Why not be ubiquitous in social media?

My LinkedIn connections

The contemporary argument from many social media thinkers is to not be on social networks such as Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook unless your market is there and when you are ready. See example.

While it makes sense to conserve your resources, don’t miss the opportunity to welcome people and direct them to where you want them to connect with you.

Tip: If your page is a placeholder for now then simply say so and tell people to visit your website

Active account versus an information account
A social media account is free business card. I think it’s a good idea to exist on most social networks. Direct people from your inactive social networks to where the conversation is even if it’s only a static website. As the opportunity for communicating with clients online grows then you can listen, plan, focus, respond and interact from those once dormant accounts. Prioritize the social networks that most benefit and develop those.

For better or worse someone will add you to a social network for you. It’s the nature of social media. An innocent user may quickly create your profile when they check-in on Facebook, Yelp! or Foursquare Swarm as has happened with clients, or search for you and try to interact and tag you. Someone may register your company handle first. In the case of popular networks such as a Facebook page, I’m hard pressed to think of a market that’s not using Facebook. Half of Canada’s population logs into Facebook each month. You have an account on the main networks with an address and link to your website, right?

There are still solutions when your name is taken by someone who beat you to it. For example I was able to convince Twitter to give the handle @Concordia to Concordia University as it wasn’t being used often. There is another small web company called Maze Solutions in Beirut. We both highlight our locations as differentiation online. But you can’t always win. There is a guy who wants to sell my family name on Twitter to me! Meh, there will always be that guy.

So take a few minutes and register your accounts. Contact me when considering these and others:
LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | YouTube | Google+ | Flickr | Foursquare | Yelp

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