Graph Courtesy of TweetStats.com
About 7 months ago, several things came together that drove me to back off (way off as you can tell from the graph above) of my interaction on social sites. Businesses go through phases and this particular phase was a very inwardly-focused phase for me and my business. There are times when the focus of a business dictates the removal of extraneous activities, and this, for me was one of those times.
So what caused my retreat away from social media activities?
There are a lot of reasons, but the two most prominent ones are…
- About 7 months ago, we hit a big snag in the development of VisiOlo that required some significant re-tooling of the core functions of the software — this required a *lot* of my attention.
- About 7 months ago, I realized that, while the social web has the potential to have a huge impact on my business, the business itself was not set up in a way that worked well with the social web. I was spending a lot of time on a low-return activity and resolved to re-structure my business in a way that sharing information on the social web would more rewarding (to me and my connections/followers).
In short, my focus needed to be elsewhere. But I’m happy to say that I’m now in the position to participate more consistently and bring more value to my network. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with some friends I haven’t interacted with in a long time.
How about you? Have you had periods, in this socially connected world, where you have either intentionally or by necessity pulled away from online social networks? What was the impact on your business and connections (both positive and negative)?
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Most definitely. I began to focus more on my existing contracts instead of trying to source new ones with social media about six months ago, maybe even longer with my blog. I wanted to reduce the total time spent on the computer, so that meant that I had to focus on very high return activities. Once a reach a few of my goals, I’ll probably be a bit more active, but with reservations. It can definitely be a time suck if you let it be!
Glad to hear that the visiOlo is coming along!
Hey Courtney! Great to see you again. So how is your new focus working? Did it help in the way you expected it to? I think it is very smart to focus on expanding existing relationships versus creating new ones and would expect it to be a lot more profitable for you.
Hi Doug, like you I got all excited at the prospect of having an even wider network of people to ’sell’ my services too- and I thought whoppee!
But I didn’t anticipate the huge amount of work that needs to go into this and though I subscribed to twitter, facebook, and the other social network type blogs, I even looked into pinging, podcasting- and the list goes on…. but nothing worked for me to bring my subcribers in as the simple old article marketing. I write articles and I get subscribers, I get my subscribers asking me questions and there is interaction, but contacting people via facebook, joining the various interest groups, having various blogs didn’t do anything but keep me locked to the computer.
So now I stick to articles, and video and I’m happier and my subscriber list is growing. I think sometimes it’s okay not to be so cool and up on the latest- as long as what you’re doing is giving value and people are responding.
http://www.askelainenow.com/blog
Welcome back!
Hey Doug, Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I especially appreciated “There are times when the focus of a business dictates the removal of extraneous activities”.
This is one of the absolute keys of succeeding in business, and at the same time one of the most overlooked by many.
I want to scream every time I hear someone say “that’s how we’ve always done it”.
It usually isn’t long before the business owners who say that are GONE !
I’ve made it a point (and I try to teach others too) to spend my time on systems, because they can work largely without you once they’re set up.
Good thinking (and sharing) Doug, Thanks again.
Rick
I can tell you’ve worked with a lot of small business clients Rick.
From personal experience, I know it is hard to let go of ideas in which you are emotionally invested. Add into that an investment in time and money, and you can imagine how hard it is to cut something out that has been with you for a while.
But, as you pointed out, there are times when it is streamline or sink.