Social Media Networking and Things To Watch Out For

As a well connected lady in the Twin Cities area (and sometimes internationally!)…I get invitations to many new social media/networking sites. In the past two years,  I have seen these grow immensely. Here is a short list of thoughts and ideas for you to keep in mind when joining up to a new social media/networking site.

BUT WE ARE DIFFERENT: Most sites entice you into saying that they are the not like other sites. I beg to differ, as I have yet to find one that is really any different than the big 3, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. They usually want you to create a profile and then add in your contacts, or rather..upload your contacts. This is where I am now cautious. A couple of years ago, Plaxo asked me to upload my contacts and I did, but then just a week later I lost interest completely in Plaxo (didn’t see value when I compared it to LinkedIn) and then wondered if all those contacts would get my invites and see me not participating.

TRY IT FIRST: Create a profile first, then check out the program for a few weeks before uploading your contacts. Make sure that you want to promote this site and back it up as a verified social media site (because that is what you really are doing, is promoting them to get more contacts) Then, make sure you participate! 

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR: Watch your emails after you join the site. See if they send you offers to stay on for free, but can get many advantages for upgrading your package. Be somewhat leary, these upgrades are usually nothing more than getting space to put up a video or have “advanced” options such as more messages to send out or something of the like. I have actually lost track of all the bonuses you get because most of them have no value if you don’t have a large network of people. And for me, why move all my contacts from one large social media/networking site to another? LinkedIn has worked for me and I will stay put!

MERCHANT CIRCLE: what’s the buzz on that? I have been signed up for their messages for some time now. They are one of the sites that I see the most that appears the most reputable. I am watching them closely as I still need to figure out the “value” they give versus other sites. I do notice that they have the “Mayor of Merchant Circle” each week. To me, it appears to be a competition of who has the most contacts. Each week, it’s usually the same guy, standing by a truck who owns a construction type business. Looks like he is also one of the original founders of the Twin Cities site. So of course he’s going to win, he’s the one who puts in the most time! It would be like me sending out an announcement on LinkedIn each week to the LinkedMinnesota group saying I am the mayor of Linkedin and not giving others a chance to win. The people who are the founders or managers of such groups, should not win contests such as these (in fact, at all LinkedMN events, staff and volunteers are not allowed to win any door prizes). Therefore, I have not decided to complete my profile and upload my contact list because of two reasons:

They want more people on Merchant Circle, so giving them your contacts is a handy way to promote them by you inviting others to your circle. And then you get to compete to be #1 and get your name on the mayor plate, but how can you when the Mayor is always the guy by the truck? Is anyone making money off Merchant Circle anyway? If you are, let me know! I have wondered that as well, and am still watching that site. I will add, the one thing that I do enjoy from them is that they send out promotions for companies under the Merchant Circle name and I would like to find out more about that type of advertising, as it is probably costly…I will hold back until I do more research on it.

TO CLOSE: Is it good for your SEO (search engine optimization) to join all these sites? Not too much. I have joined a few to test them out and never see my info on those sites when I google my business. It may help if you are very active, but I have yet to see my Plaxo account come up in Google ever.

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