So here it is: everything that I think about social media marketing boiled down into two basic principals. Pretty powerful, isn’t it?
Well, not really, because I’m not a great principal and aphorism kind of guy. When I get worked up on a topic, I keep building and building around it, looking for just the right analogy that makes it personal, interesting and relevant.
That’s not the path to aphorisms, that’s for sure.
Still, I do have two things that I’m finding I say a lot to people when we talk about how to get comfortable with participating in social media.
The first:
Connect the way you live to the way you make a living.
Crossing this hurdle is a big step in finding a reservoir of content and interaction that helps you build a high quality social identity.
For many people of my generation, the idea of giving up privacy and opening a window on their personal life as part of their professional identity is very unnerving.
I equate it to entertaining in business colleagues in your home. I will be personal, gracious and welcoming. I want you to feel the pleasure of being in my house and to enjoy our hospitality.
I’m not inviting you up to the second floor, where a lot of the gnarly minutae of raising a family happens.
That’s a way to think about your privacy. When we are a member of a tribe, we’re known. The familiarity of the tribe creates comfort and it brings forgiveness. By connecting the way you live to the way you make a living, you are suggesting that your life is passionate, relevant and interesting.
Which leads me to the second thought:
Whatever is of interest to you will be of interest to people who are interested in you.
I commonly get asked, when I encourage people to experiment on Facebook, Twitter or with a blog, “What should I say?”
“Anything that interests you,” I suggest.
That’s the key: be interested and you’ll be interesting. Be interesting and the people who are interested in you will become engaged and involved.
In a conversation the other day, one of our smart young people observed that he’d had several connections say that they had dialed down the privacy settings so they wouldn’t see his updates on Facebook so frequently.
“What if that happens all the time,” he asked.
It’s fine, I say. They’ve engaged and made a decision. If you are being authentic and consistent, they know it. They may not want to be as engaged with your interests as you are. They may reject you on the basis of those interests, or a gap in values or a difference in interpretation. But for every person who has that conclusion, there are others who are more connected and, consequently, more loyal.
This is the kind of interaction in social media that is transforming to a personal brand and a business.
