Small Business | Forum « Establish profile on many social media sites or only ones actively using?

Establish profile on many social media sites or only ones actively using? (12 posts)

Topic tags: business, profiles, social media networks

said
1 year, 3 months ago:
With hundreds of social media networks available, is it a good idea to establish a profile on many of them to reserve your name and/or business name even though you are only active with a few? Or is this a bad idea? It seems that having a profile with links to your website/blog and your actively used social media accounts might be worthwhile, but not having ongoing engagement may negate the positive benefits. This is something I am trying to decide as I move forward with establishing my new business, and I would greatly appreciate input.
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Melissa Agnes said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Good question Roberta!
Unless you think you’ll be active on them later, I would refrain from setting up in-active accounts. Either way, you should focus your energy on the networks where your market is presently, and don’t worry about spending too much time and energy anywhere else (unless it’s for personal fun!).
Hope this helps
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Abigail Gorton said
1 year, 3 months ago:
I do my best to limit it to places I actually visit. Sometimes you get pushed into joining a network just to access a group or an event though.
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said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Thank you, @melissaagnes and @abigailgorton.
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Allison Makowski said
1 year, 3 months ago:
I only provide profiles on social networks I intend on being active on. Its the smart way to go. If you joined a group in the “real world” and there was a meeting every week, and all anyone ever saw was an empty chair with your name tag on it, people would not be happy. I always try to look at my online life in my real world mind. Did that make sense?
@redunicornmedia | # | Top
Rich Brooks said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@rloufek
I’d like to recommend the opposite.
If you have a brand I would grab your “handle” everywhere you can. If you’re not quite ready to jump into Pinterest or some other platform, better to mark your territory so someone else doesn’t come along and claim it.
Just my .02.
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Debbie Lynn Butler said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@rloufek Having a common name, I tend to agree with @rich-brooks–grab it while you can. There are 56-90 million people with Twitter accounts who may also agree. According to this Business Insider article from March 2011, there were 56 million Twitter accounts not following anyone and 90 million with no followers–so some of these must be name-claimers.
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Allison Makowski said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@debbielynnava and @rich-brooks
I never thought of it like that. Good point and thanks for the insight. I just know that when I go to someones profile and there hasn’t been any action for a while it just seems a bit off for me. Maybe there would be a way to have the page un-published until you were ready.
@redunicornmedia | # | Top
Kristy C. Cartier said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@rloufek I must admit that I like to join the new shiny platforms (though I haven’t created a Pinterest account); however, I really only remain active on Twitter and LinkedIn. Facebook is more a “catching up with friends & family” site for me even though I know it’s potential.
As I’m going to recommend in a seminar I’m doing for my association management company, start with 1-2 platforms before adding in other ones. Get the conversation going before you dilute it a bit. The idea is to figure out where your prospects are already hanging out and engage them there first.
@kc_kreative | # | Top
Dea Irby said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Two things IMHO: 1) agree with Rich-grab your name and 2) agree with Kristy-get active where your customers are active @kc_kreative @rich-brooks @rloufek
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Rebecca Cohen said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Great discussion and thought provoking.
I have an invite to Pinterest and do think I will press on with it soon.
I really want to make the places I am signing up for count and have in the past had too many accounts sitting idle. I wonder what that said to my clients at times if they looked me up on certain networks..
@rebeccacohen | # | Top
said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Thank you all! It looks like I will stick with just the few social media networks where my target audience hangs out and where I will have time to be active, since it is all about engagement. And I will not worry about someone else pretending to be me or my brand on another site, since that is unlikely. If I found out about it I could report them to the site administrator. You have all been helpful.
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