Avoiding Overwhelm | I'm Just Sharing

SMM Countdown – How Social Are You Ready For?

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Jul 19, 2010

In 3 days I’ll be doing the social media marketing workshop that I’ve talked about for a few weeks now. Of course I’ll be doing it again come August, but for now, I’m looking forward to doing the first one. Instead of talking about it again, I’ll just refer you to the sticky post.

Waiting At Starbucks
Peter Worsley

Over the next four days I’m going to take on a social media topic and address it in my own way. Each one will address a concept I’ll be bringing up at the workshop. I hope some of you participate in the process. I know the advertising posts don’t get many comments, though I wouldn’t mind a few Twitter retweets, but these are things many people can talk about.

So, how social are you really ready for? Whether you’re into social media for marketing or pleasure, you have to be careful when determining just what it is you want to do and how you want to do it. Social media can be overwhelming; if you don’t believe me, remember the first time you were in a live chat room, if you ever did that, and how difficult it was holding multiple conversations at once.

I only did that a few times before I realized how overwhelming it could be. One night I kept up 16 conversations for 2 hours, and I think I rarely blinked; I couldn’t even get to the bathroom! It was fun, but I couldn’t get to anything else I wanted to do. That’s how social media can be for some people when they overextend. Sometimes one can overextend with just one thing, such as spending hours upon hours on Twitter or Facebook or whatever social media option you’ve chosen. Sometimes you can overextend yourself by trying to get into too many things, then trying to find the time to do them all.

I see that when I read some people’s Twitter posts. Do you know there are over 100 different ways to track Twitter posts now, and that’s not even including mobile phone apps? Who has the time to try all these things out? Well, definitely not me, but some of the younger set does because they seem to be hard to please; yeah, I said it! Not that it’s a bad thing, because out of those things they want come new platforms, but it’s a never-ending search for perfection that just isn’t going to happen.

Then there are people looking for new ways to meet people in places other than Twitter or Facebook. That’s not a bad thing except some people sign up for everything, and once they’re there they send requests to all the people they talk to in other places, trying to get them over there as well. It’s the programs and websites that ask them to do this, but sometimes it’s overwhelming. I get probably 5 or 6 new requests a week for sites and applications I’ve never heard of from someone I may or may not know all that well. I also get repeat requests that I’m not sure the people know are being sent to me because I refuse to join.

The thing is that I’ve figured out my limits, and I’ve figured out my time and strategy for both business and personal use. I’m already pushing those limits while still trying to do other things. Introducing more things into my life that essentially are the same as what I already have isn’t in my best interest.

What do you feel is in your best interest when it comes to social media? Are you satisfied with what you’re doing now? Are you always on the lookout for a better way to do things? And do you feel stressed or satisfied with the amount of time you’re putting into your social media projects, which by the way includes blogging?