- Hey everybody, this is Roberto Blake of robertoblake.com
helping you create something awesome today.
So, today I'm going to answer a question
that I get all the time, it's one of the most frequently
asked questions here on the channel,
and in my social media accounts, and that is simply
"How many social media accounts do you actually need?"
It's a fantastic question, there are so many
social media platforms out there
and new ones popping up every day.
Now, again you guys might have noticed
that I'm active in quite a few of them,
nearly all of them, but there is a reason for that
and part of it is again, I run my own business
as a design and content marketer
so I have the luxury of dictating my time,
but I actually spend less time in social media
than a lot of you might believe.
I'm just really smart about microtime,
but most of you probably shouldn't be
in more than 3 or 4 of the most
important platforms for you. So, let's figure that out.
You should be in a social media platform
that your audience is in so you can get
the value that you want and give the value
that they need, that's number one.
The other thing is, number two,
I think you should be playing to your strengths.
I think that you should be in social
media platforms that work for you.
If you're somebody that's not comfortable
in video then guess what?
Youtube is not a platform for you to be on.
Although, I would argue that there are ways around that
and I still think it's a great platform.
I'm going to probably have to do a video
on how to get you comfortable on camera
just so you can be on youtube and get
all the value that that can bring to your life.
Not to mention, it's a fantastic way
to grow your business.
But, again, if that's not something you're comfortable with
then you might be more comfortable with
things like, let's say Twitter,
or even medium.com and writing articles there
or maybe you're very good at taking pictures
but not being in front of the cameras,
so maybe Instagram, Pinterest,
and maybe a few other things could be good for you.
You could get very creative with Snapchat
and never show your face if that's
something that bothers you.
Obviously, you could market in Facebook very effectively.
In general though, I do think there are core platforms.
If you're a business professional
Linkedin is an important platform still,
but it is ultimately a rolodex in a publishing platform
so use this judiciously and really think about
how to be creative about that.
Twitter is great for being able to interact with people
in real time and I spend a lot time doing it.
So, I actually do like Twitter as a core platform.
So, if you're going to do five platforms
I would say obviously have Linkedin,
but Linkedin doesn't mean you have to
spend every single day in Linkedin,
you could be in Linkedin twice a week and it's fine,
and not spend more than five minutes
there each time and it's ok, so being in Linkedin
almost doesn't even really count
as something that's sucking up your time.
That's the thing that people are confused about.
I need to do a whole video about this,
about that perception but you know it doesn't have to
suck a whole lot of your time.
Twitter, you can do when you're
in line at the bank like I do.
So, that doesn't have to be a huge time suck
if you don't let it, especially from your smart phone.
The same is true for Facebook.
So again, these platforms don't have to take over your life
and posting at least once or twice a day
to them is not anything difficult.
You could do this with 15 minutes
out of your day and be fine.
The real biggies are should you be in Periscope,
should you be Youtube, should you be in Snapchat,
should you be in Instagram?
These are important, and I would say
if you're doing anything that's product related
then Instagram could be very good for you.
If you're a marketer I would say
you should go out of your way to use Instagram
because there's a lot of attention there
and it's a very unique platform
that you can take advantage of
and I think that if you're smart
you can actually use it to grow your email list.
Someone who knows all about using Instagram
for business is my friend suebzimmerman,
she's actually, literally, the Instagram expert
and so I would encourage you to check out her advice
about Instagram as a platform.
But, you know there are other things
you need to consider about that.
Do you have something that you're doing
that you feel you can make visually interesting
and are you creative enough to pull that off?
So really think about playing to your strengths here.
As someone with a background in graphic design
I've been able to actually get very creative
with my Instagram account and that's
been working out really well.
If you actually want to see what I'm doing with it,
you can actually follow me at robertoblake in Instagram.
Something many of you have seen me
do a lot lately is Periscope live streams.
Periscope is a great way to really engage with people,
do Q&A sessions, and I've been very effective
with direct selling for my one on one
coaching and consulting in Periscope.
In Periscope, I'm filming this January,
we're close to the end of the wire here,
I've gotten maybe 20 leads from doing that in Periscope,
just in doing this a couple of times for the month
and I've probably actually closed
about 12 or so of those leads at this point,
with some other ones being tentative.
So, again, that's huge in terms
of what that means for revenue,
so if you are in the marketing or consulting game
really think about how you might leverage that.
Again it's a great platform if you're comfortable on camera.
Snapchat is something new, I've got to do
a dedicated video about this, but ultimately,
the bottom line is Gary V. was kind of right about Snapchat.
But again, I don't think it's for everybody.
Just try and educate yourself about Snapchat
as much as possible and see if it's for you.
Again, if you're either very creative visually
or you're comfortable on camera
this could be a tremendous platform for you
and it doesn't have to a huge time suck.
If you are very comfortable on camera
and you're also pretty personable I recommend blab.im.
Blab is something that you guys
may or may not be famialar with.
I've been doing a lot of that, I actually have two shows
that I do a week over on Blab,
and it's a great platform for actual
face to face networking and conferencing.
It is actually a group based chat so
I would highly recommend you check that out.
It is probably the most importnat
networking platform in social media.
I would say it's actually more important
than Linkedin, in that regard,
for making real relationships and connections.
Through doing Blab sessions I've actually got to go
face to face with people that I followed
in social media for a long time
and engage and interacting with that actually build
real relationships and expand on friendships that I had
with people, like Steve Dotto, so that's fantastic.
I finally actually got to have a face to face with him,
I got to have a face to face with my friend
Owen Hemsath from Videospot.
So again, this is a great platform for actually
being able to make social media human.
It's probably the most human social media platform there is.
Can you leverage it for bussiness?
Uh, yeah, networking is always important
for business so the answer is yes,
just don't let it get out of hand.
And again, Youtube, you know that as far as I'm concerned
that Youtube is the ultimate social media platform
based on all the advantages of it,
especially when it comes to search engine optimization,
but it's not for everybody.
I think that there is an advantage
in a way that everyone could use it
if they wanted to and if they had
an effective strategy behind that,
but again, not everybody has that skillset
and you know that's actually something
that I help people with in my one on one
paid coaching and consulting sessions.
So again, reach out to me if that's
something that you're interested in.
The key here, that I keep reiterating,
is play to your strengths, use the social media platforms
that fit your personality, fit the needs of your audience,
and that you think you can succeed in,
and again, only dedicate the time
that you actually have a day to
take advantage of them and use them effectively.
Maybe set yourself a timer, maybe you actually
should only be spending 30 or 45 minutes
out of the entire day in social media.
If you're going to do that you can
take advantage of microtime.
Again, this is something I do on a regular basis.
I literally just take a few moments,
especially if I'm already doing something
that doesn't require my full attention
and it's time I'm never going to get back anyway,
like if I'm in the passenger seat,
or if I'm traveling, or if I'm in line somewhere,
I just go ahead and whip out my phone
and I just use social media and use that time effectively
to connect with people and build relationships.
So, I know this one was a little long
but I hope it answers your question as far as,
how many social media platforms should you use?
The ones that work for you, but again,
maybe you should have a prescence in all of them
but keep your activity focused around your top five.
For some of you that might be too much,
so maybe it's your top three.
Anyway, I hope this answerd that question for you
but if you still have questions about social media,
marketing yourself, or if you're interested in my coaching
let me know in the comments section.
I'll try to answer as many of your comments as I can.
Anyway, like this video if you like it,
don't forget to subscribe, check out the other
awesome content on the channel.
As always you guys, thanks so very much for watching
and don't forget, create something awesome today.