So many options, so little time. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google +, youtube, etc, etc, etc.....There are so many popular social networking sites, and only so much time in the day. I know that I am not mentioning other websites as well but are all of these sites too much? What do you focus on and use the most? I know that everyone uses Facebook, as they have over 900 million users but do these sites really work or are they just a waste of time?
I ask this from the perspective of a business owner. Ya if you just want to get on and make fun of your twice removed cousin or see what your high school friend that you haven't talked to in 15 years is doing then yes Facebook is awesome. For those of you that use this as a marketing tool though, what are your strategies, which sites do you use and what I am really curious to see is how effective are they? I guess one more thing is how do you measure that effectiveness? I mean is it really worth tweeting about your business when you have 20 followers?
I mean social media is now so popular that jobs have been newly created for this exact purpose. Not only has this position been created but but it is a job where a 20 something has a lot better chance of getting the job versus a 40 something with "experience". I haven't really taken a look but I am sure there are thousands of other sites out there. I mean all you really have to do is create a site that speaks directly towards a certain segment of the market. Look at Facebook, originally you had to have an @.edu email address or you couldn't get on. Start narrow and as you grow you can broaden your scope. Isn't that what most business models are as well. As an example I started mowing grass but now I put down chemicals, rake leaves, put in irrigation and do snow removal. Most companies start in the exact same manor.
Enough of that tangent and back to social media. How much time per day does the average person spend on social networking? According to this website, http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/09/02/20-stunning-social-media-statistics/, over 15 hours each month or roughly 30 minutes a day... on Facebook alone. I would like to see what the numbers are for businesses and because I have an interest, more specifically small business owners.
Maybe the better question is at what point is it worth your time to focus on all this networking? I understand that you can't just go from zero to million users in a week, but at what point is it truly profitable. With blogs and other websites this number is one that can be calculated based on page views, ad revenues and affiliate income among some of the information that is easily attainable. With social networking like facebook and twitter I think it is a little harder to trace where that revenue is coming from.
As I continue to write and hopefully as the popularity of this blog grows I can give some more feedback on the blog information related to revenue. The one thing that I haven't mentioned is there is a very big difference between a blog and a website dedicated to a company that sells products. Those products could be software, sandals or other services, it doesn't matter. A blogs product is information which is infinite, virtually. A blog succeeds based on marketing a virtually nothing more nothing less. Of course the information and material must be of quality but quality is very subjective.
Anyway, the goal of this post was to get some comments on social networking. Is it worth the time we spend on it? What could we really accomplish with even half of that 15 hours per month? If there are any business owners reading this, what sites do you use and and what point has your time on these sites become worth it? Any sites that are growing in popularity that you find useful?
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