must have joined over 20 social media sites. But over time it became too much work trying to post comments on so many sites. After a few weeks of this, I finally settle on three main sites that had topics I was most interested in reading. Now when I post comments on these sites I do feel like I am chatting with friends. You made some very good points and when you are first starting off in IM you want to get the word out about your site and you jump on all the hype the Guru’s tell you about.
We have been working on askthestdexperts.com for at least six months. We are just now grasping what we should be doing and why. It is nice to know others have had the same road blocks.
Ellen, glad to help. And thanks for sharing your example. Good luck!
This is so true! In addition to having my own marketing/promotion agency which builds websites and handles Relationship Marketing (see http://www.JustForMenSelect.com) plus print work, I designed my husband’s website and (in process) blog and LinkedIn presence…etc. I have him on twitter, which I also manage. He is a tax attorney (CPA/JD) and just never comes up for air from the IRS (on behalf of his beleagured small business clients). I’ve been studying twitter, facebook and LinkedIn prodigiously in the past year and feel the stress of constant new learning. So I guess I won’t be able to go on to bookmarking any time soon. You’ve given me the “permission” not to feel so guilty about it!
There is no question about this, and I completely agree. With so many social sites out there if would be hard to really be very productive in any of them if you are spreading yourself to thin among many of them. Concentrating on only a few will give you much better results.
Your are right i fully agree with your views.few site are really important for us and its depend on us which site we chose for it.
Thank you guys,
good tip for a newby like me. I agree with you it will save time to do it your way.
Mike
I totally agree. Less is more in this case. It’s most important to pick the few sites that make sense for you and your blog and your market, and be a real contributer on those sites.
I totally agree with you on this!
It is a misconception to believe that by having a presence on 10+ or even 5+ social networking sites / forums will bring more traffic to your blog or/and help build your brand. I know because I too was guilty of this.
Now, I just focus on Twitter, Facebook, and a couple of forums pertaining to my niche. Not only is this more manageable but it is also more enjoyable because I don’t feel stretched too thin.
Wesley Craig Green
The Geek Entrepreneur
This is really true. When you’re focused on a ton of web properties it’s seemingly impossible to really provide users with value. Sometimes even a few sites can be too much!
Comments are closed.