Forget everything you think you know about business, networking, marketing and sales. Forgotten? Ok good, now you can actually participate in social media. Social media has many names (and personally I hate all of them, as none of them really capture the true meaning). But, no matter what you call it, it is here to stay so you might as well learn as much as you can about it.
I am not a professional social media-er (although who knows what that even means?) but I have a passion for the concept, and have had some great results from the way tha I have used social media. So, here are a few tips from my experience:
To be a better blogger… you have to forget the idea of selling someone something and help them instead. People don’t like sales pitches. So why would anyone want to read a blog entirely made up of sales pitches? *hint: They don’t*. So, before you write that next post about your porduct and how it can change my life, why not writing a post about how to make my life easier, without mentioning your product?
To be a better tweeter… you have to remember to be human. Communication on twitter is meant to be two-way and open. If your profile as no picture, no description and no link to a website (or any of the 3), you are not getting the most out of twitter. For those businesses who use it by adding everyone under the sun and tweeting a million spamalicious tweets – I would love to hear from you and find out if any of that actually works for you, because I highly doubt it’s effective. Be who you are, and people will want to follow.
To be a better social media-er… you have to think about the key word in the phrase! Without getting too ‘English teacher’ on you, simply thinking about the meaning of ’social’ will give you the clearest definition of what you should be doing. Social media ceases to exist if people do not share (and share interesting things) with eachother. If you are not a part of the conversation, you are not a part of social media. In addition to being involved, you also have to trust your network, know that things you discuss will be respected makes it easier to be open an honest.
And lastly, in all categories: If someone is bringing bad mojo into your network, ask them to leave. In social media, you don’t have to interact with anyone you don’t want to.
Agree? Disagree? What do you think is needed to be better in any of these categories?
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Kirsten
