Tag Communications

I’m a self-professed social media “newbie” – but technically we all are, right? Our common vehicles are just getting old enough to hit the typical childhood milestones: Twitter’s turning three, the public version of Facebook marched off to Kindergarten this fall, and their big brother, MySpace? Well he’s practically a “tweener” now!

But don’t bust out your party hats just yet.

The capabilities of this social media revolution are endless, but with no user’s manual on how to navigate this electronic universe, it’s hard to know what's acceptable, and what’s not.

Surely people don’t really care about my thoughts on my morning commute, or what three words would describe my life in some “Eat, Pray, Love” parody. Yet people are out there, reading and commenting, keeping tabs on my innermost ramblings and responding in a favorable manner overall.

The challenge in all of this is that it takes time and effort. Using social media to support your business requires attentiveness and dedication in keeping them updated – and the inability to commit to the process can have detrimental effects.

Without cultivating a viable online network, your organization will be left looking like that lone angst-riddled boy at the high school dance who hasn’t been able to break into a dance circle all night long!

Yes, social networks can link you to other organizations, causes and articles that boost your “savvy-ness” in the marketplace, but when you’ve created social media accounts and they are sitting nearly idle with little activity on them, it’s important to realize that communicates something too.

And it ain’t something positive.

When the new posts stop coming, so do the readers; consequently, in a game where the entire premise is making interpersonal communication PUBLIC, not having a public is a very bad thing. Posting every week or two may be ok when it’s just Aunt Gertrude and some old high school acquaintances checking up on you, but not if you want social media to work for you or your business in the way it was designed too.

Aim for a fresh update every day, or look into the options available for delaying messaging so that when you sit down to focus on your social media accounts you can create several updates and delay sending them.

So, take it slow, and don’t bite off more than you can chew - and Tweet something already, would you?