How To Start Winning The Social Media Game

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Start Winning with Social Media

With the glut of social media networks available for us to choose from, how can we decide where to focus our efforts? 

Take two or three networks at a time so that you don't get overwhelmed. That way you can monitor your progress to see where your traffic is coming from. Let me help you start to narrow down or hone in on which social network you're going to get started with. 

First, here is a list of the 5 major networks you need to consider:

• Twitter
• Google+
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest

Next, use the process of elimination to remove two or three based on your own personal likes and dislikes - or perhaps you're pretty sure your niche will or won't do well on.

For example, my daughter Nikki has a fashion blog called Chic Renegade, so in her case, she doesn't try to force her content to fit over on LinkedIn where most of her blog posts aren't appropriate for the demographic of users. However, Nikki also has a Marketing business where she does custom WordPress set-ups and event promotion and curation. This one is called Lidyr Creative Marketing Agency. This type of site is a perfect fit for LinkedIn. 

Should You Start With Google+ or Facebook?  

Here's my recommendation - if you don't have an established network on Facebook already, at this time, I would not suggest you get started with Facebook. The exception to this is if you are ready or able to invest in hiring a professional Facebook strategist to manage your promotion, don't go it alone. Keep up with your family and friends as you have done in the past but there is just too much noise over there and the only way to make an impact with your content is through strategically placed advertising. 

I would focus on Google+ instead. Find a good, spam free, community on Google+ and plant your flag over there. You are going to get more bang for your buck and more visibility in search on Google + than can can on Facebook at the moment.

What about Pinterest?

Pinterest is not just for women! Check out the Manly Pinterest Tips Show hosted by Jeff Sieh and featuring:

• Wade Harman (Wade interviewed me in a previous episode of this podcast)
• Mike Allton
• Les Dossey
• Stephan Hovnanian

So don't limit yourself as far as Pinterest is concerned. You might be surprised to learn that Pinterest is now branding itself as a search engine in it's own right. And speaking of search, you'll also find that Pinterest boards and profiles rank high in Google search. 

I use the example of my podcasting board on Pinterest. If you search Google for "Podcasting on Pinterest", the board is currently in the top spot - and it has been for weeks. :)

I also share how I made some great connections working at my day job in niche industries like Additive Manufacturing (aka 3D printing), Transportation, and Medical Devices just to name a few. 

Rules of Engagement

Regardless of which social networks you decide to master, be sure to have profiles established on each one of the sites I listed above. If you want to take things a bit further, use a site like Know.em to claim your profile names across multiple networks. That way when someone searches for your name, you'll dominate the search results.

You might think this tip goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway - don't be a spammer! Don't just share your own content. Share more of other people's content and you'll find as time goes by, that other people end up reciprocating and sharing your content as well. 

Here are five communities you can join to find great content to share and the other members will give you a head start with winning the social media game:

• Triberr (watch my tutorial here and here)
• Viral Content Buzz
• Blog Engage 
• Social Buzz Club affiliate link
• BizSugar

Next episode, we'll take a closer look at a few of these and explore additional tools and resources like TailWindApp and Pinwoot, to help you save time and cross the finish line a lot sooner. 

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