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Am I the only one who doesn't (know how to) use social media?
I just can't bring myself to invest the time in it. More than that, I'm confounded as to how so many people have the time to follow, update, share, post - all that stuff. When do they work? Am I doing something wrong? Can you convince me to invest more time here?
Do you use social media (for your startup)? How?
What is the most efficient platform/method? Where are you seeing the biggest benefit?
Is there a resource that you could point me to that might convince me to change my mind on social media?
22
Replies
Chris Messina
Top Hunter
Several of most important uses of social media for founders include:
- connecting with other founders and potential customers (prospecting, networking, discovering use cases)
- building up your personal brand and authority relating to the problem space that you're working in
- developing the narrative of your founder journey
- developing your unique voice and perspective in the marketplace of ideas
- recruiting
Getting social media right is a lot like getting the gym right — it should become an automatic practice that you make time for, on a regular basis, rather than in fits and spurts. You also don't need to use all the equipment or all the networks; if you don't like running, bike. If you don't like tweeting, post think-pieces on LinkedIn.
It's also important to find the medium(s) that are most comfortable for you, and then pick the network that gives you the best tools to express yourself. And, don't worry so much about having a huge audience; my big unlock came in 2005 when I decided that rather than worrying about writing for everyone, I decided to write for just four people. That took the pressure off and let me lean into the pleasure of tweeting.
And we know how that ended up. :)
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Hello Chris,
I see you're quite passionate about social media technology.
I myself am building a new social media platform, it's not not gonna be another ad-based, soul sucking machine.
If you can imagine IG as the information equivalent of fast food, I'm coming up with something purely giving out healthy food i.e healthy information.
I know Medium does this to some extent,but my platform is going to go beyond consumption and be a lot more participatory.
It would really help me if you could give my product hunt account a follow..... please 🙏! I promise to not dissapoint 🙏
@chrismessina Thanks for the thoughtful response, Chris. I'm not 100% convinced. I feel like most, if not all, of the uses you list can be fulfilled in other arenas (website, print, communities, events, handshakes). In your metaphor, this would be like replacing running with... a healthy diet?
That said, I really like two of the thoughts you shared:
1. That you don't need to use all of the equipment/networks
2. That you need to know your true audience
1 > It feels like there's a lot of pressure to do it all. To have "a presence" everywhere... but for such a presence to be worth anything, a significant investment of time has to be made. Hearing that it's OK to focus on one network does assuage some of my concerns (more on that in a bit).
2 > I think you need to share this message with more people. So much of the content I see on social media appears to be... "written for social media." It all feels like a game. Except that you're not a player, you're at most a pawn in someone else's game. Nothing is actually said, it's about some mechanics on which you can only have some tangential impact. I *have* noticed that when I'm just more honest - regardless of where I share - that I care less about the mechanics. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, it is at these times that I usually derive the most benefit (in ways that overlap with your list of uses).
So, I guess it's a partial agreement on my part. However, I will also concede that:
A. I may simply be "doing it wrong" in some cases. I may not know *how* to derive value from a given network. I may *never* know. And that's OK - as long as:
i) someone on my team does, if...
ii) it's a good fit for our audience/niche
B. It's quite possible that I don't fully recognize "social media" anymore. Is this discussion an example of social media? Are my blog posts social media? How about communities like Growthmentor? For a long time I didn't even consider LinkedIn to be social media - just a work tool. But it's possible that these are just the "equipment" that I'm better suited to use.
But man, I just don't get Twitter! Like, at all!
Leaving social media is not a weird thing; in fact, many people are doing it with good reason. A study by the Pew Research Center found that 42% of American adults have left Facebook. And it's not just Facebook – people are ditching many of their social media accounts.
Mybkexperience
Hello Marcin, there is no need to use social media “on a scale” if it won’t solve problems you have or bring benefits. I’d just looking what my current problems will be solved by using social media - new clients, branding etc.
@nadenade In other words: don't use it just to use it... use it if it makes sense to use it.
Makes sense! :)
Hello Marcin,
Social media if used well does 2 things,
1) Helps in strengthening the relationship your brand has with your customers. You get to know them a bit better, so you sell to them a bit better.
2) Gives you some good content to enjoy,if you can curate the accounts you follow thoroughly.
Now, which platform is best?
A simple rule in business is "to be where your customers are"
youngsters mostly use tik tok/ Instagram. You can find professionals on LinkedIn. Whichever platform your customers use - that's where you gotta be.
If you want to change your mind, YouTube is in someways a social media platform. To be brutally honest , you can find information on YouTube that even the best libraries in the world would be jealous of.
@chetan_natesh Thanks, Chetan! Appreciate the perspective. In response:
re: 1) This may be (more) true for more consumer-focused products. Then again, maybe it's my customers who are the exception. Maybe it's me...
re: 2) I can't get past this. How do I (find time to) curate accounts thoroughly? Unless there is some secret to doing it super-efficiently, it'll never happen. It's too time consuming and I'm already rocking 12-14h days! Seems like a luxury I can't afford.
