Social Media

In my last social media training sessions, I asked people using social media for business if their plunge into Social Media began with signing up for accounts on Twitter or Facebook. Most respond that it was. After all, what better way to start than by gathering up the tools?

After signing up for these tools, they have come to my classes to learn how to use these tools. Many are looking for advanced ideas of using Twitter and Facebook as they are savvy with the functionality and are no longer bound by the beginner label.

I will challenge these users, though, that if they don’t have a PLAN OF ENGAGEMENT, they have not truly started harnessing the power of these social media tools.

You might be thinking, “I have lots of followers! I talk to them and they talk to me; we share ideas. Isn’t this engagement?”

Well, first tell me what you are trying to achieve!

You often see people in social media “call for followers.” I believe this is the single most overrated statistic in all of social media. Why? Because it’s just a number that doesn’t truly define your level of engagement.

If you have 3,000 followers, how many of them are really following what you have to say? How many are following you because they just want a follow-back? How many are following you because you’re their competition and they want to keep an eye on you?

If we put those 3,000 followers in a room with you, how many of them would know who you are? If they are there for a follow-back, they don’t know you. If they are there for competition, they aren’t your audience. If they are there to increase their popularity, they don’t care what you have to say. Translation – they don’t know or care who you are.

These followers’ might recognize your name and perhaps even your face, but that isn’t actual engagement. A truly engaged following will not only recognize you, but will understand who you are and what you represent. Without this sort of relationship, there is no business.

How often do you re-Tweet information that came from an untrusted source without checking for more details? I do re-Tweet information from followers, but only those who are trusted sources, someone I actually have a relationship with.

Would you recognize your followers in this same room? All of them?

If you are planning on building business using Social Media, the relevancy of your followership and the relevancy of those you follow is important. In order to build a relevant followership, you have to have  an action plan… it doesn’t happen by accident.

About a year ago, I was pushing the 5,000 follower mark and was following almost all of them back. I wanted to test the theory that many of my followers were only there for a follow-back. I started to mass unfollow the people I didn’t recognize or those I had no need or desire to engage with. I love to chat in social media, so the group I unfollowed was largely those with whom discussion never formed.

My theory was right… as soon as I wasn’t following them, they unfollowed me. I was left with a lot fewer followers but A LOT more engaged conversations with the group I had remaining. These are the people who can help grow my business. They are interested in me, and I am interested in them.

What I am suggesting is that if you spend your time developing an audience who is actually listening, your chances of growing your business will increase dramatically. After all, what do the people who are not engaged really bring to you?

I read a lot of blogs, I’m not one who comments unless I feel an article has touched a nerve in such a compelling way that I have to speak my mind. This is actually pretty difficult for me, because I am an opinionated person. I just choose to be careful about public response.

I also am involved in communicating on Twitter as often as I can. About 50% of the time I am watching and responding to things I read, and the rest I might comment about business, talk about coming work or more often just rattle off a thought I have at that moment because of something that has impacted me with the hopes I might help others in the same predicament.

I read a lot about the “Experts” issue, because I don’t have much choice, the group I follow are collectively people who are involved in Social Media in some business manner, but prefer that people not refer to themselves as experts. I am on the fence on this issue, primarily because noone knows who gets to set the criteria for the so called “Expert”, but there are many compelling ideas behind the concept. Do you have to be a marketing professional already? If not would some of these people qualify?

I know I am not a Social Media expert. How? Because my peers do not communicate with me on that level. In fact I don’t believe I rank on anybodys scale as a person knowledgaeble on this topic. But still, I do offer classes on the subject to local Small Businesses and I do make a small profit doing so, because my time is still worth money to someone. And more importantly, I do this for a good reason, someone needs to do it for a couple of reasons:

1. If you jump into this eyes closed, you can quickly become overwhelmed or underwhelmed. If you don’t know what to expect and some of the rules you are expected to follow (and yes folks, there are rules even if they are not posted anywhere on the sites for these tools) you will give up quickly having accomplished nothing and likely not to see the value it can bring to you.
2. I have goals that are much broader, I want to further the cause of Small Businesses like mine. It is a real struggle and has some very large ups and downs and education is a big part of how I feel I can offer something back.

Hey, I don’t have all the answers. But I’d rather do my best than do nothing. I want to believe I can help you, and I know that is a mix of my ego and my desire to be humble all jumbled up into one.

I know I have helped people, and know that I will continue to learn and pass that information forward as I can. I also believe that there is no “right” way to get involved. I teach an approach, be yourself and learn to build value to others. That is how I have grown my business before I knew a thing about Social Media! So really, I’m teaching a marketing class, or am I just teaching a class in common sense? Sometimes others just need to hear someone else say its ok before they act.

Im involved in Social Media, and you should be too. Follow the path that got you to where you are. It’s Ok!

Connecting the Global Community

I’ve read lists that go on to describe what people should look for in a Social Media expert. But really, is anybody an expert at Social Media? I think what it boils down to is simply this, people and their communication. Who is an expert? Anybody who chooses to take the time to contribute to this global informational community.

I think anybody who chooses to put themselves out there, share their thoughts, feelings and concerns takes part in this huge pot of information. It takes a lot of guts for people to share with others they don’t know and sometimes more with the people they do. I think it allows those who would normally be much more introverted to share some of their brilliance, and provide a much-needed outlet for the extroverts.

There are tools that encourage social media, and ideas that help mold and define it, ultimately it’s my opinion that there is no hard and fast definition. More likely is the idea that like anything you do in life, there is a learning curve. There are veterans who have been communicating online for many years and they have helped establish some basic guidelines, because they’ve been through many of the challenges that people new to the community will experience on their own.

I’ve seen these people challenged, which has its ups and downs. Those of us new to the game can learn some lessons. This does not mean you need to follow, nothing progresses without fresh input and ideas and a willingness to both invest in them and accept critique.

The most important lesson I’ve learned in social media is nothing more than what you would expect in life! If you expect to get something, you must first give. This is true whether your intentions for social media are strictly for personal enlightenment or more business-oriented. If your expectation is just to throw out information like a fisherman on a boat casting his line hoping for a bite, you may catch a goldfish but you’ll never catch the shark.

It’s really not that difficult folks, everybody wants to know they matter, even those that profess that they don’t care. Communication is the method by which you can help your self and others feel like they matter. If you treat people as if you could care less, you will get nothing more in return. So treat social media like you would treat your friend or your customer if they were standing right in front of you, not as if they were thousands of miles away. Care about the people and the people will make the rest happen.

But that’s just my 2 cents…