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“BUT MOOOOOMMMM, Everyone else…”

Can’t you just hear it?  We all know the feeling.  Wanting to jump on the bandwagon so bad it changes a “want” into a “need.”  Today’s want is social media.  Everyone is on it and everyone is doing it.  Client’s are always asking me what sites they should be creating accounts on and what the next big site is going to be.  Now, I am in no way saying I am a social media expert.  I like Twitter and Facebook and find the whole thing pretty fascinating.  I’ve been to conferences on the topic and I read up when I can.  I also went to school in the Bay Area, so the whole social media phenomenon was kind of hard to ignore.  With that being said, here are my two cents.

Don’t just join a site because “everyone else is.”

If you are using social media for personal reasons make sure your friends are on the same sites as you.  The whole point of social media is to engage and if your friends aren’t there then it’s hard to get the ball rolling.  You can only follow so many random people before you start to feel like a stalker.

If you are using social media for business, make sure you go where your consumers are.  Did you know that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is people over the age of 45?  Sorry kids, you won’t be able to stop mom and dad from friending you much longer.  So yes, business’ should have Facebook profiles, but that doesn’t mean that they have to have Twitter profiles or Pinterest profiles.  Go where your consumers are, otherwise you are just wasting your time.

Finally, realize that with social media you get what you put into it.  Be realistic.  Social media is a full time job.  You have to be posting daily, commenting on posts from your followers, asking questions, replying, the list of terms goes on.  If you want to get 500 new friends in a week then you better be ready to eat, sleep, and breath social media, because it won’t do the work for you.

If these things seem obvious to you, great, but for some people they don’t.  Social media is a pretty new thing and it’s growing quickly.  My best advice is don’t ignore it.  At least take the time to understand the sites and what is going on.  Social media is changing how we communicate and understand our everyday lives, whether you like it or not.

Send us some of your thoughts on social media to info@rachelmeiscommunications.com.

Till next week!

xo

Rachel