Never Give Up! Or Maybe Your Should

A few years ago, there was a lot of buzz about Copyblogger quitting Facebook. The general consensus about the situation is that Copyblogger gave up way too easily. (If you want to read some commentary, take a look at "What Copyblogger Could have Done with Its Facebook Page" by Jon Loomer.

The comment section is...well, go look for yourself.) I understand wanting to move on. I recently sold a website I created for a nice tidy profit. I loved the site, but wanted to concentrate on other aspects of my business. I imagine that's how Copyblogger felt about Facebook. It was obvious they had a lot of followers, but they just weren't getting the love that made spending time on their Facebook page worth it to them.

I get that.

You Can't Ride Two Horses with One Ass

pick a social media platform

Have you ever heard that expression? It basically means that you have limited resources, so you need to make a choice. No matter what many social media marketers tell you, you can't be everything to all social media sites. If you tried to keep a community going on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram then that would probably become your full-time job. It's better to choose which social media platforms work best for your brand and roll with it.

For example, like Copyblogger, I have found that people pay way more attention to my posts on Twitter and Pinterest. I like to concentrate my efforts there. I still use the other platforms, but I know where my audience is.

Choosing a Horse...Er, Social Media Platform

You also need to pay attention to where your traffic is coming from. I don't like to focus on likes or +1s. I pay attention to whether or not a person clicked on the link and made it to my site or article. If that happens, then the media platform you've chosen is a success, because that's the goal. Isn't it?

I'm not saying comments and a strong fan base isn't important, because it is. It's just that too many people feel like they are failures if they don't get tons of comments or likes. If you want conversions, then the goal is to get the readers to your site. If you are doing that then you're ahead of a lot of your competitors.

So quit a few social media sites. Or don't. Do what works for you and don't listen to those who say you need to be everywhere at once. Shortsighted or not, I commend Copyblogger for not trying to straddle two horses and making a choice.