Between the Lines: How Much is Too Much?

I ask that question because this month’s main feature focuses on mastering new marketing methods.

That means we’re mostly talking about social media.

Like any new technology, and we’ll call social media a technology for lack of a better term, there’s a learning curve associated with it. But there’s so much to choose from. I’m on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. That’s not even counting Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, and whatever else is coming down the pike.

What I struggle with as someone who is slightly more than a casual social media user, is how much is too much when it comes to posting? In my early social media days I was chided by a friend from the industry who suggested I was posting too much on Facebook and that it was becoming sort of a joke. Hearing that I dialed my posts way back and today they’re far and few between.

Some of us get a little carried away when we start using social media. I still see it when friends my age first go on and start posting like there’s no tomorrow. I’m also friends with many musicians on Facebook and they post like nobody’s business mostly as a way to promote themselves.

Whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter or something else, most of us are learning as we go—even the self-proclaimed social media experts.

We’ve all got our favorites and the value we derive from the various social media outlets depends on the person and how they use it. I am a big fan of LinkedIn and use it mostly for information about other document imaging industry professionals. It helps me keep up to date on their comings and goings, their latest job titles, plus it’s a great source of background information and photos.

I already mentioned Facebook, but don’t do much with that professionally. The very large gorilla in the room, however, and the outlet I’m still coming to grips with is Twitter. So are some of the people I interviewed for this month’s main feature.

I had some social media training from a social media expert prior to entering the Twitterverse. Her recommendation was to Tweet three times a day. She also had some recommendations for posting on Facebook and LinkedIn too.

Back to the Tweets, that’s three Tweets from ENX/The Week in Imaging and three Tweets from me for a total of six Tweets per day, since I’m the designated Tweeter here at the publication. In a perfect world, maybe I could do that. But in the real world, some days I send one Tweet, some days two, and some days I don’t have time to Tweet at all. The days where I send three Tweets a day for each Twitter account are rare. I have so many other monthly projects that often take priority.

What is obvious to me is the number of people inside and outside of the document imaging industry who have the time to Tweet multiple times a day. Where do they find that time?

I think, as do others, that there’s too much Tweeting going on. It brings me back to the time when I was accused of over posting on Facebook. If you Tweet too much doesn’t it become like the boy who cried wolf? Do people stop paying attention?

Maybe I need to view it differently, “I Tweet therefore I am” as opposed to “I Tweet too much therefore I’m annoying.”

What it all comes down to is that we’re still learning how to best use social media.

But be forewarned, just as soon as we get Twitter down to a science, something else is going to come along and supplant it and the only ones Tweeting will be the dinosaurs or maybe the people that still hang out at MySpace.

Thanks for reading.