Applying the 80/20 Rule To Social Networking

Let’s face it.  Social networking can be overwhelming, to say the least. There are so many different choices and networks and places to go and post your thoughts that it’s hard to imagine having enough time to really engage.  And if you do have the time to get involved, where do you begin?  Well, let me make it simple for you. Social networking is like any other activity in your business, in that the 80/20 rule applies — 80% of the results can be acheived by engaging in 20% of the possible activities.

But which ones?  There are so many to choose from…

In my experience, there are only a handful of activities that actually matter online.  And if you focus your energy on those, you can achieve the largest possible effect, with the least possible activity. Here they are, in order of priority:

1. Website: if you can only do one thing, make sure you have a great website full of relevant, well thought out messages that address your audiences pains or desires in the context of your offering and difference.
2. Blog: A good blog, that is updated consistently with thought provoking content is the most versatile and effective social networking tool you can produce.
3. Facebook: if you’ve taken the time to create a blog, you will absolutely benefit from a Facebook presence.  Facebook is one of the largest social networks on earth and it can be used very effectively to drive traffic to your blog and your primary website.
4. Twitter: Like Facebook, Twitter is an unbelievably effective tool for generating traffic to your website and blog. If you think Twitter is just for telling people what you had for lunch, think again!
5. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is an easy to use, business focused social networking site that can be integrated together with your Blog Twitter and Facebook to create impact with minimal effort.

Now some people look at this list and see it as a daunting, if not impossible to manage.  But that’s only becuase they dont understand the tools for facilitating each process, the methodologies for creating content for each, and how the processes work together in support of one another to create a desired effect.  In the end, companies who take the time to learn how to use these 5 simple mediums – then to integrate them intelligently together – will be able to create the business results that they’re competitors can only dream about.