Social Media, by nature, is not an intimate space. Considering the level of exposure that can occur online, however, it is realized that it can be a very vulnerable space, particularly if left untended. Our ability to be open and honest, in a way that communicates and connects with people on a more intimate level, the more we can manage how we are perceived by the online audience. Just because it is not an intimate space by nature, does not mean we cannot create a sense of intimacy.
Simple Translation:
Let the personality of the social media manager (or yourself) also engage your audience in personable and human ways – sharing common traits and interests that connect people. This intersperses the marketing messages, bringing the human relationship into the online space you manage, and becomes a more inviting and recognizable space as a community forms.
Alternative:
The caution here is to not overdo the marketing and selling. If all we do is push products and services, our relevance can become stale quickly, as people tire of seeing the same thing repeatedly. If you haven’t time to manage the space and contribute more than what you sell, spread your message out more over time. Don’t flood it repeatedly. This will help it remain fresh when it does appear.
This idea of building a website and seeing orders pour in seems to be a predominant perspective in a lot of businesses. I encounter, at times, a comment that negates the value of a company’s website by saying we have no internet sales. And yet, I wonder how many people phoned because they saw the company website?
Choosing friends out of a crowd. One of the most difficult things about building a large network on facebook, is actually keeping up with close personal friends; particularly when it comes to sharing.
Now the real good news: Take a look at the screen image and you’ll also notice at the top “Close Friends” and “Acquaintances” which gives you even more personal control. Sometimes, when you post something – you don’t because you realize your audience is too vast and too wide. Yet, you wish you could share something very intimate with your closest audience.
Now when you post something that is more personal for the general audience, you simply change the option for who can see your post to your “Close Friends” and keep it intimate.
Seeing your friend list grow to large numbers can be fun, exciting, and rewarding. It can also get very noisy! Viewing your HomeFeed, status updates, videos, photos, and links zip by at alarming rates of change, and you rarely get a full view of what is really going on in your own community. Here’s the good news: You can quiet the noise. And it doesn’t mean you have to ‘unfriend’ all those people in your network either.
Dropbox
With coffee in hand I sit at my computer ready to tackle my incoming email and catch up on my social media spaces. Two tabs are open in my browser when it starts; one is Facebook, the other is my Gmail inbox.
It is quickly becoming conventional wisdom for professionals to realize the importance of establishing and maintaining a robust and communicative online profile. As has become the case with searching for knowledge of all manner and type, most individuals go first to the Internet – and of those, approximately 85%, go to Google to get the information they need. It’s no different for recruiters, hiring managers, potential employers or contractors, and other stakeholders who need to carefully examine the history, qualifications, and relevant attributes of alleged talent with whom there is potential to forge a professional relationship.
If you haven’t already, now is a critical time to get your social media (SM) checklist going, reviewed and implemented to make your 2011 a successful networking year.