What Do Google+, Pinterest & Twitter Have In Common?

What Do Google+, Pinterest & Twitter Have In Common?

My answer is that at one time or another I have been told that each one of those platforms is the key to success in social media. All you need to do is point, click and surf through the right cyber villages on the right platforms with the right influencers and you’ll become a social media superstar.

Reminds me of the guy who said that Ann Stacey would not only go to the prom but sleep with me provided I gave her a box of chocolates, flowers and solved the Hodge Conjecture.

I told that dude to stuff it and said I would do it my way and then he accused me of being mathematically illiterate. I just laughed at him and told him he was shlattered and said I would do it my way.

How Many Platforms Must You Be On?

In days of yore when I had more time, more energy and more hair I was far more willing to spend more time on all of these platforms because that is what it takes to make them work for you.

Time and energy that is.

If you don’t spend time building your platform you won’t see the sort of return you want. It is not a secret, this social media game isn’t any different than most things in life.

You run it like a marathon and take care of the little details and good things happen. Doesn’t mean you can’t hit it at a sprint and be successful, but it is harder to maintain that pace.

That middle schooler of mine and I have an ongoing conversation about his education and why we need to build foundations in various subjects because without those you can’t dig into the more sophisticated meat.

Hell, if you work on building the right foundation on your blog and you can start to really dig into the long form.

About Frequency and Length

Some topics can be discussed a million times and never get old. Ok, that is not true, they get old but things like how long should your posts be and how often should you produce them will never die because there are always bloggers that are interested in talking about it.

They work for both newer and more experienced bloggers because your perspective changes.

Last week I received notes from some people who unsubscribed because they said I update too frequently for them. It is not the first time I have heard this and I suspect it won’t be the last.

I don’t worry about it because the first rule of blogging for me is to have fun. If you don’t have fun you won’t last. The second rule is to write first for yourself and then for everyone else.

That is because if you are bored with your writing your readers will be too.

I figure that paring down the readership here means that we maintain a foundation that is more interested and more engaged, or at least that is my theory.

Value Equals Eyeballs

What that means is that if you produce good/great content that is of interest and value your readers will stick around. Over time some may leave, including some of the “long time reader” crew but that is ok.

Losing readers isn’t necessarily a sign of bad content. Sometimes it means they feel they have learned all they can from you and they move on.

It is nothing personal.

I suppose if I spent most of my energy trying to sell you things I might be more worried about how many readers come and go because the numbers have some import and significance, but that is not my gig.

And for what it is worth the sponsored post offers still come through on a regular basis. That usually generates enough income to pay for my blogging expenses and sometimes leaves me with money to do other things.

But even if I didn’t earn a dime I’d keep writing because it makes me happy and that is a good thing because blogging is too much work to do if you don’t like it.

What about you? What do you think?

• Saved: Blogging