I confess to being rather anti Google +. I already work hard to maintain strong networks on the likes of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, whilst also doing things for work on the likes of YouTube and Slideshare. So I need another social network to worry about like a hole in the head. With Google likely to throw all of their weight behind Plus however it seems that it will be here to stay, or they'll be damned trying.
Now my question is, when do you decide to invest your time and effort on a new platform? Do you wait to see if it takes off or do you try and establish some first mover advantages and get in there early?
Here I'm going to outline 5 potential ways you can tell if joining the new kid on the block is going to be worth your time.
- What's their target market? Most new social networking sites have a target demographic. It shouldn't take too much research to find out what this is and then ask yourself whether this market fits with your own.
- How much time will it take to become established? Some social media afford you the luxury of getting immersed quite easily, whilst others require many hours. How long will it take you to create your profile? How long to become established as a worthy player? How much time will you need to devote to managing your new community?
- How do you plan to use the new community? The answers from the first two questions should give you an idea of how you can use the new community. Will it be for a particular product for instance? Maybe you'll use it as a customer service channel? Ask yourself how this fits into your overall marketing mix.
- How will you define success? Whilst ROI shouldn't be the focus of your community building efforts it is still important to know why you're there and what you hope to achieve. As with many new ideas it is best if you set small goals initially for a pilot launch and build from there if those goals are met. That way you have a proof of concept and can attract larger internal resources.
- Is the platform likely to be around in a years time? The likes of Facebook and LinkedIn are well established so you can enter them with confidence. Google have already scrapped a number of social media efforts so there must exist higher risk with Google +. You need to know if your efforts will be wasted and if the site will have longevity.
For most companies, and most social media departments, there will be limited resources, be that in time or money. So you need to focus your effort where they will achieve the best results. That will mean not plunging headlong into every social network that hits the market. Hopefully these questions will help you to prioritize your time.
How do you decide whether to enter a new social network?
Decent tips. As we don't work in isolation it probably pays to see what your competitors are up to as well. If they're big into a new social network you could be missing out by not being there.
That's true, but I still think you need to gauge whether it's worth it before entering. I mean your competitors could be wasting their time too.
That can work both ways, Wayne. If they’re not on a new social network, you could be on there getting the lion’s share of the benefits.
Assuming it's a valuable resource in the first place. Think of it as an opportunity cost thing. The time you spend developing your network on one platform could be used doing likewise on another (or indeed doing other things entirely). Which is going to be the best use of your time?
Yep, that's why I said 'could'. The thing is, who can reliably predict where Google+ will be in a year or two? Probably Google themselves can't even do that.
No, that's right. Nothing will be certain. Hopefully these tips will allow you to make a more educated guess though.
My educated guess is that Google+ will still be around and will gradually become more of a force to be recognised with. It has got an awfully long way still to go, though.
Yes possibly. Time will tell.
Yes, that's very true.
I don't do this sort of thing for a living so I generally join a new social network if a lot of my friends are on there.
Great tips and food for thought here Adi I have given Google+ a wide berth for now. As you say maybe in the future it will prove a must be on network for now I can live without it.
Hi Thomas. I'm much the same, despite some very persuasive arguments from people I know and respect, the call to join Google+ in any serious way simple hasn't been strong enough yet. How's the blogging going?
And if you wanted to see which social network your visitors use, this fantastic script could go a long way towards helping you. It provides you with data you can load into a GA custom segment to reveal which social network your visitors are logged into when they browse your site. You can then see that data in GA, and obviously see how they behave on your site. Interesting stuff.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/visitor-social-network…
Well, I think step 5 is kinda hard to tell when you first start a new project, but it doesn't take that much time and everyone should do it.
I don't think step 5 is actually that hard it's just a little bit more work