Commercial: Time for a social media diet

Cross posted from Geoff's blog:

Seeing as we’re still just about in the season of trying to lose a bit of flab (it’s not too late be beach fit, dontchaknow), I’ve been musing on whether it’s time to slim down my social media inputs.

Clearly, I’m not alone in worrying about whether I’m gorging too much on tweets and status updates and the like. Grace Dent is towering atop the bestseller lists, right now with her tell-all confessional about how the big tweeting bird mucked up her life (I paraphrase slightly). This lady in New York, in an enviable display of single-mindedness has decided to cut everything apart from Twitter out of her life. Clearly, as she used it to find a flat, job and hubby, she wasn’t going to give it up.

And while I might not go as far as declaring that social media has ruined our lives it’s clear that some fatigue is setting in for some people – especially because, as the hypothesis has it, as more brands arrive in the space, more people depart.
Which leads to a serious question: does your brand need to be on every social media platform? I mean, the advice to try and bit of oomph back into your content, keep it fresh and exciting, tell people what’s new, sure, all makes sense. But budgets aren’t infinite. And dare one say it, neither is conversation.

And when you multiply that need by three, five, 20 different platforms, that way madness lies. Much as we on the fifth floor might have a play about with Storify or Color, can we realistically argue that a brand needs to be everywhere on the off-chance a customer, potential or actual, might be?

I’m not advocating social media seppuku just yet. But it might be handy to keep your sword sharp.