Beginning At The Beginning

The doc was sewing me up when she said, “I’d like to do social media, but there is just too much with Facebook and Twitter and all those other things. I don’t know where to start.”

My first thought was she should pay attention, I didn’t want to look like a football, but she’s a real seamstress, and I figured she was either taking my mind off my situation, or she was really thinking about getting started. Either is good.

Where should someone start with social media?

I think the start should be a blog. A blog creates a mostly permanent home for your writing, a base. 

I choose Blogger, because it has required no maintenance during the last four years, yet I’ve upgraded features all by myself, any time I can get a concept. The tough part is figuring something worth changing, not the actual doing.

If you have a domain, your blog can be part of it. If you want a free independent domain, that’s easy too.

Then begins the twin tasks of how to create more posts and how to get more readers. The good news is six posts is a mature blog, and one more reader than last week is a success.

After you have a blog post that you like, it turns out there are any number or places where they are looking for content. I call that “syndication.” Most of the groups I belong to have web properties that need copy. I keep a list handy to figure out who should get what. A typically post I write is read by over 200,000 people.

Last month I attended a fabulous event, and a friend in the audience said, “You should write something about that and post it on your LinkedIn group!”

I said, “Which LinkedIn group?”

She said, “Your LinkedIn group!” So I guess I have a LinkedIn group. Cool! 

I've noticed that people feel a relationship from reading and cheering for you over time. That's how I feel about the several dozen thinkers I've got attending to my education. 

I figure I don’t want to read me more than twice a week, so why should anyone else? Also I’ve got other things to do. Finally, it’s hard to find things that I care to write about.

Being out and amongst increases the number of posts I write. 

I figure being able to easily publish and influence society has been a dream for hundreds of years. It’’s just too good an opportunity to waste.

Tips 4 The Big Chair – Perspective 2.0