There are hundreds of sites for sharing- that’s part of the power of social media. When you venture into using social media sites you choose which sites: maybe it’s just Facebook, or you use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, or you’re an avid news reader and writer so you’re on Newsvine, Facebook, and Twitter. I could go through thousands of combinations, but you make a choice of which sites work for you based on what your friends and associates are using, how you want to communicate and connect, and how you want to grow your connections — if at all!
When you move into participating in social media you choose the type of content you want to display, such as video, blog posts, short communication updates, audio podcasts and then choose which sites best suit you and your connections.
So you make a choice of how you want to connect, then you’ve chosen how you want to communicate… it’s natural that there would also be a choice of how you want to share.
I really like the sharing plugins on WordPress blogs. Plugins like Sexy Bookmarks will have you spoiled for choice. Since I’ve mentioned Sexy Bookmarks as an example, they have 88 cute graphics and links to choose from to set as the links at the bottom of blog posts. Please, don’t use all 88! Including no more than 5 or 6 links at the end of your post is enough… you don’t want to confuse your readers with too many choices.
Here’s our recommendations for bookmarks:
1. KISS (Keep it Super Simple). Too many will confuse your readers.
2. Make it bit-sized. You’ll want to check the book marked sites or run a Google Realtime search to see if your efforts are building traction– too many choices means you’ll be checking too many sites!
3. Know Your Audience. It’s not pandering to cater to your audience. If you know which social media sites your customers use those sites are the best options for sharing.
There are 100’s of social networking sites so you could literally fill up the bottom of a blog post with links to each site. It’s important to be selective. Use the links to the sites you know your friends and associates are using. Link to sites you use and want to put effort into. When you spread the links too thin through too many sites, it’s very difficult to gain traction and a following. Keeping it simple and bit-sized, keeps your social media efforts manageable and will lead to greater success.
