Creating a Social Media Plan {day eighteen}

Welcome to Day Eighteen of the Write 31 challenge!  If this is your first time stopping by, head over to Day One to get started from the beginning, and now on to Day Eighteen…

We spent the first few days of this series talking about casting a vision, creating your brand and considering why you need a social media plan. Then we spent the last 11 days going over what I would consider to be the “Big Four” of social media platforms…Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. There was a lot of information for each of the platforms because I truly believe that is where you want to invest your energy. But the reality is that there are other social media platforms out there that can be really useful so I want to make sure we cover those as well…but this is going to be a lot more rapid fire! Because we have five days to cover more than 10 additional social media platforms! So let’s get down to business!

Google Plus

Over the last few months I’ve read conflicting reports on Google+…some people say it’s growing and others insist it will soon be a ghost town. Either way sharing on Google+ is a great way to get your content on Google so my suggestion is explore Google+, try it out, and at least put some effort into using this platform.

-Create three types of circles on Google Plus…one for your casual acquaintances. You’re probably not going to check in on this circle every day but you want to remember these people, bloggers, and brands. The second circle should be for people, bloggers and brands you’ve gotten to know a little better and you want to make sure you stay reasonably current on their content. You might not check this circle every day, but you check it pretty regularly. The third, and final, circle is your can’t miss people, bloggers, and brands…the people you don’t want to go a day without seeing!

-At the very minimum I would encourage you to do two things on Google+…share each of your blog posts on Google+ and make sure you profile is set up! Even if you’re not going to dive into the pool of Google+ you want your content out there for others to find and when they find it you want to be able to let them know who you are and what you represent.

-Include images…including an image on your Google+ post is incredibly important so try to include an image with every post!

-As you explore Google+ test out and explore Hangouts and Communities…I could probably write a whole post (or more!) on this topic but in the interest of time I would just encourage you to explore these different features.

LinkedIn

This might seem like an unusual addition to a series on social media because it doesn’t operate like a traditional social media platform, but this can be a great way to connect with similar brands, media and public relations contacts, bloggers, and other people with similar interests in a more professional setting than say Instagram.

-Even if blogging is not your full-time job, be sure to include the fact that you are a blogger on your profile!

-Remember that this is more of a professional network than most of the other social media platforms so be sure to post, interact and engage in a professional manner.

-Engage on LinkedIn by endorsing and recommending others you have worked with and they might do the same for you. As you increase your number of endorsements and recommendations you are further building your resume. If you are a blogger this can potentially lead you to opportunities beyond your blog…speaking, writing, and consulting.

These next few days of material are going to look a little different because there is not going to be a separate printable for each of these platforms…that’s a lot of paper! Instead I would encourage to explore these different platforms and see which ones might be a good fit for you. You don’t need to be on every single one of these platforms to be successful and in fact, you can probably argue that being on ALL of them will actually slow you down because you’ll spend so much on social media you’ll forget about creating actual content and products. So sit back and explore all of these different types of social media and think about which ones might be the best fit for you, your blog, and/or your business.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to leave them in the comments below or email me at girlonthemoveblog01 {at} gmail {dot} com

What questions do you have about Google+ or LinkedIn? Have you found either of these platforms to be particularly useful or challenging?