SM 10X30 Home

Extreme Social Media Workouts: SM 10X30
Basic Training Track

Workout 7: Get Competitive

Pain: You don't know what you're up against.

Is the competition ahead of you? You need to know what they're saying, how they're saying it and how you can take advantage of opportunities in front of you.

Gain: Go on offense.

Listen in on the competition's conversations. That way, you can stop playing defense and begin taking an active approach to shaping your own messaging.

Workout: Scope out the competition.

Just like using a clipping service for print monitoring, you can keep an eye on your competitors online. Make a list of your company's or your clients' key competitors, so you can begin to see how they're using social networking. You may also come across people posting about the competition. Reading what they're saying can also help you stay ahead of the game.

• If you've resisted the urge to follow the competition on Twitter® so far, today is the day. Search for feeds by your own competition and those who go head-to-head with your clients. Look for company names, brands and key individuals.
• Move on to Facebook®, and look for the same competitive companies there. Become a fan of corporate pages and join any groups turned up by your searches.
• While on LinkedIn®, search key people, companies and groups.

That's all for today. It's a great day to read through past postings by those with whom you've connected, catch up on missed workouts or just take a breather. You've earned it.

Go the extra mile: Wipe down the equipment.

Maybe you've already noticed that some friends or connections post too often or fill your feeds with games and quizzes. For example, in Facebook, the occasional poll might spur ideas for promotional or viral opportunities, but many of these games just get in the way.

• In Facebook, place your cursor to the right of the posting and you can hide all the posts by that person or all posts about a specific game or feature.
• Remove LinkedIn connections within the Contact page.
• To stop following someone on Twitter, go to his or her page and pull down the gear icon in the upper right.

You may also want to go into your settings to clarify under what circumstances you want to receive email notifications.