Clutter!!! How To Get Rid Of It
Does this image look familiar? It is our daily life. Twitter, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, and 10,000 other platforms, networks, tools, and iPhone apps.
Now consider this: according to neuroscientists, our brain can handle only 4 things at the same time (7 with some Jedi training). So how do we keep our online presence manageable, meaningful, and get a return on your invested time and money? Like most early adapters, I signed up for every single tool out there. HootSuite, TweetDeck made it very easy: my 140 character updates get blasted into the cyberworld on all my 70 plus accounts. The problem was that, like me, my followers and readers had the same 70 accounts. All I was doing was spamming them with the same piece of information.
I looked at the picture above and decided that something needs to change. If I want to keep my own sanity and maintain my readers, I had to rethink this whole issue. I decided to approach it the same way I did my personal life. 3 years ago I packed my place into 4 moving containers. 4!!! For one person. And this was after a significant purging. I looked at the "stuff" and decided that I did not need or use 90% of it. So, it got sold or given away. The remaining 10% got trimmed even further. I learned in the process that I need very little to live a comfortable life. I also learned that once I got rid of "stuff" I can actually see and experience life. The boundaries imposed by "stuff" went away. And my creativity reached new heights and my blood pressure went down.
I made my blog my "homebase". This is where I spend the most time. I use Twitter to check for interesting pieces of information. Although I follow other technology and social media folks, the rate of interesting info to just clutter is about 5 to 10%. I use Facebook to communicate with friends from all over the world. For me, this is very personal, one-to-one means of communication. LinkedIn, I use for professional updates and to expend my network of colleagues, partners, and collaborators. I also use it as my "calling card" for professional references. I use TweetDeck now only for Twitter. I also disconnected LinkedIn and Facebook from my Twitter account. No more spamming.
For your business, I recommend choosing one "homebase". It might be your website or your blog. Facebook, I would use for events, quick surveys (Which is your preferred feature: pick a, b, or c), events, special offers, and most importantly, to create a community where your users can share pictures/videos/stories of using your products/services.
If you have a customer service, I would use Twitter for that purpose. It is a fast, easy way to communicate with customers, to update them in case of a problem, and to let them know about new products. You might also consider Twitter-only, limited offers. One example would be: the first 50 people who order Product A online, get 10% discount by entering this code, available only on Twitter. Another variation is using time - "for the next two hours". I like the number of people because it gives a concrete cost of the offer. With time, you can only estimate. It can be 5 people or 5 million. Hard to quantify costs.
I would use one more tool: a newsletter. It doesn't have to be a monthly one. It can be a short email announcement about special promotions or events or new products/services announcements. Keep it simple and short. Make it easier for people to see the offer with only one click. Keep it simple. Keep itclean. Keep easy.
I would love to hear from you and what tools you are using and well they worked or not for you. Please share your thoughts in the comment box below.
Posted by Terra3.0 at 6/23/2010 8:27 AM 
Categories: Technology, How To, Entrepreneurship, Social Media
Tags: Twitter social media YouTube Facebook
Categories: Technology, How To, Entrepreneurship, Social Media
Tags: Twitter social media YouTube Facebook
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