3 Ways That Could Harm Your Social Media Networking

Being new to social media let alone to social media networking or social media marketing can leave you dazed and overwhelmed. After all, there are articles after articles written, videos created, and social media information shared, discussed and even taught every millisecond. Social media is about developing relationships. It is about staying connected with people, educating them with the latest and coolest apps as well as sharing and applying these techniques to their social functions or businesses. Anyway, if you are like me, learning social media could be a never ending task. In fact, and if you let it, it can even turn you into a social media perpetual student!

Let's fast forward. Here you are with social media platforms accounts from either Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress and more. In the beginning you are excited to learn about this trend, interacting with folks with various backgrounds and posting messages on a regular basis. Few months or even few weeks go by, your interactions, Tweets, etc. declined. Unfortunately, if you are trying to build your business, promoting your brand, and reaching out to the masses [new and current clients] by utilizing social media platforms, not developing or neglecting your accounts may hinder your goal or productivity.

So what are the 3 ways that could harm your social media networking?

• Stop updating your profiles. Don't let your Facebook, Twitter or other accounts go inactive. Do update them regularly. if you have several accounts set up at one time, there are several tools such as TweetDeck, SocialoOmph, or even Seesmic you can use that will integrate your posts or send updates to all your accounts at once. If you are currently using an iPhone or Android, download these apps to your phone to update your status. However, be careful not to automate your updates more than usual as this is not beneficial. Do keep in mind that people like to interact directly [see next tip].
  

• Stop interacting with people. Social Media is about building relationships and staying in connection with people. If you stop interacting, they will do the same to you. Do remain in contact with both your current and previous followers from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other platforms. One way to do so is retweeting their posts or mentioning their posts to your online connection. This is easy to do on Facebook, Tweeter and LinkedIn. Another is to follow your followers as well as try to get into a habit of adding and inviting a few followers to your profile. In doing so, it helps you build your connection as well as your online presence. In addition, fanpage owners love it when new folks "like" their Facebook fanpage.

• Stop learning about social media. As mentioned before, social media could turn you into a perpetual student. After all, there are millions of information about this subject and learning them all is next to impossibility but it is interesting, nonetheless. Learning about the latest technology and coolest trends, such as the QR Code [Quick Response] or Mobile Marketing and much more can be fascinating. Hence, social media is about being "now" rather than being "later." However, and just like your profiles, updating your knowledge on this topic is not only important but essential if you have the desire or the interests to become skilled in this area. If not, that's OK too; however, keeping yourself on the "know!"

Hope this post is helpful. Would love to connect with you on and I will do the same :)

• Facebook -- http://www.facebook.com/ismllc
• Twitter -- http://twitter.com/iSocialMobile
• LinkedIn -- http://www.linkedin.com/in/ialliston