The secret to social networking & social media

During a conversation with a respected colleague (an individual I met through a very niche business group), we were talking about social media and what made it work.

What was interesting was exploring what some considered to be “best practice” and others dismissed as laziness.

What was though in some quarters as being “best practice” includes:

• Creating unique content
• Creating or initiating discussion

And the following was considered lazy:

• posting information found elsewhere

Now interestingly lets look at this from a different perspective:
Creating “unique content” – is this really creation or regurgitation? Is there really “added value” in what is posted? Is this not just self promotion of the kind “look at me arn’t I wonderful”?

On the other hand if content is well researched, relevant to the audience, SHARED and value added in terms of context and source – is that really laziness?

Social media is supposed to be social (about sharing), not a broadcast. Sure there are some that create lots of new content – but that is not where the majority of people are, at least not in a sustainable way.

SHARE

Look on almost any social media site and you will see SHARE buttons.
The old saying about have two ears and one mouth – we need to use them in an appropriate ratio, is the same for social media, there is only one send/ new/ create, button on most sites, but dozen of SHARE buttons.

Twitter & relationships

Interestingly as the discussion went on, we shared experiences of one person well known in a certain business community. Both of us had experienced a negative series of interactions, where there was little in the way of reciprocity – not that is essential, but then to look at what that person was doing and the strategy was all “me..me..me”. Out of over 200+ tweets only one for a third person. No acknowledgements, support or anything.

To work effectively in this (the social media space) we agreed that the best strategy was:

• Create some new content on a regular basis
• Promote the articles of others relevant to your audience/ potential audience
• Promote the discussions and ideas of others regularly – without expectation of reciprocity
• Contribute to the discussions of others
• Acknowledge publicly the contributions of others through “likes” or comments or tweets/ g+’s
• Socail media means being social – so pick up the phone and talk to people

Share

Social media is simple – there is no one solution and we need to mention more than just the people “we do business with”

Above all, this is the “good practice” that a few people think, just because others do things differently does not make them right and this wrong. To assume there is only one solution – is really making an ass-u-me.

Whatever option your take – do what we tell all toddlers to do .. share-share-share
Mike
ps – if you do not share more than your create – get ready for the culture shock that is Google Plus!

Mike Morrison
RapidBI.com
+44 0208 2300980
RapidBI Blog

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