Don't focus so much on social media, newbies.

23
990 followers
Updated

Hi, everyone!

I've been here for a few months now, and in my time here I've noticed countless questions where new users are worrying about social media, and trying to juggle all the different social media platforms whilst also writing regularly on their websites.

This is more than likely going to be a controversial answer, and I might get some flak for this, but...

DON'T DO IT.

"What are you talking about, Poly? Kyle even mentions it in the training! Why shouldn't I spend time on social media? Why should I listen to you over Kyle?"

Well, actually, if you dig around a bit, both Kyle and Carson say social media isn't as important as they say it is in the training. I can't show you the direct quotes as I don't remember where they are (I'll come back and edit this when I find it), so just take my word for it this time.


Let me clarify what I mean by "Don't do it" - I am NOT saying social media can't be useful, nor am I saying you should never use it. What I am saying is that early on, you will be much happier and much more successful if you put ALL of your focus on your website, and writing. Too many times I've seen newbies get in over their head with all of this social media stuff, and their websites suffer for it.


Let me explain a little further. With your website, you can begin getting traffic (even pretty good traffic) very early on if you focus on honing your SEO skills and writing ability. That means you have an audience - one you can direct anywhere you want, even to your social media accounts. However, if you focus on social media first, guess what you have - nothing. Sure, you might have some of us added or friended, but chances are we aren't reading every new article you post (Not out of malice or disinterest, we are just focused on our own websites). This means that you don't have an audience - you have a place you want to direct people, but you have nobody to direct.

Unless you're a social media marketing savant, it is very difficult to build up quality social media profiles, especially early on. SEO brings in people passively - they just search for keywords and find your website. Social media requires constant activity and constant engagement. What would you rather focus on early on? A passive, ever-increasing audience (less effort, steady reward) or one that requires far more activity for less reward early on?

I don't know about you, but I'll take the former.

The bottom line is, newbies - no matter what me or anyone else says, your website and your business is YOURS. Do NOT stress yourself out over social media (I don't use any, and my traffic has increased exponentially, just so you know) if you don't want to. Nobody on here has the right to tell you how to run your website, not even me. You do what feels right for YOU, and take everything else anyone says otherwise with a grain of salt - no matter how good their intentions are (I know everyone here is just trying to help).


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Recent Comments

17

I was wondering if you still doing well without SMedia.

I'm a believer. I'd rather spend my time working my site, than working Facebook.

Are you sure you're only 19? I'm asking because you seem to be very mature!
Very good post for beginners!

Pretty sure I am! Thank you for saying so. :) Glad you liked it.

Finally some one telling it like it really is. Admittedly I'm inherently not comfortable on SM sites. I had to force myself over there to complete the tasks in the Cert Training. I'm pre Boomer so SM and digital technology are not in my DNA.

It's so time consuming ... and Pinterest is down right annoying. I must get 5 or 6 emails a day inducing me to come over and spend a lot of time going through various pins. My plan is to choose one (probably Google +) to make up my SM strategy and fan the rest. I've always felt that was almost a blasphemy thought here in WA.

I'd much rather work on my site and site content. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this ... and you are pre-mellinial. What are they calling this generation ... generation Z I think?

Generation Y, I think, but I'm not 100% certain on this. Yeah, you wouldn't think a 19 year old would be so against social media, but I am! Hate the stuff in general.

Honestly, Google+ is a truly fantastic place to just stick to - It's fairly popular, SUPER easy to understand and a lot less annoying than, say, Pinterest or Facebook. It's the only social media site I use at all, and it's much easier to connect with others in your niche without all the hassle.

Yea ... what attracts me to G+ is it seems so much more professional than the other 2.

I agree with you poly. Important but not right off. Focus on content in the beginning. Great post man.

Thanks :) Good to hear from you, my friend.

social media is a continually moving, and changing target. The fact that it cannot be pinned down for very long can be very frustrating and demotivating. :-/

Great advice, thank you! Think too many of us got "side-tracked" too often and somehow, lost focus along the way. Again, thank you for sharing and speaking up!! Bernie

Thank you very much for writing this. I have done no social media yet and I think that is a good decision for me. I would love to avoid social media promotion all together and will have to wait and see how much traffic I can get without it.

You are one of very few members here who have bucked the trend and said it just might not be worth it! So thank you! So many people get excited about how many followers they have but then admit later that they don't get a single sale from any of those followers. So what is the point?

I am curious if it is really worth it. If they spent as much time on their content as they spent on social media would they end up with the same amount of sales anyway? If so, then it is a better investment to put your time into content because once you write it, it is still there! If you spend all day on social media posts, in a day or two they are stale anyway and you have to do it all over again. Isn't content a better return on investment then since it lasts?

So glad you've also chosen to ignore social media in favor of creating quality content. That makes me very happy, it's always good to see people focusing on their actual business over (frankly) useless social media posts.

You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned social media posts getting stale after a few days - If people are searching for your keyword articles, they will continue to do so into the future, but social media trends come and go. Information is ALWAYS useful, even years into the future, whereas the hottest new news story or trend dies out after a week.

Please do let me know how you get on here in the coming weeks and months! Thanks for reading :)

So far I have had a lot of complements on my site and I have been on the first page of Google all along so I think I will continue with my non-social media focus!!
I am really so glad you posted this since we get deluged with social media suggestions every day!

Good to know, thank you

Glad I could be of service :)

Great story. Good point. I already have several projects that I'm working on, so spending a lot of time on social media is a distraction at this point.

Exactly. To me, that's all social media really is - a distraction with very little payoff. If it isn't boosting my sales or my ego (Kidding!), I'm not interested. :P

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