If you are interested in social media, PR or just being a better communicator, you definitely should be reading Jay Baer’s blog Convince and Convert. Much of what he talks about I’ve wondered about or tried to communicate to friends and clients. Jay just has a way of simplifying ideas that is genius.
A few weeks ago, Jay posted 5 Steps to Setting Social Media Limits. I bookmarked it in my Google Reader for future reference – which came in handy this week. My friend Aaron has been telling me lately he has stopped posting to Twitter because he feels so overwhelmed. He asked me if I had any tips to manage the influx of information. I mentioned Jay’s post and made a promise to post my example of how I implemented Jay’s suggestions. Please refer to Jay’s original post for explanations of each step, as well as take some time to let him know how awesome he is =)
Step 1 – List your passions
- Phoenix events
- Nonprofits
- Education
- Social media
- News/Journalism
- Public relations
- Food/Drink
- Movies
- Dogs
- Travel
- Books
- Arts/Theater
- History
Step 2 – Narrow your passions down to 10; As Jay suggests “Can you send a 2am tweet about that subject?”
- Phoenix events
- Nonprofits
- Education
- Social media
- News/Journalism
- Public relations
Step 3 – Assess your peeps. Put a hash mark next to whichever of your interests each friend shares. Why are they connected to you? I’ll just put a few examples here.
azstiner \\\\ (nonprofits, social media, phoenix events, education)
kanter \\\ (social media, nonprofits, pr)
azcinsider \\ (news/journalism, phoenix events)
williamsmith \\ (pr, social media)
savethefamily \ (nonprofits)
cybernautic
As you can see, some of the people I follow have multiple hash marks, whereas others have one or none.
Step 4 – Create your spheres. Draw circles for each of your interests. Find 5-6 interests that are connected.
Here are the 6 interests that I feel most passionately about. Below is how I believe these interests are connected.
Step 5 – Filter based on these spheres and passions. If any of the people you follow on Twitter do no fit into multiple spheres or at least one of them…time to make some cuts. Looking back at my Step 3, that means that cybernautic and potentially savethefamily should be eliminated. Additionally, education does not overlap into my other spheres very much. It may be a better idea for me to follow this passion on Google Reader or through Twitter search, as opposed to adding to the number of people I follow.
Hope that helps Aaron! Again, please check out Convince and Convert for more tips and ideas on how to improve your online communication!
Hey there. I am so psyched to see you put this into practice, and publish it. Thanks for the link and the kind words!
This is very, very good. I do a version of this every month and strip out people that just don’t make sense to be readily connected to, but certainly not in such a visually-pleasing way.
Good post. I am having a hard time with ‘focusing’ so it might be a good idea to take your advice and do something similar. Not an easy task for me, but it would be beneficial for sure.
this is a great idea! i have been wondering how in the world to manage- you’re right, i am following too many people that tweet about stuff not in my circles of passion
thanks katie!