Travel and Social Media: A Constant Struggle
You may well know that I’m currently traveling the United States right now on a tour to hit all 48 contiguous states.
During that time, I’ve been blogging my experiences and trying to keep everyone up to date with what’s going on – something much easier said than done. It’s been over 2 months now, and while this adventure is awesome… it certainly has its ups and downs.
Since my audience here is mostly small business owners, I thought I’d share with you my challenges and how I plan to keep getting better at keeping up with everything. Maybe it will help you figure out how your own social media should be handled during times of stress.
Less is not always more.
At first I figured that it would be okay that I wasn’t posting all the time because you know what they say – “Less is more.”
I’m here to tell you, that’s not always the case. Sure, my close friends and family still hold onto my every word, but that’s only because of our relationship. When I’m not keeping a constant, interesting flow if information for everyone else… well, when they do get those updates it’s almost just an irritating reminder of “Why am I following this?”
Don’t get me wrong – I’m sure there is such a thing as over sharing on the opposite spectrum, but you can’t just expect the same level of interactivity when you’re only posting something once a week or less.
If you’re not talking about something that’s personal, no one cares.
The Tweets, Google+ updates and blog posts with the most reactions and comments are those that touched the reader in a very specific, personal way.
A comment means that the reader felt so moved by your work that they were willing to come up with an original idea and share it publicly.
Since I don’t have the time to sit down and cater each blog post to a specific person, it’s kind of a hit-and-miss pattern that I’ll just have to learn from over time. If I were running the blog for a business, however, I’d sure be tracking that data and using it to write blog posts that will have impact.
Social media is only social when you’re present.
Right now I’m a passive partaker in social media, and it’s really bumming me out. When I’m not there, I miss the ebb and flow of ideas and content that I used to be so conscientious of.
I want to be able to post a thought and get feedback, then bounce around ideas and take one more step in the right direction just like that. Not to mention – when you’re not joining in on the conversation, people forget you’re there.
It is my intention to make sure I spend at least 5-10 minutes a day on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ if only just to see what everyone else is up to.
Challenges are challenging.
I’ve made a lot of off hand “I’m going to try to do…” comments on this trip. About 90% of them just fall to the wayside and never resurrect.
Others show up time and time again, and even if they don’t get improved immediately, they’re still there in the back of my mind.
What aspect of social media do you keep promising yourself you’ll get better at?
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I agree that we need to be updated at as much as possible in the social media marketing. We need to interact more to our target market because after all, we give them premium value as our potential customers. thanks a lot for the insights.