Social Media Plan- How to create it.

The best way to fail at anything is not to plan for success.

Do you want to have a successful social media experience?

Do you know what that looks like?

What you are trying accomplish by being a part of social media?

If you are like me, you might love social media.  There are cool new toys that are arriving on the seen daily.

Social media is not for everyone

and being part of the wrong social media not only is a waste of time but it can be dangerous for your personal well being.

Why do you want to be a part of social media?

When I first got started with Facebook was much like most parents I wanted to see what my kids were involved in. I had teens who were on Facebook and I wanted to see who was touching my kids lives.  I had heard the stories, and know I need to be involved. But since then social media has become much more to me than that.  Running a few successful businesses means I need to get the word out what is going on. I am also have other roles that social media helps with.  Keeping me organized or helping connect with people I would not be able to otherwise.   Social media has literally changed the way I do life.

What will social media do for you?

Main reasons you might be using social medial is to connect with people in areas you are not in.  My suggestion is too look at what EXACTLY you need to accomplish with social media, it might be a way for you to have fun or keep a schedule that you can do more with.  It might be a personal growth system that will help you share what you are learning with your support group.

Create your own social media plan.

1. Study social media, what it is and versus what you think it is.
2. Look at the issues of every site you are currently a part of or looking to participate in.
3. Write your own social media statement, include what you want to accomplish, how many hours want to spend what it will help you do.  What area’s you need help with and what you are NOT willing to do.  Look at the safety and privacy issues.
4. Devise a plan to keep your social media statement, what tools it will take to accomplish this.

Here are some of the top social media sites that could be on your list of yes or no.

  Facebook is a top social media site, often it feels like everyone is on Facebook. That does not mean it is for you.  Evaluate it with your own social media statement, in facebook there are tons of things to do that can waist time or help you with your goals.

is very fun site.  It can go with you as you go, through your tablet/pad or phone.  It is so easy but there are dangers and it is growing fast.

Some people call this Facebook older brother.  It a for professionals who are looking to expand there career or business.

Share your passions with a picture.  But always watch out with pinterest.

Do you like to network?  this is your site.

Social media is the culture phenomena.

Do you have a social media plan?

You don’t need to do anything more than go to the grocery store to see the effects of social media in our world.  Just look up and try to count how many people everywhere on their smart phones. The culture has changed, face to face is not what it used to be.  Skype makes it where we can live our life’s thousands of miles apart and still connect.   Foursquare has made errands into a game and see who can win.  But is there a way you can use all of these ever expanding social media sites work for your life.  Can you improve your lifestyle by using social media? Do you know if you should be on Linkedin or  not?

At my house I have lots of teenagers, and with the holiday season just over, I realize how much social media has affected our kids.

Facebook,  Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Pintrest just to name a few.  Your smart phone is a social media hub.  There is actually a few ways to run a private social media site, for your company, family or organization.  Recently we started using office 365 which gives me away to connect with my entire organization privately with my own social media site.

Social media was used to make sales for large corporations; in fact the real product of social media is a large database.  Why is Facebook free?  So they can “sell” the product they have to big companies.  The product they are selling is YOU!  Yes, you, a database with over a million names, emails, information on what you like, want to do and even what music you listen to.  But we volunteer to be a part of that database.   We give away our lives pictures and desires to large corporations.

Being a part of social media is choice, but to make a good choice will take careful planning.  Having your own personal social media plan will take more than feelings or just doing something accidentally. There is a way you can  improve your life with social media and understand what you are participating in. Your social media plan will take out the guess work or the idea that you should be a part of all or no social media.

Over the next 60 days we together will be creating social media plans for ourselves our families and our lives.   Tomorrow I will be doing a overview on the sites I see and the dangers that are lurking out there. Over the next 60 days will have a plan that will help each one of us organize our social media as well as our lives.

You will be able to  evaluate each specific site, app to see if it is something you want to be a part of and if it will meet your needs.  Remember social media is not for everyone and having a social media plan will help you understand what sites you want to be a part of and in turn what sites to stay far far away from.

Write a blog – takes more than just knowledge about a subject.  You have to have a plan.

How to write a blog.

So, do you really know what it takes to write a blog?

Blogs are everywhere, blogging is almost a subculture.  But there is a difference in having one that is successful and one that is unknown.  But most people do not know the difference and are not willing to do the work to create the traffic.  You are looking for a way that you can write a blog.  I have no idea why you are looking to do this or even if you have the skills, but I know that you can learn to write a blog. It does not matter what your skills are today if you are willing to learn.  The one thing that will help you write a blog that is successful is desire.

Some people write just because they love to write, and then others have an agenda. I personally love to connect with people. I believe we were put on the big ball of dirt by our creator to have honest authentic relationships with each other.

What tools and skills it takes to write a blog.

Blogging is not for everyone.  I am asked all the time what it takes to write a blog.  In fact my youngest daughter has been asking me to help her write a blog for a long time, so we finally got it put together this week.  Now It will take her just like it will take you certain actions to keep her blog up and make it the blog she wants it to be.  But this is not about her blog this about your blog and if you are going to write a blog, or if you are going to give up your dream.

Things that you need to think about before you decide to write a blog.

1. Why are you looking to write a blog. what is your objective?

2. How much time are you willing to put into you blog?

3. Are you going to host your blog or do you want a way to blog for free?

4.  Do you want to make money with you blog or is it for a personal reason?

5. Is this blog for a existing business?

6. Are you looking to expand your social media?

7. Do you need to increase your skills?  How techie are you?  Would you know how to use html?

Looking at blogging from an objective point of view.  Should I really write a blog?

You have answered the questions above, or I hope you have.  You have a view on what you are getting ready to do.

Plans are only 10% of success.  If you decide to write a blog you will need to follow up on your plans and understand what it takes to be successful.

You will need to increase your skills no matter what your skills are today, you will need to have a team of people who can help you.

You will need to know why you willing to put the time energy and expense into this activity, and what you are wanting achieve. Are you building a business, educating others on a subject, finding a niche of people who love to do a sport. Only you can know what your goal is. Create a document with this information in it, one you can edit from time to time.

It will be important to set a schedule and commitment on how often you will blog. Blogging is fun, and writing your thoughts out at least for me, well its inspirational. But everyone gets busy and most blogs in the world , have a few posts and then they are never touched again. To not be just another failed blog, you need to know when where and how often you are going to write.  That is if you really want to write a blog.

There are many tools you will need to help your blog be seen.  Increasing that knowledge is imperative to long term success. Social media will be important as well as offline marketing.

Only you can say how important it is for you to write a blog.  I have included some links that have helped me write my blog and this is a link to help you as well.  That is if you are truly serious about writing a blog and creating an extra source of income.