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Social Networking: Engage Your Ideal Audience
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
In the rush to get more followers on Facebook, LinkedIn and
Twitter many people forget an important principle: The principle
of delight.
 Bring beauty, heart and delight to your posts.
Social media expert George Kao recommends that you be your
likable self. He says that a "sub-principle" of delight could be
humor. "People post things that are cute and that are just
beautiful on FaceBook and on Twitter. Or they just post
something that's just simply touching, or give people a sense of
aliveness."
Create sticky posts.
They do that is because these kinds of things are sticky.
They stay with you. Sometimes its the most random, strange,
funny or touching things find their way into our psyche or lodge
themselves in our hearts. Some of them touch us in a "human way
that had nothing to do with sort of their professional
expertise," says Kao.
In the webinar titled
Speed Social
Networking Maximize Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter in 15 Minutes
a Day a few weeks ago, Kao discussed one of the top leaders
in the sustainability field who typically posted about about
sustainability on FaceBook, but once in awhile, he diverged
wildly....
"One time he posted a three-minute video of when his 90-year old
grandmother was visiting him. He had a bunch of friends over to
celebrate her birthday. He had her lead them in a synchronized
dance. He videotaped this and he shared it on FaceBook.
"That has nothing to do with environmental sustainability per
se, but it has everything to do with his personal brand because
people commented saying, 'Wow, what a great example of how we
can be as we grow older. We can be this vibrant and alive.'
People just felt warmer toward him. I remember that video to
this day. Delight is important."
Show you care.
The next principle to remember, according to Kao is, care. Care
is even more important than delight because if you show people
that you care, you're going to distinguish yourself from
everybody else who is focused on discussing themselves. Kao
recommends giving people a thumbs up on FaceBook. Comment on
their stuff. For Twitter retweet their tweets. Comment on their
LinkedIn status updates. Make meaningful conversation. Give
compliments.
Be relevant.
You must be both caring and relevant to a person's business or
their career. If you're not relevant it's far less likely that
you're actually going to do business together. "Be relevant; post
about your expertise and your offerings. Share resources with
people that are helpful."
Share resources.
The most important principle of all is to be a 90:10 resource to
sales. Keep this in mind when you're posting. Nine out of every
ten postings that you make should consist of sharing resources
that are helpful to other people, without trying to sell
anything.
Sell selectively.
One of the ten postings, or ten percent of your total posting
should focus on what you have to offer. "It's important to talk
about what you have to offer because otherwise people don't
know. People forget that you have that offering. So do mention
it maybe ten percent of the time," says Kao.
Practice being your best self.
Finally, authenticity and personal growth are paramount. When
Kao posts on FaceBook, he pretends that everything he posts on
his wall is public, because it can be. He actually makes it
public. "Knowing that it's public, what I do is I always try to
put my best foot forward. What happens, I've noticed, over the
years is as I put my best foot forward on these public arenas, I
actually become more and more like that.
That's true of you, too. The more you share what your best self
is, the more you actually become it." Will Rogers said something
that supports Kao. "Live in such a way that you would not be
ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." I totally
agree.
If you like these ideas that George covered in our first webinar
I invite you to join us for the second one. It's free.
Love to
see you there.
And if you'd like to know more about what George covered in our
Speed Social Networking Webinar to get up to speed before you
join us for the second one
go here.
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Susan Harrow, CEO of
http://prsecrets.com, is
a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins),
The
Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah, and
Get a 6-
Figure Book Advance. Clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, bestselling authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on
Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade,
People, O, NY Times, WSJ, and Inc. |
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