Making Sense of Social Media!

Hello everyone, trying to keep up with social media can be crazy!!! so, today I thought I would address a question that I have been asked quite a few times: how do you keep up with all this social media stuff? fellow bloggers, tweeters, facebookers, diggers and rss feeders, have you been driving yourself crazy with with all the social media buzz?

As someone whose job it is to make sure that everything social media is captured by my company, most of my day is spent managing social media. I know that many of us know the benefits of social media from a personal or even more, a business standpoint – but sometimes it can be very daunting. So, how do you manage all these balls above and keep your sanity? Is this why sometimes as bloggers, our posts suffer? I mean, can you really be a professional blogger, have a day job, manage the family, find time for yourself and keep up with social media? My very optimistic answer is yes!! Here are some of the ways I manage social media without driving myself crazy:

#1:The FIRST secret is this: you don’t have to participate in every one of them. Find the social media tool or tools that works best for you and stick with it. Like the saying goes: try to do one thing well as opposed to doing too many things and doing none of them well!!

#2: The next secret to know is that in order to keep your sanity, you don’t need to read everything. Social web sites are like huge chat rooms. Try to participate whenever you can! REMEMBER: consistency is the key!!

#3: For Twitter users, use smart applications to manage tweets; maybe using TweetDeck to manage the flow of information by filtering to only those updates that you care about the most. Also using the search button to find necessary info. Don’t forget to load your blog feeds directly into your tweets, this will also help with content!!!!

#4: Facebook has to be the most talked about, and the most misunderstood social media site right now. While Facebook can be an utter waste of time, it can also be an essential addition to your web working tools. The Facebook social networking phenom can be exactly what you want it to be; therefore, you must set your objectives for Facebook. Ask yourself this question: what do I hope to achieve from using Facebook? Is it a tool for your business or is it to catch up with old friends? Either way, set your priorities and stick with them.

#5: …….and saving the best for last: BLOGGING – I have heard many questions and have experienced many of those myself. how do I keep my content fresh? how do you keep up with all the other blogs? how do you build a network? how do I get followers as a newbie blogger? how do I make my blog inviting?

Here are my simple answers: one of the first things I was told about blogging is this:

“If you want to be a professional blogger, you simply have to be consistent and stick with it just like anything else you do in your life. So, that’s been my mantra!”

To keep your content fresh and keep your thoughts moving, keep a notebook and write your ideas at the top…don’t pressure yourself to come up with great ideas all the time, just jot down whatever comes to mind, no matter how unconventional or strange it may seem. Keeping up with other blogs and commenting can be tricky, but plan your first 30-45 minutes before you blog to reading your google reader or reading through your blogger dashboard and commenting as you see fit! Look, if you don’t get all your blogs in one sitting, then you have the next day.

“Keeping your content fresh means always thinking about  what your audience would genuinely be interested in hearing or knowing about. And sometimes, you may just have to reach out for help….”

I have found out how much of a community blogging and being active on social media is and it’s necessary to participate in the community. Do you have any strategies you use to keep up with social media that you’d like to share?