When you start getting into social media, learning the system, listening to people and watching how it works in general, you’ll stumble with many “experts” that will tell you that you have to be here, there, and everywhere. They will tell you that you won’t want to miss the wave, that you need tool A or tool B because your customers are there, and that you have to be present to connect with them. This is true, to an extent. Because in reality, you have to be careful of not losing your focus. There’s a lot to say about focusing your efforts in social media, because otherwise, like Tim Ferris likes to say, you are being active instead of productive. Here are some reasons why less is more in social media:

You can’t do everything

If by any chance you think that you have to ability to do everything, you better pop that bubble soon, because not realizing limits in social media can be disastrous. You throw many hours to waste trying to catch up with everyone and trying to do too much. Let some of it go, it’s the best decision.

It takes a lot of effort to learn something new

You have to consider that to use each tool how it’s supposed to, you actually have to spend time learning, or you’ll make a mess with it. You can’t go around wasting your time learning how to use tools that may end up being useless. Remember, time is money. Focusing means actually saving money.

You are dividing your time

Again, the more you divide your time, the less you get done. If you want to accomplish anything in social media, you’ll have to devote a lot of time to it. And if you do it everywhere, you are actually doing it nowhere. Focus all your time in one or two networks, you don’t need more than that.

The connections will be weak

Do you know why you spend time in social media? To build connections. But to have strong connections you have to work hard on them. If you spend a little bit of time everywhere, you are only building weak connections that don’t really need you. To become indispensable, you need to be constantly present. Only do able when you focus.

Wait and see

Another important reason to focus is because not every network will make sense for your business! I recommend you to wait, listen and see what would work, where you would get the best results. Once you know that, it’s time to focus!

It’s you, not the tools!

In the end, the tools are there for you to USE, but they won’t do the job without you behind them! The tools are irrelevant if you don’t think on your customers first, if you are not respectful with them, their time and attention. The reason you have to focus, is because one or two tools is more than enough if you care about the people following you.

Carlos Miceli. Argentinian. Questioner of things. OwlSparks’ blogger. Freelance writer. Entrepreneur. Every day philosopher. Skill learner.

Tags: community, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, the right way