Just the Social Media Basics
One thing that I think we all struggle with on a daily basis, is how to use our time. I’ll admit that I’m the messy desk guy, my business partner would tell you that makes me either creative, or annoying depending on the day. I do however, spend what seems like an inordinate amount of time on social media. I like Facebook, I love Twitter and I think Pinterest might be the most interesting social media site I’ve ever seen. My business partner hates social media, so I created a short punch list for him. The idea was pretty simple, is there some way that we can gain value from all of these social media accounts for both of us, despite having one partner who doesn’t want to put any time into them? It took some time, but I came up with a general plan that seems to be working.
1) Create a personal Google +, Twitter and Pinterest page. Instead of half heartedly updating them once every few months, just make an initial post and direct them to a place where you actually spend some time. For us if you wanted to visit us in person that is, it might be the bar down the street from our office more so than anything else, but in his case, it’s his LinkedIn profile.
2) About LinkedIn: I could care less about the platform. Seriously, I see less than zero value in it. I’m not the one in charge of hiring (nor would I ever want to be, I am happy to simply show up at the end of the day and pick who gets the job) nor I am ever looking for a job again. That being said, if you’re an employer and not an entrepreneur, it’s the most important network that you are likely to be part of. As an example, here in the Bay Area I know Fortune 500 companies who are hiring almost exclusively from LinkedIn and have been for years.
3) Update Pinterest and Flickr regularly: I know what you’re thinking, I thought you said your business partner doesn’t like social media. He doesn’t. He isn’t repining anything on Pinterest. He hasn’t looked at a picture on Flickr outside of his own interests, ever. That being said, he loves taking pictures. He’s good at taking pictures. Our industry (wine) affords itself to a lot of images. Sure, adding the same images (or almost the same) to both of these network’s isn’t the best thing in the world, but they do drive traffic to our site. Additionally, the Flickr images are often used elsewhere, both legally as well as illegally. We’ve gained some nice mentions on blogs by simply asking a blogger who had borrowed one of our images without asking first, to please credit our “About Us” page for the image.
Ok, so there you go, a social media strategy for someone who hates social media. Now the only question becomes, what do you like to do?
Mark Aselstine is one of the two owners of Uncorked Ventures, an online wine club owned and operated by two brother’s in law. They roll with the ups and downs of the business by being able to laugh at each other.