- January 7, 2018
- Posted by: Con P. Sweeney
- Categories: LinkedIn, Social Media
Frequently, when I meet with prospective clients, they’re often overwhelmed by where to begin with social media.
Their concerns are what you would expect.
Which ones to use?
How to set them up?
What do I do once I get them set up?
And, last but not least, my favorite, which social media channel should I use first.
In this article, I’ll discuss how to make your initial approach to social media.
Let’s get started!
There’s a very simple trick to getting started with social media:
Just don’t try to boil the ocean!
It’s that simple. Let me explain further.
Small and mid-sized organizations shouldn’t try to do it all at once with social media. (Many large ones shouldn’t either but that’s an article for another day.)
The principles for working with various social media channels (e.g., content, engagement) are very similar and only really differ in their tactical implementations.
So, by starting with one social media channel you’re preparing yourself to work with others.
How do you select one to start with?
Yes, there are many to choose from, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and a blog (I include blogging as a subset of social media, not all practitioners do.) to name but a few.
One is a good number and I recommend selecting an established channel before launching into blogging.
How to select that one social media channel?
Here’re a few criteria that I use:
- Which one has the necessary functionality for your needs?
- How ease is it to get started with?
- Which is the quickest to get into production with?
- How simple is ongoing maintenance?
- Are the people you need to connect with there?
I’ll help you a bit more and give you a recommendation for which social media channel to start with or to at least consider against other choices.
LinkedIn is where I recommend most people get started with social media.
(Yes, LinkedIn is part of social media. It may be the great-granddaddy of all channels but it’s still social media.)
Most people already have a LinkedIn profile, it may not be perfect, but, the have one.
Many of the people whom you wish to connect with and do business are already there.
LinkedIn meets all the remaining crieteria that I’ve noted above.
One watchout, avoid the LinkedIn Premium account. I’ve yet to be convinced that most people will get their money’s worth out of it. (I don’t use a Premium account.)
There are several other good reasons for starting with LinkedIn as you build your social media presence.
For all intents and purposes, if you’re not on LinkedIn today, people don’t want to know you.
An executive recruiter, who is a client of mine, says that when he gets a resume and if the submitter is not on LinkedIn then it goes to the bottom of the pile if not straight to the wastepaper basket.
Why?
He’s too busy to have to do all the work manually to verify your resume which he can do more quickly and accurately on LinkedIn.
Another reason, many people’s first impression of you will be via LinkedIn.
Finally, LinkedIn is an acceptable to connect with people whom you’ve never met before.
Many practitioners, including myself, recommend using LinkedIn as your first website.
It has all the basic functionality plus you can have a Company page.
(Please note, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison but close enough to get you started safely.)
When you decide to begin with social media, you need to start somewhere.
Starting with a safe choice like LinkedIn is a quick and effective way to do so.
Stick to the basics, avoid unnecessary expenses, and you’ll be off to a good start!
That’s it for now!
Please check-out my 8 step approach for developing a social media program to get some more ideas on how to use social media.
Also, never forget to reach out to either ask questions or to ask for help from someone like myself!
In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!
I look forward to any and all comments that you may have. I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.