How to Present Yourself in the Best Light in Social Media Platforms

Have you ever been to a party where you had an idea of who the people were, but you weren’t sure which circle to join?

In Day 2 of the 10 Day Social Media Challenge, Natalie Sisson asks a question that every person wishing to make the best use of their online presence should ask themselves:

Who is your target market, which social media sites should you be focusing on and why?

In the party example scenario, before joining any circle, you should definitely know one person. Whom? Yourself, of course! By knowing yourself, you will have the best idea about what value, conversation, “likeability” and services you can bring to that group. For example, if you’re typically shy do you think you will have a lot of value if you join the conversation of the hard-metal-loving group in the corner? Probably not.  Or if you are really outgoing and a party animal do you think that you would like to join on on the mores gloomy topics being talked about at a party. Mmm, nope.  Social media is like that.

If you want to know whom to serve, you must know what you have to offer.

This is probably a very simplistic premise, but it is one that is often overlooked. Many times, you want, strive, dream, plan and exhaust yourself trying to be everything to everyone. REALLY? You think YOU are going to be THE person to pull that feat off? In your dreams!! Actually, no, not even in your dreams.

So, before wanting to go out into the social media sphere trying to conquer every platform there was, there is and there ever will be, in addition to focusing on knowing thyself, focus on where your audience is. This advice is simple, but according to Natalie Sisson, very instrumental.

Just like with everything in life, there are gravitational pulls in social media which for some reason, attract and repel certain types of people more than they do others. One fantastic and very visual way to see which platforms your ideal clients or followers are most likely in, can be studied in a website by Social Media Today. In order to make your use of social media most effective, Natalie suggests that you focus on using three social media platforms as you’re starting to build your brand. After you have a solid grasp on these three, you can extend your reach using additional platforms. Natalie actually makes it easier for you because she encourages you to choose out of these platforms:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Google Plus
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Pinterest

The best media platforms for Love and Treasure Followers

So, when I stop to analyze my ideal follower demographics and where they are and where they can most likely be found in the future, I’ve concluded that I can be of greatest service by focusing on three media platforms:

1) Facebook: Regardless of whether or not Facebook is your favorite social media platform, Facebook is a must. Why? Because this is the platform that has the greatest number of subscribers. So if you literally want to reach the greatest number of people in the world, Facebook is the place to be. It’s really where “everybody” in the world hangs out.

2) Pinterest: There is something very alluring about Pinterest. Perhaps it’s simply that the human eye is naturally drawn to beautiful things, beautiful writings and beautiful people. Pinterest allows you to portray your message visually, in a beautiful setting, and in beautiful light that has the capability of directly attracting others. There are many things in Pinterest that people “love” and that people “treasure.” While both male and females have the same opportunity in appreciating the gifts that life offers, it’s advantageous for me to reach out to followers on Pinterest, knowing that they can have this sort of affinity to the truly “fine” and most valueable things in life.

To me, Pinterest is like a BIG and worldly treasure chest, where everybody holds and shares what is dearest and most appealing to them.

For people starting out online, Pinterest is a very useful place for increasing traffic and brand exposure.

3) Twitter: Even at the risk at sounding cheesy, there is something really endearing about Twitter, and this characteristic works especially well for my audience. It goes beyond the cute blue bird Twitter uses for its logo. If Pinterest is a treasure chest, Twitter is a unique party in which people give and receive gifts. You give a gift of your brand and message, you receive a gift of someone else trying to reach out to you to give you their brand and message. You give, you give you take. It’s a really ying and yang interaction… and the energy on this platform feels really balanced. I’m proof that Twitter is ideal for increasing your brand exposure and family interaction, since most of my followers are on Twitter. I’m really grateful for that and I’ll continue to be very loyal to Twitter.

If there is a social media platform that truly and warmly welcomes you with open arms, it’s Twitter.

How to Put Your Best Foot Forward in Social Media

Once you’ve identified where your audience is, it seems that there are two potential problems you can face when it comes to social media.

1) You don’t know what to write

2) You have a lot to write and/or you’re easily distracted by all of the updates that the FFF post (your followers, family and friends post). So while it’s perfectly acceptable to engage with them, do have some parameters so that you don’t go overboard supporting everyone and everything EXCEPT your vision. If you have a slightest ion of “the disease to please” you have to be extremely vigilant about this.

