This post has been moved to: http://jennstrends.com/diversify-your-social-media-presence/
A big question for many businesses is how many, and which, social media sites to be active on. There are plenty to choose from and they all offer something a little different. So how many should you use? One, two, five, ten? That’s a loaded question that depends on a lot of factors. My best answer is this: As many as you can possibly justify.
You should definitely be on multiple sites! That is imperative in my opinion. Why? Because you need to diversify your assets.
If you only have enough time and resources to manage two sites, then do those two really well. If you can handle 10 sites comfortably, then go for it! Get your presence out there in as many ways as you can.
I commented on someone’s post on Facebook the other day and it generated this thought process (and a polite response from me). She had asked her audience of nearly 2000 fans how severely they would be affected if Facebook closed down tomorrow, on a scale from 1 -10. Only a few people responded, including myself. I said I would be affected about a 3-4 range. And I explained that answer with the following statement: “I do get some good traffic from Facebook and I have a lot of connections here. But I also connect with most of those people on other platforms as well. So I wouldn’t lose those connections.”
See, in my opinion, losing Facebook wouldn’t hurt me, and that’s a good thing! I have said this in past blog posts and I will continue to say it: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. When it comes to social media, you are relying on someone else’s hosted platform to handle your marketing. You don’t get to make the decisions on what features they introduce. You don’t get to tell them when to launch new services. And you certainly don’t get to fight to keep the platform alive if they choose to shut it down. If it goes, so does all your work – and your connections!!
You can read the rest of this post at: http://jennstrends.com/diversify-your-social-media-presence/
Jenn's Trends 
I also make sure my social media presence isn’t dependent on Facebook, my score would be a mere 1. Of course I understand the importance of Facebook, especially the targeting features in their advertising. However Facebook changes all the time, changes to rules, layout, advertising and whatever they fancy changing. Ultimate power resides with FB and not the business.
Social media is also very fickle, people change their habits frequently and discover the next new thing may it be Pinterest, Twitter or Google+. For me the most important take away from your blog is to have a fully integrated marketing strategy which I bleat on about all the time. E-mail has its place, social media, online and offline must be integrated.
Another great post Jenn 🙂
Thanks Jason! I’m happy to hear that you would be minimally affected by Facebook shutting down. You bring up another great point, that not only are we relying on the platforms to be stable, but that the people are free to use whichever site(s) they choose and can choose to switch attention at any given time. If we’re not connecting with our fans across multiple sites, we run the risk of losing them if they vacate our primary focus.
Diversifying your social media presence is definitely a smart thing to do. I’m huge believer of “be everywhere” mantra when it comes to social media marketing. It’s a big part of our strategy at MACs Women’s Group.
Interesting post, Jenn!
Thanks so much, Michelle! I’m happy to hear that the MAC’s Women’s Group is taking advantage of multiple platforms. While it may be difficult for some to “be everywhere”, it’s definitely nice when you can take that approach!
I think you are right on the money. The mere fact that you diversify gives you the freedom to know that if a site suddenly went “down” or even went away for good, you have a backup system in place. I cannot think of one connection I have on FB (or on any other platform for that matter) that I do not have on at least one of my other sites. The exception to this may be some of my LinkedIn connections as there are some of those that don’t use other platforms.
Thanks Kim! That is so great that you have that much connection with your fans across multiple sites. It’s impressive, actually! This is definitely a goal that many of us should aim to reach.