Your New Year's Social Media Diet


Like most of you, my resolutions this year involve healthy self-improvements. Starting with food: I will try to eat less of the bad stuff and more of the good stuff. I don't believe in cutting things out cold turkey (even if it is leftover with plenty of stuffing) but rather, cutting down. I seem to work better that way.  By the way, that's a photo of my breakfast this morning, pancakes, syrup, biscuits, bacon. Sorry, I forgot to mention, unlike you, my resolution begins tomorrow. It's the one advantage of having a birthday today. (Please remain seated as envy green is not a becoming color on you.) In short, I get to procrastinate my diet one more day. Even as it applies to social media.

What? You don't do resolutions? Don't need a diet? Great! But everyone needs a social media diet for healthier communications. And like me, you get the extra day or four as it were and can start Monday. That's because no one's around. A mid-week start of the New Year is always slow. So spend the coming days planning your social media diet.

Social media came on the market like fat-free cookies and we collectively gorged ourselves jumping in and stuffing as much as we could down our own and others throats. But just like pancakes, too much of anything is not a good thing. Many, in particular businesses, are slow to change. We got our facebook and our twitter and --we're sated. But it's time to add health to your social media campaigns.


First analyze what has worked. If analytic software is not on that diet then get some as there are plenty-- many are free. Then see what you want to add and what can be trimmed. More tweets? Less facebook posts? Vice versa? Perhaps start an Instagram or finally produce a YouTube video worth watching. Commit to blogging once a week. Change it up. See what worked in 2013, and what might in 2014. Cut the "fat" and increase the "good" stuff.

As for the personal resolutions, I'll see you at the gym... tomorrow. As for tonight, I will have my cake and eat it too. And some iced cream.


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