I got a call last week from my friend, Elvis.
Total aside - Elvis is not his real name, and I an not calling him that to protect the innocent - it's because he hates it when I call him Elvis, and I know he is reading this. It's like messin' with Sasquatch .
Any who, he says, “Mike, what the F?!? You aren't on Google+ yet. How the hell are we supposed to keep each other up to date?”
So I say, “Google+ is, like, still in beta or something. I haven't even seriously looked at it.”
And then he says, “That's cool. You know in all honesty, I was thinking about dropping it any way. I heard something better is coming out.”
What the double F?!?!? Something that hasn't even been introduced yet is already old school. Well, maybe Elvis is a little too much on the bleeding edge. But, there is a hidden truth in this experience – social media is moving so fast that we don't even have the time to fully adopt a system before the next shiny object catches your eye.
So what's the cure? Well, I am convinced it is not in doing it all. And it surely is not in being the first to adopt the social platform of the day.
The key for me has always been in the magic number three. I just commit fully to three things, and nothing else. I stick with them as long as they are still relevant and then move on when they are not.
I consider social media to be just like any other social environment. It requires your full attention and commitment. Therefore when I pick my three things, I pick the three most impactful social environments.
I am in one face to face, entrepreneurial group (called EO). I am fully committed to Twitter as my second. And the third is my blog (yes there is tons of social activity going on there).
Facebook, Google+, app of the day – I am still signed up to them, and I still use them – but they always play second fiddle to my big three.
Three things I can manage. More then that, and I have Elvis moments.
I have other strategies too... but I'll hold off on sharing them with you until SXSW. You can check out what I hope to be doing by going here (plus you can vote for who you want to speak) → http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/11382
Until we meet up in Texas, here's your homework. Pick your three.
Another article by Mike Michalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur
