Last week, I put together a simple quiz you can take to figure out which social networking platform is the place for you. If you want to see the quiz plus the explanation AROUND the quiz (yes, there is a reason other than the entertainment value — it not only helps you use each social networking platform more successfully, but it also helps you structure your time better, so you get the results you’re looking for), you’ll want to check out part 1 right here: http://bit.ly/1jakn6t
Let’s jump right in.
If you’re a 3: LinkedIn.
You prefer small intimate cocktail parties or dinner parties where you can engage in deep conversations with a few close friends.
You’ve got to hand it to LinkedIn. They were one of the first social networking sites, and unlike a lot of their peers (can you say MySpace?) they’re STILL considered one of THE top social networking sites.
In my experience, pretty much every entrepreneur I’ve run into is either in the Facebook camp or LinkedIn camp. They may have accounts set up on both, but they very clearly prefer one over the other (which means the one they don’t prefer usually gets the shaft).
And while I haven’t personally experienced it (since I tend to prefer the less button-down nature of Facebook), I know plenty of folks who have gotten leads and clients from LinkedIn. So it too seems to be a hot place to showcase your business. Plus, LinkedIn does do a decent job of sending you blog traffic.
In addition, the other thing LinkedIn has going for it is “staying ability.” Who knows if Facebook really will weather the storm of kids thinking it’s “not cool?” But LinkedIn has managed to carve out its own unique category that (at this moment) appears to have some serious staying power.
One of the things I want to do this year is learn how to use my LinkedIn account more effectively. And if this is something you too are interested in then stay tuned — I’m planning to interview a LinkedIn expert on PW Unplugged in the near future!
If you’re a 4: Pinterest.
You’re an artist at heart and love hanging out with your other creative friends, drinking coffee or taking art classes at the local community college.
Pinterest is really a different sort of animal. On one hand, of all the social networking platforms out there, the posts seem to have the most staying power. (Pins last forever apparently.) But in terms of really engaging people and getting to know them, not as much.
I’m still testing and playing around with Pinterest myself because I’ve heard it’s a pretty good place for blog traffic (who knew?). And if you sell an actual product — like jewelry or art — I think Pinterest would be hot. Food would be hot too — like if you are selling a cookbook, pictures of the food would go a long way. Plus it works well with Facebook — if you go through the trouble of creating a graphic for Facebook, you might as well pin it on Pinterest too.
I’m intrigued by the whole blog traffic thing so if I test it and it works, I may very well invite a Pinterest expert to PW Unplugged. Let me know if that intrigues you too!
If you’re a 5: YouTube.
You’re the life of the party — doesn’t matter how big or small the party is. You love nothing better than being the center of attention as you entertain all your friends.
Ahh, even if you never wanted to be a movie star (and you really aren’t the life of the party) incorporating video into your marketing mix is really a smart move. The best part of uploading your videos into YouTube is how versatile it is. People can search directly in YouTube, plus your videos will show up in Google search results AND in your Google+ account. You can also incorporate the YouTube link in your Facebook page, in LinkedIn, on your blog, and probably in whatever the next hot new social networking platform is going to be.
YouTube is not much for actual connecting and networking, but as a way to send traffic to your site, there are few things that are as hot as video.
The problem with video is it’s not as easy as sending a quick tweet or posting a pic on Facebook. But it’s definitely worth the extra effort. And if you are thinking about using video, I would encourage you to batch your videos in one shoot — set aside a couple hours or an afternoon and blast through as many as you can possibly stand. That way, you only have to get all dolled up once in a while (not to mention all the work hiring a video crew or getting your own studio set up).
If you’re a 6: Google+.
You’re the one having a party as you wait in line for the latest high tech product. You definitely consider yourself one of the early adopters and having a party with other early adopters is definitely the way to go!
Google+ is so massive, it’s really hard to get a handle on it. Google Hangouts, the whole +1 thing, profiles, pages, communities, circles, videos…
It feels like at the end of the day, G+ wants to have it all. You have the search engine capabilities with the +1 and everything that’s posted in G+ gets indexed in Google. You have videos and Google Hangouts that automatically show up on your profile plus get uploaded into YouTube. You have the communities and the networking, and maybe because G+ IS more complicated than some of the other social networking platforms, the people you DO find on G+ tend to be smart, sophisticated and passionate.
G+ is another one I’m playing around with more because I think there are some possibilities here, especially for traffic and SEO. I’m not sure about the leads yet — you have to be very careful about promoting yourself on this network, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because getting to know people is the first step to actually having them become your clients. But without being able to openly promote (and really no advertising options like you have on LinkedIn and Facebook — plus Twitter looking like they’re getting into the game too) this definitely falls into a long-term biz building strategy instead of “get clients now” strategy.