Social Media - 'It's about being social'

As I meet with small business owners about their social media, I'm often asked, 'How often should I post?'   To me there are no clear cut answers to that question.

Here is Wikipedia's definition of the word 'Social' -

The Wikipedia definition of Social - The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms as applied to populations of humans and other animals. It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.

So, to me, being social means interacting with others.  It's not all about how often we post.  When planning a social media strategy for business, I advise the following:

1.  Post relevant information about your industry, i.e. links to articles, stats, humor, etc.  People crave information and if you are perceived as the person who is helpful and knows their industry they are more apt to turn to you when they need your services or to refer you.
2.  Plan time to read and interact with others, both individuals and businesses.  Like their posts.  Comment on their posts.  Share what is relevant.  It shows others that you are paying attention and you care.  This is important to developing the relationship.
3.  Limit direct posts about your business to 1 of about 4 to 5 informational posts.  Posting to much direct information about your business comes across as being a pushy sales person.
4.  Be conversational.  Ask questions.  Do a survey.  Get your readers/fans involved.
5.  To gain loyalty, build relationships, and to gain more followers, if appropriate, offer specials from time to time.  However, use caution.  Make it about your followers/fans and less about you and your business.

I like to think of 'Social Media' as an online networking.  We go to networking events to meet people, get to know them, build the relationship, and hopefully eventually do business with them.  So, it's not about how often we post, it's also about the interaction and relationship building.

I hope that you find this helpful.  Your views, comments, and insights are welcomed and appreciated.

In appreciation,
Annette

Social Media and Relationships

Image by HubSpot via Flickr

Are you tapping into the Social Media market?  Are you having success?  Or are you still wondering how to make social media work for you.

Building relationships online is not to much different from building an in person, face to face relationship.  Here are a few tips that I think will go along way to foster and build good long lasting mutual benefiting online relationship.

-  Think about meeting someone in person.  You are either introduced or you introduce yourself.  Meeting someone online should not be any different.  So why do people not add a message on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter,etc. to introduce themselves when requesting to connect and/or be your friend?  Unless it is totally obvious* a brief message only takes a few seconds and gets the relationship off on the right foot.  (*Just because you and someone else have 42 mutual friends does not mean a person wants to add you to their network.)

-  So someone accepts your friend request, what do you do?  Do you say thank you?  It would be a nice gesture and it starts to engage your new acquaintance.   By doing this, you are extending your hand in friendship.  To me this is equal to the in person handshake.  

- Ever heard the term, 'to have a friend, you have to be a friend.'  Friends help each other.  Offer your new acquaintance something of value.  Do a little research to find out their interests.  Share some information, link, article, etc. that relates to their interest. This furthers engages your new acquaintance.

-  Show you care.  Make positive comments regarding their posts.  Visit their website (if they have one) and/or their blog.  Sign their guest book.  Comment on their latest blog.  This shows that you really care and are interested in them.

-  Keep in touch.  One of the features that I like on Facebook is the one that shows me a  friend's page that hasn't posted in a while.  It's a good opportunity to  drop by their page to say hello, check in, make sure that everything is OK in their world.

These are just a few things that can be done to build online relationships.  I believe using old fashion manners, i.e. 'nice to meet you, please, and thank you,' etc. will go a long way in building long lasting mutual benefiting online relationships.

Please share with us what other things you have found that have helped you to build relationships online?

Here are my links:

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/paintedladyenterprises

Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/paintedladyenterprises

Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/paintedladyent

Send me a note, please, when you send your request. ;)

In appreciation,
Annette
Painted Lady Enterprises
"Helping You and Your Business Look Good'

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