My Social Media Checklist

There's a lot of buzz about the social media site Quora. In fact, I Tweeted Mark Schaefer to ask him what he thought about it and he wrote this post. Had I just read the post, I'd be confident in my choice not to go exploring yet one more social site. But, it wasn't just a post. It was an entire {grow} community conversation with both sides represented. And now I'm wavering, darn it.

When I was a teenager, my father told me that whatever I chose to do, I should do it well. I've tried my best to live up to that. But there comes a point when adding one more thing to my plate can impact that intention. That's where I am with social media.

As I was reading the commments on Mark's post and adding my own, it ocurred to me that there should be a reasonable way to evaluate which social media tools and platforms will deliver the most value for me - both personally and professionally.

This is My Social Media Checklist:

Time:
How much time will it take to participate?
Do I have enough time to devote to it to do it well?
If I discover it takes too much time, can I delete my profile and leave, or will it be floating around out there forever, reflecting badly on my attempt?

Noise Ratio:
How many notifications will I get and is there a way to filter them?
Are the dialogues engaging or is it just a bunch of stuff I can see and participate in somewhere else? In other words, is it spam and repetition or is it useful stuff I won't see anywhere else that I already participate?

Value:
Are there unique ideas that will stretch my knowledge and contribute to my goals?
How hard is it to find them?
What might my participation there help me to do better?
How helpful will what I have to offer be to the people there?

Integration:
Will the platform extend the other things I'm doing?
Can I gain added value by mixing them together?

Goals:
What do I want my participation to help my achieve? (personally and/or professionally)
Are those expectations realistic?
What will I need to do to get there?

Business:
What impact could my participation there have on my business? Will it help me grow, bring me new clients, help me develop new services, sell more books, bring me new partnerships or get me more speaking gigs?

Conversations:
Are there exchanges that I want to contribute to?
Is there back and forth or is it one-off hit and runs?
How much moderation is there?
Are the same people dominating the conversations or are there new voices that I don't hear elsewhere?

Change:
What changes will I have to make to participate?
How hard will it be to learn to use?
Will I have to give up something else to do this right?

It's one thing to want to try out the shiny new tools that continue to show up, but at some point, that's not enough. There needs to be more. If I could add hours to my day, that would be one thing, but I can't. I need to make considered decisions about what I choose to participate in and why I make that choice.

When I evaluate what I already have on my plate, I'm pleased with the results. I get business and brand benefit from each of the social media platforms where I participate. I learn from the valuable ideas shared on them. Could I give one up in favor of a new choice? Maybe. But whatever I choose to replace it with had better deliver more value than I already get. And that's a tall order.

How do you choose where and how much you participate in social media?

What payoffs are most important to you?

Comments

[Jim Burns]

Ardath I came across your post as I am researching social bookmarking sites, and wondering how I should be using them for my blog, website, business, personal references, etc. Overwhelming, all of it.

Ironically, I'm getting ready to post my question about social bookmarking for B2B purposes on Quora!

The participation requirement is a big part of the time challenge along with your "doing it well" admonition.

I really hope people respond with ideas about how to select where to play, how to pick your spots, etc. I'm afraid social media might become my personal tipping point!

[Ardath Albee]

Hi Jim,

Great to have you stop by! I'd be really interested in hearing your opinion of Quora in response to your bookmarking question.

I'm hoping others will comment, as well. I think it's something we're all dealing with.

[Arlene Wszalek]

Fantastic checklist, Ardath. I'm always torn between keeping to the sites and services where I feel I give and receive value, and giving new sites and services at least a cursory review. I inevitably feel obligated to do the latter, so that I'm in a position to respond knowledgeably when clients ask about them, or even to recommend them to clients when appropriate.

[Oonagh O'Reggan]

Well, You can see it as "one more thing to add to the list" or you can see it as "one more way to increase your reach and network", "one more way to generate leads", "one more way to learn about information that is out there, that others are hearing and learning about".

http://twitter.com/#!/oonaghoregan

[Matt]

Looks to be similar to Stack Exchange, but gated? Why do I have to login just to browse questions? That's a pretty big hurdle for them to clear; I'm not creating an account just to see if it's a useful site.

[C_Pappas]

Quora is just the new tool of the day but they are popping up pretty regularly I feel like. On top of that, a number of bloggers write their favorite tools to sue for social media posts and suddenly I am sidetracked by how cool Animoto is (but please dont stop writing these posts if you do). I love the idea of a checklist to determine the worth of participation - thanks for sharing!

I actually saw a lot of tweets about Quora when it first came out and signed up. Logged in once and it froze my computer. Since then I get emails throughout the day alerting me to a new follower but not really sure what that means...

How do we know when to hold em and when to fold em?

[Francis]

Social media sites has gained a lot of popularity these days, people of all age use this site as a platform to share their thoughts and views with others. Social media marketing is also a proven marketing tool for business people.

[Gul4t9]

Many small business social media users say it takes more time than expected. Social media is really about relinquishing control to the consumer. Consumer is the one who drives the market not a company.

[Ecommerce Software]

Social media is a powerful tool for mass advertising. Advertising was by no means so much fun and interesting.

[Deborah Gibbs]

Thanks for the insightful list! I particularly enjoyed your admonition to find out how easy (or hard) it is to exit if a channel proves ineffective.

[Pmarketing]

The growing use of strategy is also a harbinger for what I call “social business” (a step beyond social media), in which leaders use social technologies to transform their businesses by collaborating openly with various outside and inside stakeholders to innovate constantly. Early movers will begin emerging this year: Only a few gutsy players will aggressively adopt social business practices in 2011. I believe they can change markets.

[Johnlovett]

Hi Ardath, I too am trying to assess the value of Quora and wondered if it was worth it for me to invest more time into contributing to yet another social network. Yet, I loved your post because the checklist transcends any single channel and really applies to them all. Your checklist is an exercise in strategic contemplation and one that individuals and the businesses they work for should heed.

In a world where the next shiny social thing is always tempting, this is great guidance for determining whether you should stop and see what all the glitter is all about.

[freelance logo design jobs]

Building relationships means that users have to know as much as possible about your business. Users want to know your business goal, ethics, what the business stands for, and what they will get by connecting to your profile.

[marketing college]

thing to my plate can impact that intention. That's where I am with social media.