Take Responsiblity for Your Own Social Media in 2014

by

This time of year, everyone comes out with “a latest trends” report as to where you, as a marketer should spend your time with respect to social media marketing. In addition, often the numbers show the following:

• More companies are adopting social media and spending more in 2014
• Social media investment is important for businessses
• More companies are seeing results with social media
• You need to engage more with social media

and the list goes on and on.

The real topic here is developing your own plan and finding a way to make social media work for you. It comes down to owning the process and deciding you are going to personally take the responsiblity to make it work. Social media is all about making connections and executives really feel uncomfortable about being more transparent with their clients. (I would say most do) For me, social media is a channel which gives people another option to connect with others.

I think we make too much out of social media and I really believe the term is going away. In 2013, I saw a movememt toward more quality posts and connections. This means the channels are actually getting better and people are using these channels in ways that meet their own needs and their company needs. The only way to discover this is to be personally active on the channels. Some channels work better than others. You don’t attend every networking event or conference that comes to town, why would you try to be active on every social media chanel. You may decide one day, Instagram is stupid and the next week it may have some merit. The only way you discover this is by trying these channels out yourself not reading various opinions in articles.

Stop reading all the trends and hype and find some ways to make social media work for you. Maybe you use it like a newspaper, or maybe you follow some conversations. From here, you might decide to share more of your own knowledge and expertise or join a group. It really starts with you. Find a way to take responsibility and learn how to use social media to meet your own needs first and then you will discover how you can use it to help others and connect with others.

Finally, read articles that offer solid tips and techniques regarding social media and that are backed up by personal experiences. You will find this type of information here on this blog site and if you know of othergood sites, please let me know.

“Image courtesy of stock images/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net“.