It is impossible at this point in time to say one has not heard of social media. In fact, most of us hear about it so much that it has us quivering in our beds, covers over our heads, possibly even wishing the whole thing would go away.
I hate to be the one to tell you this but… it’s not going away.
However, it is my experience that most people are going about this whole social media thing in a way that is guaranteed to terrify them.
If you feel you need to jump on the computer and add whatever the latest thing is as soon as you’ve heard about it just to make sure you don’t fall off the hamster wheel of connections in cyberspace, you are going about it in a way that is guaranteed to make you nuts.
Let’s all take a breath here.
What is the point of social media? To be SOCIAL, right? And what does that mean? To connect and make new friends, acquaintances and alliances, right?
If I ran into a party, totally out of breath, and flung a bunch of business cards in your face, looked at my watch and said, “Oh Shit! I am really late” and then ran out without even saying hello to you, you wouldn’t really think much of me, would you?
Exactly. But this is what many of us do with social media, just in the hopes that more exposure is better exposure. Not true.
Most of us have learned this through networking… better to make a few contacts we’ve had a real conversation with and can connect with again later, than to simply hand out our cards to everyone in sight, right?
Social media is the same way. Here’s how to make the most of it in 5 simple steps:
- Know where your audience hangs out. Think about your demographic and what service they are likely to use. Teens and the younger set? MySpace. College-aged up through 40+ adults? Facebook. Professionals with extensive networks who want to stay more pro and less personal? Linked in. Cocktail party-style free-for-all? Twitter. Start where your people are. You don’t have to do it all.
- Spend at least a few weeks on your first sign-up service to master it before moving on to the next. It’s better to really know a service and make great connections on it than to feel spread out and crazy on twenty different ones. Think depth not breadth.
- Do chat with people on the service. If you walked into the middle of a party and began with a monologue at high volume entitled, “Hey everybody, listen to me, I am telling you about my day,” you probably wouldn’t make many friends, would you? Look at the threads of conversation and chime in when you have something to say. Reading blogs is a great way to start. When you like a post, be sure to comment and thank the author. It means a lot to them, and they’ll be more likely to come over to your site and check you out than if you beg them to look at your business info.
- Don’t use any service you hate. People can tell. If you hate twitter, or blogging, then don’t do them, no matter what some fancy SEO article tells you. It’s far better to do things you are excited about. If that’s just an e-mail newsletter once a month that you adore, start with that. There is nothing worse than a half-hearted blog that’s abandoned after a few posts. This will hurt your image, not enhance it. Follow your passion. Trust me.If you hate to write, a podcast could be just the ticket. Or a vlog. You don’t have to write to communicate. Talking and filming are fantastic as well.
- Have fun! Many of us seem to feel guilty that being an entrepreneur means we get to think about a topic we love all day and play with lots of cool technology while doing it. I know I sometimes suffer from this. Don’t torture yourself. Read blogs and articles and books you love and then share the info with these fun tools. It’s really just a way to make the party bigger.
If you’d like to learn more, jump in on the P2P course I am teaching on December 2, Becoming a Social Butterfly.
Hope to see you there!
Caroline Donahue is a P2P expert for SMARTY and founder of Remabulous Coaching, and helps entrepreneurs and business owners create compelling and authentic media to drive traffic and attract fantastic clients and customers. Her website is www.remabulouscoaching.com
