Prioritization Tips – Working with Social Networks

Of course you are busy trying to manage your business and do our job.  You also understand that being active within the social networking community is critical to the success of your online marketing.  So how do you prioritize?   How do you know if a social network is really worth your time? 

Here are a few things that I consider when evaluating a social network for my business:

1.                  Make a list – Like every other killer app on the Internet there are a ton of social networking sites.  It may take a little time but do yourself a favor and create a spreadsheet listing all of the networks that you know of and make notes next to each on who you think the primary audience is on that site.  If you only know of a few networks do a quick Google search on ‘social networks lists’.  You’ll get a few results containing some comprehensive lists.  *Note – make sure that any list you find is current (Dec/Nov 2007 or newer)

2.                  Ask the question: What am I trying to accomplish? -   The answer to this question should play a very large role in your decision on which networks to work with immediately and which to approach at a later date.  For example if your objective is to generate leads on a specific property YouTube is likely a very good choice.  But if you are looking to market your services to specific groups of individuals (i.e. in-market home buyers) you may want to consider a network that offers better topical segmentation and discussion like Gather.

3.                   Ask the question-  Who do I want to reach? – Once you have your objective in mind make a quick decision on who that audience is.  Different networks focus on different types of audiences.  For example LinkedIn is going to provide you a very reliable network of ‘close’ contacts, great for getting the word out about something.  But if you a trying to reach segments of now individuals marketing through LinkedIn can be construed as spam.  For this, think about Facebook, etc. for this.

4.                  Check out the stats – Of course you know that Facebook generates a ton of traffic but what about the others.  It always helps to know if anyone is actually visiting the site.  Tools like Compete or Alexa (http://www.compete.com, http://www.alexa.com) are great for evaluation of traffic.

5.                   Diversify – Think about how you can efficiently work with three or four different types of social networking sites on a regular basis.  For example staying active in ActiveRain, LinkedIn, Technorati and YouTube gives you a nice balance of blog/video/contact management and industry specific group outreach.

6.                   Focus/evaluation/time management– Stay focused on your top 3-4 sites and gauge on whether they are working out for you or not.  If after a few weeks interaction with members seems low on a community, consider going back to your list and replacing that community with another.  Also, spend an hour or so per day at least getting up to speed on the latest topics within each community or posting some new content.  Try to stop yourself after an hour regardless of what you are doing, social networks can be a time sink so be careful!