Where Should I Begin with My Social Media?

My last article dealt with whether or not your social media community knows whether you’re alive or not.

In this article, I’ll go a little bit further back than that and answer a question that many clients ask me when we begin to work together, “Where should I begin with my social media?”

It’s a great question and the answer not as complicated as you might think.

Let’s discuss it!

A few assumptions first…

You’re either a small or mid-sized organization or a you’re an employee somewhere who’s looking for a new position or looking to enhance your reputation as a thought leader in your industry.

Whatever you are, you’re not a Fortune 500 corporation with unlimited funds and plenty of staff to make things happen.

You’re you struggling to get by with the time and budget constraints that we all have.

Sound like you? Read on then!

Now, where do you begin?

Whether you have no social media assets at all or you’re using everything, you’re going to start with your LinkedIn profile.

Either by setting one up or overhauling the one you have.

Why LinkedIn?

First, there are over 500 million users there now.

As a client of mine, who’s an executive recruiter, once said, “If you’re not on LinkedIn then we don’t want to know you!”

Trust me, your website/blog, no matter how good it is won’t give you that time of access for a long time!

As the famed bank robber, Willie Sutton, once said when asked why he robbed banks, “Because that’s where the money is!”

Get the picture?

Finally, the LinkedIn platform, despite its quirks, is fairly easy to navigate with some practice.

Next, what to do.

Complete your LinkedIn profile and obtain an All-Star rating which is the highest rating you can receive from LinkedIn for a completed profile.

(Word of caution here, All-Star means completed, it doesn’t mean it’s good!)

Set up a company page if you’re a business or an organization.

Begin a program of actively connecting with others on LinkedIn.

Engage with others on LinkedIn regularly.

Create original content to publish on LinkedIn and share the content of others with relevant commentary.

With me so far?

What happens after LinkedIn?

Once you’re up and running on LinkedIn, stop for a moment and catch your breath.

Keep your work on LinkedIn going but think about developing your social media program in a more comprehensive manner like my 8 step approach (See link below).

You can add each new social media channel (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) one at a time.

There’s no need to boil the ocean here. Work at your own pace.

Just remember to produce results!

You can reuse the materials that you create as you go and don’t forget to apply your lessons learned!

You paid for them with your sweat equity.

Success on social media is all about preparation, application, and discipline.

Look at what others are doing.

Conduct your own research on the theory and practice of social media like you’re doing by reading my blog.

You too can have measurable success with social media, just start somewhere!

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.