Ken has flipped his lid! What in the world could a title like that be attached to? Simple enough: yet another article about Social Media and what you should and should not write. Actually the title came from a little inside joke between Jason Crouch and me. We were actually joking about content of blog posts and what makes people read them and enjoy them. If you listen to our show you already know we spend an hour every Tuesday sharing information about how we use Social Media to keep our businesses rolling and interviewing guests who bring their own opinions and experiences to the show.
Many people like to tell you there is a secret to what, when and how often you post. My experience, and it certainly works for me, is simply to interact. Here on AR, for example, I always try and respond to every comment and have been doing so for 3 years. While I'm not one of the highest ranked posters on AR the friendships I have made here are priceless and many other side ventures have resulted from some of them.
Interaction is more the key to social media than most people credit. Sure, some of the advice the gurus give is good for shear numbers but would you rather have 10,000 names on a list or 100 true associates who know you, how to contact you offline, and do so regularly?
Take the dinner party for example. If you are invited to a dinner party you will likely be with a small, core group of close friends and maybe a new couple invited to grow your circle. If you buy a ticket to a garden party at the Museum, however, there may be hundreds or even thousands of people in attendance whom you neither know nor interact with at the event. Don't get me wrong - the garden party event has its value and its place but you need to understand the difference exists in Social Media as in "RL" or "Real Life". I always chuckle at that because for me, and many of you, Social Media IS Real Life ... and Real Business!
Never let anyone scold you or make you feel bad about posting anything you want to post. I love comments about people who post semi-personal things here on AR or who tweet about eating a donut on Twitter. The truth is there are as many "techniques" as there are people. In fact the other day on Social Media Edge our Tech Tips Expert, Mike Mueller, noted that with my personal Twitter account I tweet about a wide variety of things. He is correct, I do! With my business Twitter account, however, it's strictly business.
The real bottom line with Social Media is to understand WHY you participate and WHAT you expect from it. Then you can determine WHAT to say, WHEN to say it, HOW and to WHOM.
By the way, if you're in the Atlanta Area please join Lane Bailey and me at the first Atlanta Social Media Breakfast at the Duluth Diner at 7AM on July 23rd. We have the entire diner to ourselves and certainly a great time meeting people from many different industries.
Comments(6)