Is Social Media a True Two-Way Conversation?
Wayne does a good job of explaining the difference between personal and business social media as well as concepts on the purpose of social media.
Recently John, a client of mine was becoming very frustrated with his Social Media endeavors. He was spending about 90 minutes a day updating Facebook, his three blogs and Tweeting his fingers to the bone. He could not understand why people were not commenting back about all the wonderful information he was sharing. He felt that people should acknowledge his work by communicating back in some way to him. I understand John’s frustration but is that what Social Media is really all about? Is it supposed to be a two-way conversation?
Social Media in its truest form has always been about sharing with others. A way we can share our life with our family, friends. colleagues and anyone who cares to stop by. As a business tool it has always been a way to share our insightful thoughts or information we think others would find useful. Each type of business has found a different way to use Social Media. Whether to launch a new product, keep customers updated or pass on helpful advice it has been a tool to inform, change public opinion and increase our own brand or public awareness.
We all love to see that people read our blogs. We love it even more when people comment on our blogs or leave comments on our Facebook pages. But are these comments helpful? Do they drive a meaningful conversation? Sadly the answer is usually no!
Most blogs are not read and when they are few if any drive a meaningful Two-Way Conversation. Sharing our thoughts, insights and experiences is what these blog are about. Helping others understand a process, sharing understandings or just sharing a simple “How To” is what this is about from a business perspective.
We use Social Media from a business perspective to increase our business profiles so people see us as experts. We blog like crazy for backlinks and exposure. We spend time sharing so people will read what we have to say and will want to do business with us and not our competitors.
Social Media is a tool. A tool we should all embrace and use. A tool that in time make you can expert in your field. It will increase your search engine rankings due to the amount of backlinks you have. It will drive new clients to you that will ultimately increase your bottom line.
Keeping all of this in mind I asked John how his business was doing. He said that even in this current recession he was doing as well as last year. I asked him where his clients were coming from and he said mostly from his website. John asks all his clients where they had heard of him and 80% of the answers are from his Page One Google listing or his blog.
Last year I had a very long heart to heart with John and why his business would do well if he would just embrace Social Media. Though he fought me on the idea at first he quickly came around. John has benefited greatly from Social Media. John also understands now that a true Two-Way Social Media Conversation comes from the emails and phone calls he receives from people who are looking to hire him because they read his blog or found him through a very specific long tail phrase search on a search engine.
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Wayne Golliday
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