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Gevril and Haurex Italia dinner during Baselworld in March 2011 with Larry Brauner standing in the background.
Baselworld 2012 is right around the corner!
Mar
8
All Your Social Media Eggs in One Basket
Filed Under Announcements, Facebook, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, Twitter
I advised in The 80/20 Rule and Social Media not to spread yourself too thin trying to juggle too many social media sites at one time.In this article I want to caution against another pitfall, falling in love with one social media site and putting all your eggs in one basket.
I’m not exactly sure why but I sense that many MySpace, Facebook and Twitter enthusiasts are married to their social networking favorite and reluctant to branch out.
Why NOT to Marry Your Social Media Site
Here are six ways you can benefit from a strategy that incorporates multiple social media sites:
- There’s a risk that your favorite site will decline in popularity, or that for a variety of reasons, some of your favorite people at that site may lose interest in logging in. If you connect at several sites or obtain personal contact information to network offline, your important relationships will be more secure.
- All social media sites allow you to share information and files, but each has its own unique structure and set of features. If you use several sites, these sites can complement each other’s functionality.
- No two social sites attract the identical people. Using several sites allows you to reach out to a greater number of people.
- Different sites attract different types of people. Using several sites allows you to reach out to a more diverse group of people and helps you to better target your social media.
- Using more forms of social media or more sites can favorably impact your web presence and your SEO efforts.
- The social networking masses tend over time to migrate from one site to another. If you’re lucky enough to have a head start on a site where they land, you might conceivably succeed at leveraging that head start to your advantage.
At the time I decided that a Twitter presence was valuable, I was happy not to be starting from scratch. So too with Facebook, when I started my new Facebook Page, I already had more than 500 Facebook friends.
To make it easy for you and I to connect, I set up a Connect page that includes all the social networking sites where I’m either very active or very established. Connecting on my favorite social sites will help us to communicate and will also help you to build your social media presence.
Important Heads Up Regarding Facebook
Facebook was in the forefront of online social networking news last week. Major changes were announced that make Facebook business pages more similar to Facebook personal profiles, and they make Facebook feeds more similar to Twitter timelines.
These changes are bound to further accelerate Facebook’s tremendous growth. Join me on the Facebook journey:
- Read Facing up to the competition for a brief overview that references a variety of social media news blogs covering the Facebook story.
- You can also download the Facebook Pages Product Guide directly from Facebook.
- Visit my Facebook Page and add yourself as a fan. I will be able to publish information to your Facebook news feed, and you will be able to help me spread the word.
- Join me on Let’s Follow Each Other, a social networking and training community to help build your presence and your relationships on Twitter and Facebook.
Linking More Easily to Facebook
A shortcoming of Facebook is its awkward linking structure. A Facebook link might perhaps appeal to a U.S. Library of Congress file clerk or to a CIA operative, but that’s about it.
You can create a simpler and more memorable link using the Facebook web address application. If you’re a Twitter user, SocialToo might be a suitable alternative. Either choice will help enormously.
Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to my RSS feed or by e-mail. Visit my About, Services, Media Buzz and Connect pages to learn about Building Your Audience and Brand on the Web. See also my Disclosure Policy regarding affiliations and compensation. 
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Tags: 80 20 Rule, Facebook, online social networking, social networking, social networking sites, Twitter
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Hi Larry, Great read. I learn from you every week as I am new to online social networking. Thank you very much for all the great info you provide.
Fantastic Larry!
One more tidbit of great advice to all online marketers. Thank you once again!
Jeffrey D.
Great advice Larry! Thanks so much.
I am in three social networks and can’t keep up! LOL
If I were to join Twitter, I’d never be offline!
I have to go through your archives and see if you have a blog about time management.
A lot of businesses require eyeball to eyeball contact with a client or partner, and some people can “get lost” on Facebook and MySpace.
Any ideas/suggestions on that?
Have a great week, and sorry I’m not more active here… time! ;-))
Robin
Good post! I have a Facebook account, however I do not use it that much since Facebook is not dial-up friendly. I only have dial-up Internet service available in my area. There are too many graphics and interactive files that often kill my Internet connection before I get the whole site loaded.
I spend a lot of time working on underlying technology for social networks and write about it extensively on my blog.
One thing that I’ve been very interested in recently is sites that help track social networking sites. My favorite right now is DandyID:
http://www.dandyid.org/users/ahynes1
It keeps track of many of the social networks I’m on. In addition, it supports portable contacts, so my information can be used in other sites as well, which help boost my SEO.
For example, DandyId feeds PeoplePond:
http://www.peoplepond.com/ahynes1
So, I didn’t need to type in any of that information over again.
Another site that is fairly interesting is Retaggr:
http://www.retaggr.com/page/ahynes1
They do not have an API yet or support portable contacts yet, but they have an API in development and are well worth watching. They do have a nice widget you can add to your blog. I’ve added it on a few blogs. They also support GreaseMonkey so you can modify the way Firefox displays some pages to include Retaggr badges.
Robin,
Time management doesn’t really work. The key is priority management.
Here are a couple of books worth reading:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Take care,
Larry
Mike,
For now, Twitter is the best way to go. If you need to you can use the Twitter Mobile Interface.
Larry
Aldon,
I agree with you about the power and potential of site aggregation. Some believe that that will be the basis for Web 3.0.
Larry
Hi Larry! Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge. Social marketing for me is mainly about number five, giving me a web presence and SEO. Since mine is a retail site, occasionally I connect with someone looking to stay a little safer and looking to purchase, but most of the time I’m just searching for a linking opportunity. Thanks again! Deb
Based on my latest thinking Debbie, I believe you would be well served by a branding and list building campaign.
Thanks Larry,
Found you on Twitter. Yes, it is a delicate balance this SMO.
Great tips! Will keep reading and learning and then applying.
Paola
Hello Larry,
This is a very nice article.
I’ve landed myself in different social networks because in the first place I have a website to promote to others.
I find your post very interesting and simple. Thank you.
[…] My parting advice: Keep everything as simple as possible and don’t put all your social media eggs into one basket. […]
Hi Larry,
Great article! We’re new in using Social Media Marketing as part of our SEO efforts. It’s really nice to read this for us to know where to start.
Paul
Great read Larry. And very informative article that you have. I agree with what you advised in The 80/20 Rule and Social Media not to spread yourself too thin trying to juggle too many social media sites at one time. In addition to that is to be careful with divulging some of your private information for security reasons.
Jane P.