I do, however, fully subscribe to the maxim that we should "be where our customers are"... I'm just not convinced that where they are is always in social media.
Hmm, maybe we need better products to do the curating you describe (we're in the right place for that!)? So much of what I find in social media is low-quality noise. Plus ones, bite-sized pieces of shallow wisdom, clearly robot-written content, anger, and garbage... How does one actually get to the good stuff without having time to "learn how to do social media?"
@martin_demkowicz Since YouTube is the platform I consume content from the most, I can give you very simple but effective advice on how to curate your Youtube feed.
The algorithm, as you said, will give you low quality noise, in the beginning.
It's best if you surf the content a little, just so that it gets a vague picture of your tastes - and then it will start recommending *some* good content.
Then what you do is, as you scroll through your feed - you'll see three dots at the right bottom of every video.
If you click on it you'll get an option to "save to watch later" this I think is the most under valued feature in YT.
Every once in a while the algorithm is going to give recommend really nice content. Save to watch later , within no time you'll have a small list of videos you've handpicked yourself.
After you watch just THOSE videos , that's when the magic begins.
It just takes some effort in the beginning,maybe a couple of hours every weekend, but I guarantee it's worth it.
@chetan_natesh Thanks - that's a very concrete recommendation for helping to cut through the noise. I will give it a go!
That said, it'll likely take me a much longer time to see the results you describe (which, in turn, makes me less motivated... and possibly makes the algorithmic changes less impactful?). Why? I have eight kids. :) "Couple hours every weekend" would mean I'd have to teach YT *instead of* teaching one of them.
@martin_demkowicz 8 kids! that's tough 🤘
If not 2 hours , start with just 30 minutes, will take longer - take my word for it , will still be worth it🙌
@chetan_natesh It is tough but also super awesome. :) I'll try to feed YT when I'm not feeding the little ones. Thanks again for the tip!
no, you're doing everything right!
I'm only active on social media that benefit me, my business/community activities, and career long term. Such as LinkedIn, professional chats that I'm a member of.
But I don't post any pictures / videos / stories. I just communicate via messages with the people who share something similar with me or who are reaching out to me.
For efficiency, me and @imanmoaz find LinkedIn the most beneficial to the business, but it's due to B2B niche that we are in.
ProductHunt is very promising for B2C, but we are just preparing for the launch, so we hope it works well. Discussion with people on PH are really paying off so far, many interesting connections with talented business founders in a very short amount of time.
I don't think you need to change your mind of social media, as a business founder you don't need to push yourself into social media that are trending. Millions of views or likes don't always convert into sales. Moreover, giants of social media like TikTok were accused by their biggest customers like FMCG brands that they inflate views (x10 times or more). They've conducted their own calculation after a multimillion ad campaigns, and figured out that TikTok views, even if real, worth x10 times less than YouTube for example.
Not sure about exact numbers, but my point is that 'trendy' social media don't convert into sales - not for every business niche at least. So, if you're not into the social media and don't have any problems with user acquisition, then no need for pushing yourself into it too much. But if you do have problems with brand awareness / promotion, then I would delegate it to a professional marketing specialist.
@imanmoaz @dan_yes Thanks for the honest, detailed response, Daniyar. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in my observations.
Hadn't heard about that TikTok view inflation. Then again, I've barely heard of TikTok. :) That's another channel I just don't get. Maybe it's a generational thing. To me it's the epitome of noise.
I will probably need to bite the bullet and delegate some form of engagement to someone. It's hard for me to overcome my own serious misgivings for social media itself, however; I take issue with investing in (and therefore contributing to) something that I find to be mostly harmful.
That said, I do believe in the ingenuity and creativity of the human mind. I think we're way overdue for a constructive response/alternative to the content-diarrhea model so prevalent in social media. Someone will fix it - soon, I hope. Perhaps it's somebody here?
Lots of good advice in the replies already, but as an introvert let me offer an alternate perspective.
There's tremendous value in listening and learning. What do I mean?
Forget the "social" part and just focus on these as "media" platforms. Not everything that everyone says is worthwhile. The basic law of averages will tell you that most of the content is mediocre. So you have to curate your media feed. How?
Spend your time finding subject matter experts and follow them. The content, ideas, and perspectives they share will shape and change your thinking for the better.
For me that's the best return on investment in social media.
@jason_moreau Thanks, Jason. Curious: which channels are you using to find your SMEs?
@martin_demkowicz I’m mostly on LinkedIn and YouTube.
I think you can find SMEs on every social channel. But different channels cater to different audiences and formats.
Just like on television , a science show on PBS looks different than a science show on Nickelodeon.