Finding a Social Media "Home"

If you're posting everything you write to five, six, eight, a dozen or more social media websites, you're not focusing your efforts effectively and you're probably risking being restricted or banned from the communities you use. There are a very few individuals capable of participating constructively, authentically and prolifically in numerous communities. However, that level of use takes several hours every day to maintain. If you're only able to dedicate a few minutes to an hour or two each day to social media, your best strategy is to focus on one or two sites.

Your Social Media Home

To narrow your focus and increase your effectiveness, start by selecting one favorite site where you'll strive to be a user valuable to everyone in the community. If you're already much more active on one website than any other, stick with that community. Unless, of course, you no longer enjoy using that tool. Never continue participating in a social media community you don't enjoy.

Your social media home should be a website that you love. If you find yourself clicking over to a site in your browser every time you log onto the computer, if you find yourself posting there instead of doing work or chores, if you are tempted to check in even when you're on vacation or taking a day off, you've found the right site. Ask yourself if you'd post on a particular site even if you had never started writing content that you need to promote. If the answer is "of course," that's your social media home.

Contributing to Your Favorite Community

So you've found your social media home--now what?

Start contributing to the success of the community as much as possible. Learn the terms of use and unwritten social norms. Help new users by conveying those items to them gently and constructively. Post links that you know others in the community would like to see. No more than one in five of your posts should be your own content. Some social media communities prohibit even self-promotion that is minimal and relevant to the community's interests. Know the rules and follow them. If the rules of a community prohibit what you want to do, find another site that you love just as much where you don't have to worry about "getting caught" posting occasional, relevant links to your content.

It's easy to find links other than your own that are relevant to a particular site. Spend time observing the most popular links on the site and find new content that's similar. It's as easy as that. Whether your favorite community likes funny pictures, breaking news, in-depth business analysis or something else, there's plenty of it on the internet, and every time you post something people love you're adding value to the community.