Once you have decided which networks will work hardest for you with regard to where your audience can be found, you should select one or two specific goals that you want to achieve – and stick to them.
Assuming you have a definite goal in mind, any distraction can be a real time-drainer, and you should try to stay focused and complete your tasks without too much wandering from your point.
When you have your accounts set up, you should make sure your profiles are as complete as possible, with appropriate photo, keyword-rich descriptions and links to your or your company’s website. Being consistent in your profile across sites will allow more leverage and more visibility and authority to your content and comments.
Creating a simple routine around a longer-term plan will help to focus your activity, and again sticking to your plan will cut out unnecessary noise.
But while focusing on your plan remember that sites such as Twitter and Facebook are definitely not broadcast sites – this stuff is called ‘social’ media for a reason, so plan in time to comment on other people’s posts or tweets, and to both initiate and respond in conversation. And you may find over time that your initial goals shift, and given the fast-moving nature of the medium it is good practice to review and reconfirm your goals on a regular basis – but even if they shift, shhift your activity and stick to the new goals.
By keeping to your plan, making all your communications targeted, responsive and relevant, you will begin to build trust and credibility, and you will extend your reach and influence.
While some statistics seem to say that the more time you have available, the better your results will be, this doesn’t mean that you can shortcut success by overloading your audience with too many tweets or posts.
You will over time extend your reach and your influence by being consistent in your activity, having clear goals and a plan to achieve them with a simple routine that becomes an integral part of your work activity or business, and you can do this by staying in control and refusing to be distracted – too much – by things that won’t help you achieve your goals.
That isn’t to say that an occasional session of distracted browsing won’t throw up new ideas and directions for you – just remember to plan this into your schedule too!
Next time I will look at a few of the many tools that are out there which can help to lighten the manual load, and I will look at the advantages and pitfalls of what you can comfortably automate without losing your own authentic and human voice.
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