Social Media activity - once you stop can you ever catch up?
Over the past few weeks (probably 6 in total) I’ve been unable to post blogs.
Following the much tweeted about ‘Word Press’ hack – (and yes, my blog was indeed infiltrated and messed up
significantly) – I thought I’d take advantage of having to reload my blog by moving it to my site (WHAT, I hear all SEO experts stating – she hasn’t got her blog on her site – longtail blah blah blah). Yes, I know that it’s really poor from an SEO perspective, but my blog wasn’t started as a content and traffic builder for my site – it was a genuine attempt at independently sharing my marketing views, news and ideas and advice without having any ‘sales’ push.
Anyway – back to the blog, it’s now finally moved – so now I can happily post again.
And of course, what I’ve observed is that by not posting to my blog regularly – I’ve noticed that other things related to social media have also started to slow down.
- I haven’t visited / participated in as many of the forums I usually visit
- I haven’t tweeted as much as usual
- I haven’t been vigilant with my Tweetbeep alerts
- And I haven’t even been checking out who is following me!
This lack of blogging activity, coupled with a few fab days away for a birthday celebration with girlfriends – has meant that over all, my social media activity has slowed from a force 7 to a force 1.
What’s daunting however is that in just a few weeks, as I now get back onto Twitter and the forums – so much activity seems to have happened – there’s so much that I’ve missed out on. Already there are tons of other people out there – my Tweet Beep alerts are consistently firing new Twitterers – which I am again researching and if relevant then following. All my blog posts have vanished from the ‘Latest Posts’ on the forums - it’s amazing how quickly you can drop out of the loop. And there’s been so much activity on the forums – there’s just so much I could have been participating in!
So key things I take from this – which I didn’t fully appreciate before:
- My blogging activity is the lead in my social media activity – if I don’t blog, I tend not to share my posts and tweet and then get involved with my regular social media environments.
- If for reasons beyond my control, (life, bugs, holidays etc) I fall out of the loop – it’s as quick to get back on bandwagon as it was to fall off. That’s the beauty of social media.
- However, it’s probably best to stick at it and keep building momentum. As when you stop – others do not.
- Social media activity is still relatively fertile territory for the majority – so rather than give myself a hard time for not being as proactive as usual with my activity – give myself a break and realise that ‘hey, you’re still ahead of the majority’.
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