Is it Time to Downsize Your Social Media?

 When we bought our house 5 years ago it fit us just right. With two growing boys still left at home, and a mother-in-law who lived with us 5 months of the year, we could easily justify needed a house with 4 1/2 bathrooms and a full finished basement. Lots of room for everyone to have their own space. Today there is just three of us left in this big ole house and it feels a little ridiculous that there are more bathrooms in the house than there are people! Not to mention the fact that I am the one who has to clean those bathrooms!

The time has come: It’s time to downsize! As much as I’d like to think that I can do it all–the cleaning, the yardwork, the maintenance, etc-I’ve come to the realization that I need less house if I’m ever going to have more time.

Less can be more with social media
If you’re like me, you’re probably maxed out on your social profiles. You’re using Twitter and Facebook for your business. You’re blogging and sharing status updated on LinkedIn. You signed up for Google+, even though you have no idea what it’s all about and what to do with it. You’re checking in with Foursquare and you’re sharing and tweeting and commenting…frantically trying to raise your Klout score!

Now, don’t get me wrong, all of this is good–if you have created a strategy. If you’ve developed a roadmap for your social media marketing, kudos to you! But if you’re bouncing around from one thing to another, using the “throw spagetti at the wall” school of marketing, it might be time to consider downsizing–and creating a strategy. You’ll thank me, I promise. It will save you oodles of time if you have a roadmap to follow.

Find out where your customers are “hanging out” online–and listen in. See what their pain points are. How can you help them? While there are some great tools and technologies out there (that you need to be using!) , the focus should be on how to engage with the right customers.

Now, create your plan–with goals and objectives. Hint: Your strategy should map up to your overall business objectives, as well as your insight into your customers. Map out what it is you want to accomplish and how you plan on getting there (the tactics).

How will you know which tactics to use if you don’t have a strategy?