Solving this dilemma of being strongly magnetized to social media or not has a solution. You must view social media as your friend. While it’s very tempting, you can’t be a hermit and expect people to know about your work. You have to embrace the people who can become your readers, followers, customers, critics, friends and even your best teachers by putting yourself out there.

Most importantly, regardless of what happens “out there” in the social media sphere, you have to have one commitment to yourself: BE DISCIPLINED. You need to do the work to take you forward and up and you have let yourself be seen.

How to Be Prepared to Provide Value when Your Audience Listens to You

Some great strategies that you can set in place so that you are as effective in your day as possible and as confident in your message as you can be are to:

1) Identify what Natalie Sisson affectionately calls your MIA for the day (Most Important Actions). Cool, it rhymes! MIA for the day. In other words, ask yourself: what are the 3 most important things that you have to complete that day?

• Write them down, preferably in Penzu, an online journal that you can use to keep your journal safe in the cloud. There is a free version and a paid version that offers special customizations. By clicking the link above, you’ll be able to get 20% off the Penzu Pro $19.00 per year membership and have it come out to about $15.20. So for a little bit more than $1.00 a month, $1.27 exactly, you’ll have a journal that you can access anywhere, including your mobile devices.
• Once you’ve written your three MIAs for the day, like the sun shining its bright light through a magnifying glass, make sure to focus on those 3 things until you tear them up (a.k.a. accomplish them). You’re allowed to do nothing else until you are finished with those three things. Rest assured, it can feel like a punishment at first, but really, accomplishing those three things will make you feel like your day is totally flowing and you’re on track.
• At the end of the day, write down what your three MIAs will be for the following day. That way, when you start your work day, you know exactly what you have to get done as you’ve review your MIAs at the end of the word day each evening and the beginning of your workday each morning. This will definitely help you build momentum and focus.

2) Get help focusing. From time to time, all of us have trouble focusing on what we need to focus on. However, just like when you have a trainer, parent, friend or coach by your side, if you are told to take baby steps and are held accountable for doing so, you won’t be as prone to finding a task as daunting. Tomato Timer is an excellent tool for holding yourself accountable for 25 minutes of uninterrupted doing.

• You visit the site, you start the timer in Pomodoro mode
• You work nonstop on your task
• After the timer goes off (and rest assured it will),
• You reward yourself by taking a short break to get your blood and energy flowing
• After your little break, you come back to continue working for another 25 minutes using the Tomato Timer
• Repeat this process however many times is necessary.

You can even enable the Tomato Timer desktop alerts on Google Chrome so that a pop-up window appears unobtrusively but noticeably on the upper right hand corner of your screen so that you know when you can get up and at least stretch.

Another tip that you should look into for increasing your productivity level is to evaluate your personal noise preference or tolerance.

• Do you work better when your in a silent atmosphere?
• Do you prefer to listen to your favorite tunes while working? (iTunes and Pandora are great sources for pleasant musical entertainment)
• Or do you find that ambient/classical music does wonders for you? Focus@will is an excellent site for playing calm music to help ease you through your to-do list as painlessly as possible.

3) Identify when you are more productive and produce your most vigorous work during this time. If you’re a morning person, be prepared to wake up earlier to have a greater amount of blocked time to be as productive as possible.

4) Create your schedule based on these premises so that you can squeeze your sweetest and best work out of yourself when you are “fuller” instead of when you’re running on empty.

Time to Show You Treasure these Tips

Who is your target market, which social media sites should you be focusing on and why?

What tips will you use to allow you to focus on bringing the best value to your site which you can then share via your chosen social media platforms?

Which resources that I recommended did you like and will you share with others?

Please leave an answer to your response in the comment section below. And if you find that the resources and tips shared here are of value, please “Like,” “Tweet,” “Pin,” email or Share with your circles. After all, you know yourself, your friends, your customers better than I do and can identify where they are so that they are better than I can. Thanks for stopping by, but please, go out today and be of true service to others by sharing the talents that you know you have and shouldn’t be afraid to share.