Four Simple Steps to Solid Social Media Relationships

When it comes to establishing and maintaining relationships via your Social Media profiles, there are really only FOUR STEPS:

 

1. Find people interested in your products or services

2. Post content not adverts, e.g. articles, blogs, comments, etc.

3. Capture information with an ethical bribe for their name & email address, e.g. a free e-book

4.  Stay in touch and create a valuable exchange with Newsletters, webinars, how to videos, etc.

Social Media Fatigue | Chris Brogan

One of the biggest pushbacks I hear from people when I talk about how wonderful I think Google+ will be for business professionals is that they’re tired. They’re tired of joining a new social network. They’re tired of going through the dance of re-adding their friends and connections on yet another platform. They’re tired of having to think up even more content for yet another platform, after having finally committed to Facebook or Twitter or wherever else.

Social Media Fatigue

For a lot of people, the fatigue comes from that sense that they’re doing all the work, but not seeing the results. For another group, it’s that feeling that we’ve all done this before, so why do it again? For others, it’s just that we’re getting to the point where we feel maybe that we’ve shared all we can think of sharing, and we’re tired of rehashing the same old things over and over again.

Are any of these you?

Wake Up

Writing about social media can be boring. Writing about how to empower people, however, is pretty much always interesting. Telling people the same old thing on Google+ that you’d have shared on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn is about as boring as it sounds. Maybe try doing something new with the platform. On an absolutely random post about eating the Swedish meatballs at IKEA, I got a comment back from writer and all around interesting thinker, Jeff Jarvis, about how he not only likes the Swedish meatballs, but he admits to liking Taco Bell. For whatever reason, I came away from the experience thinking, “Huh, I wouldn’t normally get into these conversations, inane as they are, on the other social networks. I wonder why I’ve given myself permission to do so here.”

Wake up. We can all find new ways to talk about social media by NOT TALKING ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA. (Queue the Fight Club comments.) The thing is this: we’re using these tools to enable new connections. We’re using them to make different kinds of business happen. We’re using these tools to help causes that matter, and so much more.

It’s Your Choice

Look at your last 20 posts on any social network, and/or your blog. What are you talking about? Do you find yourself interesting? What else could you talk about instead? What would really change the nature of the conversation? How could you move from “talking about what everyone else is talking about” into talking about what’s next, what’s new, what’s personal, what’s helpful?

Make Your Own Media

These tools let you tell the stories you want to tell. They let you make something meaningful to you, to your business, to your pursuits. Nothing dictates how you use the tools to be your own media platform except your imagination and your ability to create. With that in mind, think up a few ways you might want to put these tools to use to tell the stories you want to tell.

• If you’re a real estate professional, why not bring the neighborhoods you’re selling to life in stories and videos.
• If you’re a freelance photographer, share the stories behind the photos.
• If you’re a corporate blogger, tell us the passionate stories behind the big official posts.
• If you’re writing just for your own passion, show us what you’re passionate about.
• If you’re someone selling something, tell us the stories around that product or service.

The opportunity is for us to make something interesting and worthwhile, to be helpful, to empower others, to encourage and inspire others. If we’re fatigued, let’s all wake up.

I’ll do it too, okay?

Related posts:

1. Free eBook on Social Media and Social Networks
2. Social Media WrapUp-August
3. Mapping Social Media Uses
4. The Biggest Secret of Social Media
5. What are Your Social Media Tasks

About

Chris Brogan is President of Human Business Works, helping (mostly larger) companies with customer acquisition and community nurturing by amplifying the human digital channel. Learn More.

All contents Creative Commons licensed. ChrisBrogan.com.

Social Media is word of mouth

I provide a social media and blog writing service for a number of my clients. Social Media is the online equivalent of word of mouth which to me really encapsulates its usefulness to businesses. 10 years ago it would have been enough just to have a website, but these days this expectation has, in my experience, been surpassed by social media. If for example you want to research a company, you usually look online. If a company doesn’t have an online presence beyond their website it’s easy to view this as a negative thing, rightly or wrongly. So if you feel that a social media presence would be beneficial but you’re unsure how to go about it without spending a small fortune or simply lack the time and inclination, get in touch today.

Quick Question: What content do you share on your Social Media channels, e.g. Facebook?

Thanks to everybody for the Facebook support

Thanks to everybody for the support via Facebook ‘likes’ – here is my new url: http://www.facebook.com/dorsetpa