You’ve probably heard by now that Google is retiring their Google+ “social networking” platform. There are probably thousands of social sites in the world today, and not every one of them is going to gain the traction they need to be successful. Some are successful for a short time and then burn out, such as Google+. Why did they fail? They just couldn’t grab the market share away from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
Every once in a while you’ll receive an invite to another tool, and it’s up to you to determine whether it’s worth your while. Alignable is one such tool, and while it has some cool features, who among us really have the time to go beyond the big 4 mentioned above?
Aside from those 4 accounts, as business owners, we must also email, blog, and distribute print media, because these are very effective when used correctly.
So what’s an already overloaded entrepreneur to do?
I suggest focusing on my favorite Trifecta, Email-Blog-LinkedIn. If you don’t have the budget for a marketing team, and you’re going it alone, this is all you need. Now some might say that their particular audience reacts better to Instagram than LinkedIn – so that’s what you should do – as long as you have the facts and figures to back up that claim.
Most often, B-to-B will do great on Email-Blog-LinkedIn. Some B-to-C entrepreneurs will say that their consumer clients are likely to browse through Facebook or Instagram. And then I’ll ask, are these customers of your product or service people who are employed? When they answer “ yes, their customers are employed professionals”, I’ll remind them that employers and employees are already spending time on LinkedIn, so why not approach them there?
The point
The point is that entrepreneurs are already overloaded with to-do’s so we don’t have time to tweet 15 times a day and post pics 5 times a day and share memes 6 times a day. We’re BUSY. You know…. Working!
So boiling down your marketing (at least initially) to the top 3 methods that work, are the only things you need to focus on right now.
The Top 3
Email – everyone checks their email. Everyone. I go for 4 or 5 days without even glancing at social, but I check my email more than 10 times a day. That’s where my clients reach me so that’s where I monitor communications.
Blog – if someone needs what you have to offer, they will google their problem or desired solutions. And a tool that helps you come up in search results are blog posts that address what your new prospect is likely to be searching for. That’s where your prospects are searching so that’s where you need to be.
LinkedIn – I’ve often said, if you have a pulse, you should be on LinkedIn. Who’s on LinkedIn? Employees, business owners, job seekers, students, non-profit organizations. You know – people. Even retirees are on LinkedIn because they usually are still working on some project or other. I don’t know many people who are NOT on LinkedIn. So – that’s something to consider.
Will the benefits outweigh your time?
And when someone invites you to join yet another social outlet – you’ll want to strongly consider whether the benefits will really outweigh another division of your already small pool of time.
Once your team grows and you can outsource more marketing tasks, definitely expand your communications playground.
If you’re not sure that what you’re doing today is getting you the best possible opportunity for a result, let’s go over that together. Please feel free to reach out to me for a phone call and we’ll see what are the best next steps for you.