Welcome to the first episode of the Social Savvy Minute! These  60 second or less videos are all about helping you be social savvy, marketing wise, and promotion smart. Enjoy!

Please be sure to leave a comment or shoot me an email at latara @socialsavvyva.com to let me know how you enjoyed this video and what topics you would like to see me cover in 60 seconds!

Over the past week I have been reading some great posts on how not to become overwhelmed with Social Media. The Social Media Arena is HUGE, there is no other way to put it. There are tons of applications, network groups, and opportunities for connecting to your proposed target market. However, something often ends up happening in the midst of your trying to network.

It just becomes to much and often times, people just back off. I have met many people who find social media too time consuming and then there are those who get so involved in social networking that they often forget their bottom line – whatever it may be.

When it comes to social media and all it entails, the most important thing to remember is to BREATHE! It really is that simple.

Approach social media as if it is a means to an end: Not the end itself. Sit back and determine what is really important for your bottom line and where social media fits in. Don’t waste valuable time making social media the “Bees’ knees” because it is not. It is simply a way to connect to your market.

Let me repeat that: SOCIAL MEDIA is simply a tool that allows you to CONNECT!

It should not be the main focus of your business. If it is then where will the money come from? How will your branches flourish and produce that ripe fruit it needs to produce.  Too many people are looking at social media as the main part of their promoting and marketing efforts.

I am hear to tell you it is not. Social Media may make you popular but if you are not using it correctly it won’t make you money.

Avoid social media burnout by being savvy. If you are on the computer all day long and your productivity efforts add up to only about 3 hours, then your efforts are useless.  Social media will not work for you if you are not producing anything at all.

Find your true flow for connecting and stick to it.

I want to share a few blog posts I came across this past week. When I read them I was thrilled because they are so needed.

Time to Purge Your Social Media Followers – I loved reading this post because it covers how to do it and why you need to do it. I am a big believer that numbers mean absolutely nothing without results.

5 Tips On Managing Social Media for Entrepreneurs – Rod does a great job of sharing valuable tips about how to use social media effectively.

Internet Fame Ain’t All That – I love Wendy’s ‘keep it real’ approach about how her rise to inter fame took the focus off of her reasons behind even starting an online business.

How do you avoid social media burnout?

Image via Wikipedia

There are many who others perceive as Social Media Experts. In my opinion, the only social media experts are those who put the software and platforms together and make them work. I will never call myself an expert but I will say that I am social savvy.

Being savvyt means being innovative, wise, able to understand what is going on and to be well informed about what it is you claim to know.

There are many people out that who fit that definition. Not because they know it all but they know how to use what they do know and make it work for them. In-other-words, they know how to communicate well and how to get their target market to hear what they have to say.

Your social media success depends on how you communicate what you know. Not everyone communicates on the same level – but everyone can communicate.  Yes, some are better than others but no matter what, everyone has something to say.

Maybe you need to learn how to say it the right way. If this is the case there are many ways to learn how to communicate more effectively.

Here is an example. On Facebook it took me some time to find my groove but I love it now. I found a way to communicate with my market by simply asking an eye-opening question of the day. That’s it and it works well for me.

Today’s tip is about helping you not to be intimidated by those who ways they are Social Media Experts. Instead take the time to find your path to effective communication on the social media platforms you belong to. Experiment and tweak to find what works best for your authentic connection to your market.

How do you communicate?

Being smart with social media and networking is not about being everywhere. It is about making yourself effectively visible wherever you decide to network.  People are always telling me that they see me everywhere. I for one can say this is not true; however what I can say is that where I do network and I work at being an effetive part of the community.

Do I always flaunt my business or services, no.

You can belong to three or four social networking groups or platforms and watch your business and network grow. The key to being effectively visible is getting in the mix. When I say getting in the mix, I mean getting involved with the community.

• Chat with people
• Offer your help without selling or losing yourself
• Don’t be afraid to tell people what you do and what you offer. There is nothing wrong with self-promotion but there is something wrong with selfish promotion.
• Promote others.

It is not imporant for you to have a profile on every social networking profile on the internet.  That is just not smart because there are so many of them out there. The fact that you make the right connections is what matters most.

Do you remember the game Connect 4. The strategy of that game is to connect 4 checkers of the same color. You have to think to win the game.

Can I introduce you to a game I call Connect 5?

This game will show you how to effectively connect to your market and find quality traffic and potential customers or clients.

If you are trying to present yourself to your market as a an expert, the best thing you can do is connect to other people! I am not talking about connecting through an automated service and selfishly promoting your product or business. That is a big turn off. Don’t automate your networking… BIG MISTAKE!

When I say connect, I mean just that. Take the time to find 5 people or more if you want that are saying something you can comment on. It can be on Twitter, Facebook, or even someone’s blog. Whatever you choose all you need to do is let someone know that someone thinks that what they said was worth a comment or two.

It is not a hard thing to do. Connecting is how your business will flow. If you aren’t conecting, you aren’t being effective in business. if you aren’t connecting with authentic purpose then don’t do it.

When you connect do it because something truly interest you. Not because so-and-so is a good person to connect to because they have a lot of  Twitter followers or seem to be popular. Popular does not mean influence!

What do you think about connecting to others through Social Media?