Monday, January 13, 2014

Social Media Monday—Social Media Doesn’t Work For Me . . . and Other Lies People Believe, Part One

by Edie Melson

I get a lot of emails and phone calls from people who really believe social media doesn’t work for them. They’ve convinced themselves that they are the exception to the rule. And because of that, they’re somehow exempt from having an online presence.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s called an exception because it rarely ever happens. Actually I’ve NEVER seen an instance where it was true. But I’m skeptical about absolutes, so I’ll grant that there might be one single person out there that social media doesn’t work for.


The rest of you need to quite claiming it doesn’t work and get busy working it.

The Four Main Types Who Fail at Social Media

First, there’s the person who has really tried to make it work, but they’ve been trying all the wrong things. Doing it wrong won’t get you much further than not doing it at all.

Second, there’s the person who’s been paralyzed by over-thinking the process. They’ve spent so much time analyzing every possible scenario they’re confused and defeated before they ever start.

Third, there’s the person who starts and stops. They work at it consistently for a week or two then stop. Then start again . . . then stop . . . . I think you get the idea. A big part of social media is building on success. If you keep stopping, there’s nothing to build on.

Fourth, there’s the go-getter that’s spending so much time on social media they no longer have time to write. So they throw up their hands and walk away.

What You Need to Do to Have a Successful Social Media Presence
  • Start a blog or become a part of a group blog.
  • Have a presence on Facebook.
  • Have a presence on Twitter.
  • Utilize a scheduling program (like Hootsuite) to help manage your time efficiently.
  • Never break Edie’s five to one rule. For every five social media updates on a particular platform, you may only post one additional update about yourself or your product (this includes your books, a blog post, or an announcement about a guest blog post you’re doing).
  • Quit overthinking the process. Social media isn’t a science. It’s relationships, and relationships are messy. So get busy, take a chance and find what works for you by DOING, not THINKING!


I recommend you start with the following minimum goals and work up from here:
  • Blogging once a week, if it’s your personal blog. Blogging twice a month if it’s a group blog.
  • Comment on a minimum of one other blog once a day, four days a week.
  • Post on Facebook a minimum of three times a day, four days a week.
  • Comment on someone else’s Facebook post a minimum of three times a day, four days a week.
  • Tweet a minimum of four to six times a day, four days a week. (This can include retweeting something someone else has tweeted).
But no matter what you do with social media . . .  
Don’t spend more than 20-30 minutes 
per day on social media.

Spend more than 20-30 minutes a day on social media and you'll run into the law of diminishing returns. You just don't get as much bang for your buck. Beyond that, you'll be cutting into valuable writing time.

Later on in this series I’ll share how to find updates, how to figure out who your audience is, and what a growing social media presence looks like. (HINT: it’s not a straight, uphill graph.)

But I’d like to know what things are standing in your way with social media?

Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

Tweetables


24 comments:

  1. I love social media! I keep in touch with friends and relatives all over the world and ...I love that. But I do have to monitor the amount of time I spend online. I also love that I can tweet about customer service at Macy's and receive a tweet back from Macy's. And of course, I love to blog!

    Social media does work for me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debbie, thank you for sharing! Hearing about other's success helps us all. Blessings, E

      Delete
  2. Excellent tips here! As a writer who is just relaunching a blogging platform, I'm a little behind others when it comes to social media such as Twitter. I'm learning, though, and enjoying the connections I'm making there. Your quantifiable examples in this piece really help give me a baseline on where I should be starting. Big help!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aywren, thank you for stopping by. You have a beautiful blog, (http://www.wrenwriter.com)I spent some time there today. You're definitely doing it right. Blessings, E

      Delete
  3. Hi Edie,

    Great post. I think I am number three. I start and then stop and never build momentum! I have the guilt complex of feeling that I'm not accomplishing anything when I'm on social media. Looks like I will have to try and incorporate some of the advice in this post.

    Joel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joel, it's easy to feel that way. We're not really wired to keep track of relationships with ROI in mind and I think that's the stumbling block. Relationships have value and we just have to accept that and go where it leads us. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Blessings, E

      Delete
  4. I appreciated your concrete suggestions how many times on which media. It helps to control the overage and underuse of social media. Thanks, Edie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary, I hate it when someone gives advice, but nothing concrete to follow. I'm glad I was able to help! Blessings, E

      Delete
  5. Ack! I'm number three! Yes, I have work to do :o).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Connie, don't worry, sometimes we're all #3! I moved past it by taking it in smaller bits. When I spent too much time, I was less likely to do it consistently. Blessings, E

      Delete
  6. What does a person tweet 4-6 x a day? And how does one do all that in 20-30 minutes? I hope it is the next blog or one I missed somewhere in your archives!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Delores, don't dispair, what to talk about IS the next blog post. The one after is how I organize my day to get it all done in 30 minutes. Hang in there! Blessings, E

      Delete
  7. One of the questions I hear most at my MFA program is how much do I do. I think your list of goals gives a newbie at social media a good guideline to aim for. I would suggest to that the time be split in someway as for Twitter you will get morning folks and evening folks with time changes. Since I've started my MFA program, plus I work, I've been slacking on everything but Facebook. I know I need to keep the others going too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lara, it's definitely important to spread out the time you're sending updates. Statistics show that one update will rarely hit more than 16% of your followers on any network. Thanks for stopping by and sharing! Blessings, E

      Delete
  8. Great post, Edie. I struggle with getting enough external focus while trying to protect my writing time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jennie, it's a delicate balancing act. And I ALWAYS recommend writers protect their writing time first and foremost! Blessings, E

      Delete
  9. You nailed me. I'm a start again, stop again, social media participant. Thanks for your shared knowledge and words of wisdom. I'm going to try and put them in to action in my writing world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deborah, small bites. That's what turned my social media life around. Thanks for stopping by and sharing, Blessings, E

      Delete
  10. I need all of this, Edie! I'm the one who gets so wrapped up in social media that I run out of time to write! Looking forward to your future posts on this topic, and I've shared today's with my online writer's group. (And I'm so glad you're not pushing Google +, because I can't handle ANOTHER media site!) Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julia, it's easy for me to get caught up in the community online, too. That's why the thirty minute timeframe works so well for me. Thanks for sharing this with your online group, Blessings, E

      Delete
  11. I like the number specifics, Edie. I do fine with Twitter, don't comment much on blogs, and put a post on my personal FB timeline two, maybe three, times per week. BUT all that takes me more than 20-30 minutes per day. I'm a slow thinker. :(

    ReplyDelete
  12. Egads! I'm all 4! Thanks for a good post, Edie.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you Edie! This is so very helpful...I tend to spend TOO much time on social media *then, agian, my computer's age/efficiency have a lot to do with it...slow, slow, slow.* I love these guidelines. They are very helpful. God bless! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for this great article, Edie. I'm leaning towards number four. I've realized i'm spending too much time making the rounds on FB, Twitter and others. One of my problems is that i get side-tracked reading from very interesting websites and posts.

    Does anyone else have this problem?

    (1)
    I have a website & blog, but its still not where I want it. (I'm sure I want to interview and support authors & other artists. Posts don't take long, but I'm finding the interviews are taking awhile to put together & hoping with time it will go faster).

    (2)
    I love to read personal blogs, and have tried do that too, but so many times I wake up in the middle of the night and delete what i wrote. I can't decide if I'm just not meant to do this, or if I'm just not brave enough.

    You might have something on this already and if you can direct me to the right article, thank you much. :)

    ReplyDelete