Got you ”“ you read my headline. I could also have elicited your response if I had changed Facebook to Twitter, LinkedIn or probably almost any other social media-related platform. This borderline visceral response depicts the growing importance and perplexity of social media ”“ and how most people are attracted to it.
How to grow your social media network
Seemingly, wherever we look, whether on the nightly news, in magazines, the radio or online, there is usually some reference to a website or social media platform. Blogs abound with overwhelming amounts of new content ”“ some of it even relevant. Yet, in many cases, people are ready to tweet, share, like or email an article without reading it. Increasingly, particularly with Google”™s new emphasis on comments, people will make a generic comment about an article.
So how do you discern the quality articles from the chaff?
Ӣ Follow people who regularly provide quality content. Content is king and will usually attract a loyal following. Look for those people and have their feeds sent directly to you.
Ӣ Ask people who they follow. Users of LinkedIn are particularly helpful in this regard. You can ask a general question or ask people in a group (or groups) concerning a reliable source for whatever content you seek.
Ӣ Find articles on industry-related sites and note contributing authors of quality content articles. Go to their blogs and determine if following the bulk of their work is worth your time.
Ӣ Start communicating with these people and providing thoughtful comments on their articles. Ask questions and let them know that you are following them. Note that comments are more powerful than sending email messages.
Maximizing your Facebook fan page
Although I will talk about this subject in a later article, one strategy you should employ (which will help you avoid the chaff), involves the use of an aggregator such as Google Reader. What”™s an aggregator? It”™s a means by which you can have your selected articles of interest automatically delivered directly to you. This way, instead of having to search out articles from your selected writers, their quality content will be readily accessible to you. You merely have to open your Reader and quickly skim down the list of article titles and summaries.
Instead of being mesmerized by catchy titles and wasting much valuable time, employing a simple strategy of following industry leaders and having their articles automatically sent to you will help you avoid being inundated by title susceptibility. In its place will be a manageable amount of quality content and improvements in your productivity.
Bruce Newman is the vice president at The Productivity Institute L.L.C. in Carmel. He is also the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader. Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and the Productivity Institute blog. Bruce can be reached at bnewman@prodinst.com.
