Social Media -- can it be tamed?

I know, you too think that the social media has gotten out of hand. We hardly have enough time to deal with the numerous info. coming out of it. Update, like, unlike, follow, tweet, re-tweet, post, pock, watch this & that... to name a few..

Can it be tamed?

If you are like me, you know that if you stay more than 3 days without opening those subscribed pages, you can never recover, i mean that info. the top stories, those latest photos & discussions they are gone. We are constantly being bombared left right & center and being out of the scene for a couple of days leaves you out of the picture for good.. to catch up with those old post that you didn't see might just leave you feeling..diiizzy..

Pam Moore, a Forbes Top 10 Social Media Woman & ''a marketing nut'' gives a few tips of taming this beast; 

1. Embrace imperfect perfection. This is the most important tip for taming your wild beast. It is never going to be perfect. Accept the fact and move on. Embrace the imperfection and don’t expect your team to be perfect either.

2. Your job is not to make everyone happy. Focus on your goals, your business and your results.

3. Don’t skip the planning. You must have a solid business plan with goals and objectives. Align the social media plan and efforts where social can have the greatest impact. If you don’t know where to start with this, then get some help. Outsource or hire a consultant who can help you. 

4.  Slow down to speed up. It is not about winning the race. It is about finishing the race with good quality, staying healthy and keeping fit so you can endure. Slow down to take time to plan, organize, hire a team, train a team. You have been without an effective social media program for this long, why not take another 30 or 60 days to get it tamed and right? 

5. Eliminate the Random Acts of Marketing (RAMS) and Random Acts of Social Media (RASMs) immediately! If it’s not in the plan, not in the budget and has no metrics to measure results then it is a RAM. RAMs like to eat ROI for breakfast and will eat your last dollar without any guilt. Don’t ignore those RAM monsters, they’ll get ya’! 

6. Know your audience. Who are they? What are they? How can you help them? If you don’t know them and you don’t know what they need or how you can help them then figure it out. Ask them on your Facebook page. Conduct a survey and hand it out at the next live event you host or attend. Conduct an online poll or survey. Do some research on your market segment. Don’t just do social or be social, be socially relevant! 

7. Prioritize what really matters. Don’t wake up each day and let you and your team run around like mad men with no head. Instead stay focused on your plan and achieving your goals. It’s easy to get caught up in the tweets and posts that take you on a tangent for an entire day. Don’t do it! 

8. You can’t do it all a once. Chances are there are many things you WANT to do but your team and budget only support a small portion of such. This is why you must develop a plan with goals as well as set priorities. You don’t have to complete everything within the next 30 days. Focus on the right stuff first and you’ll be fine. 

9. Balance both the art and science of social media. Yes, you must know the tools. However, understanding the art of social media is just as important. Anyone can learn how to use Twitter or setup a business page on Facebook. The key is how do you do such in a way that can bring your business results? 

10. Less is truly more but sometimes more is better than less. Dig into your data. When it comes to how much content you should put on your website, what kind of content etc. the data has the answers. The data may tell you that your website visitors stay on your site longer if the page has more content. Don’t just go with what everyone else is doing here. Look at your own data and make decisions based on such.

She concludes by advising that the first step is to acknowledge he ( the social media beast) exists. Second step is to deal with him as above.