Keys to Social Media - Create. Connect. Engage.
I've been
looking at how different people are using social media in their
communication strategies and I've come to realize there are three main
element that are necessary for success - Content creation, connecting
to your followers and engaging with them.
Social media is really about creating and sharing content. You create tweets people look forward to reading. Blogs that are chock full of good opinions or great content. Without creating value through content all you're doing is talking to yourself.
The whole point of social media is to generate a following. You want people to follow you and think you are a rock star. But that is just level of connection. You want people to connect with your message, connect with your passions and become passionate about you. You want followers to become fans and then become your supporters. Another level of connection is to connect your followers with other people you feel they can grow connections with. You need to be the conduit by which other people are inspired by. Kim Werker summed it up brilliantly on Twitter: @kpwerker Epiphany: Screw self promotion. Promote others. End of story. Pass it on.
So you got great content, links fly out of your mouse. You've got followers and fans. Now what? Engage and be engaging. Ask questions, solve problems, comment, pat backs, get involved. Social media is social after all. If you're just blowing out posts talking about how awesome you are, that gets boring. Picture yourself as the host of a fabulous party and its your job to keep it interesting.
Create
Social media is really about creating and sharing content. You create tweets people look forward to reading. Blogs that are chock full of good opinions or great content. Without creating value through content all you're doing is talking to yourself.
Connect
The whole point of social media is to generate a following. You want people to follow you and think you are a rock star. But that is just level of connection. You want people to connect with your message, connect with your passions and become passionate about you. You want followers to become fans and then become your supporters. Another level of connection is to connect your followers with other people you feel they can grow connections with. You need to be the conduit by which other people are inspired by. Kim Werker summed it up brilliantly on Twitter: @kpwerker Epiphany: Screw self promotion. Promote others. End of story. Pass it on.
Engage
So you got great content, links fly out of your mouse. You've got followers and fans. Now what? Engage and be engaging. Ask questions, solve problems, comment, pat backs, get involved. Social media is social after all. If you're just blowing out posts talking about how awesome you are, that gets boring. Picture yourself as the host of a fabulous party and its your job to keep it interesting.
I have people on my Twitter who only talk about how great they are, and "look what I'm doing! Isn't it great?" all the time. And I mean ALL. THE. TIME. They're the ones who are constantly signing up for meaningless online awards and asking people to vote for them, as though those awards are some measure of their abilities. They call the local newspapers to write stories about themselves just because (it's one thing if you've got something extraordinary going on, but just publishing a pattern isn't enough to alert the media). Ack, it gets old quick. There's nothing engaging about constant, in-your-face self-promotion. I think it's OK to promote yourself, but promote others too.
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Self-promotion is a very tricky thing to get right. There is a fine line between obnoxious and confidence. I really think, especially on Twitter, that actions speak louder than words. The rock stars in the Twitterverse rarely if ever say "Look at me I'm awesome!" They show their rock-star-ness in being authentic, in engaging, in being engaging, by being real and authentic.
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