The "Secret" to Social Media

Helping people
design a useful Social Media internet strategy to generate interest and reach
for their business is what I’m all about. 
And since most of my clients weren’t born with a smartphone in their hands,
there are usually a few key points to clear up about Social Media right from
the beginning.  After all, Social Media
is a relatively new topic.  Or is it?

If you step back
and take a look how information moves in Social Media, it’s quite different than
“Traditional Media.”   Back in the day, most
people got their information from newspapers or magazines.  The direction of information is from the few
(the writer or publisher) down to the many. 
We’ve all seen this in action in our daily lives, maybe to the point of
not even noticing it anymore.  Got a
favorite newspaper columnist or TV show host?  
One single person communicating to possibly millions of people with
little interaction between the communicator and the listeners.

As we step into
the Social Media arena, the direction and flow of information is between the readers and the
writers.  The interaction (thanks to the
internet) tends to be instant and the ripple effect from this sharing of information
can spread far and wide.  With the users
of Social Media able to contribute news and information to anyone willing to
listen, we now have a conversation.  Just
like the conversations you are already having at the local coffeeshop or at
work.

The recent buzzing
and tittering by the media about Twitter and Social Media in general, it’s no
wonder business owners may feel forced into using these internet-based
communication tools, or perhaps miss sales opportunities their competition is getting
instead of them.  Not being familiar with
the landscape, many make that sometimes fatal error of confusing Social Media
with traditional advertising.

But remember:
traditional advertising is the few pushing out information to the many.   No matter how you dress it up, advertising
never was and never will be the same thing as a conversation.  Advertising flows up and down, and
conversations flow back and forth.  If
you are blasting everyone you know on social media with your marketing or business
message continuously, ask yourself:  who
am I talking to?  If the answer is
everyone at once, you might be advertising mode unintentionally. 

Don’t get me
wrong, it’s OK to let everyone know what you are doing in general.  You’ve gotten those letters at Christmas
where a relative runs off a bunch of copies of the family “newsletter” and
sends it to everyone?  I like reading
those.  It’s just an update, a catch-up
session.   But when 90% of the people
connecting to me on Twitter are saying the same message (“Want to get 16,000
followers on Twitter?” sound familiar?), we’ve crossed over that thin line
between conversing and advertising.

So what’s the
secret to this Social Media thing?   It IS faster than mailing a letter or a
postcard.  More interactive than TV.   Cheap
to boot!  Seems like the perfect
advertising tool.   But to use Social Media as just another
advertising channel misses the hidden power of Social Media.  What is that hidden power?  It’s so painfully visible, so obvious.  It’s something I call “Commonality.”

 It’s where you and I share a common interest,
or have similar background.   It’s liking
the same funny movie, or both growing up in the South with fried chicken, or having
visited the same restaurant in Europe.  It boils down to this:  if you and I have something in common (no
matter what it is), we understand each other better to that degree.

If you have a
pet dog, and I have a pet dog, we instantly understand each other that much
more, and, to the degree that we understand each other, we are enabled to
create a personal, lasting, and genuine friendship.  Social Networks facilitate this instant
understanding because you can share so many aspects of yourself in a quick
glance. 

Ever get a
friend request on Facebook from someone that doesn’t even have their picture
posted and hardly anything listed on their profile?  Little hard to cozy up to, isn’t it?   Kind of like getting a “friend” request from
a statue.  Cold.

Social Media is
a breeze, really.  Express who you
are.  Make it personal (but not TOO
personal!).  The more you describe
yourself, or rather, profile yourself, on these social networks, the more
aspects there are to resonate with for someone who doesn’t yet know you.  I know I prefer to do business with someone I
like and trust.   Would you like and
trust someone you’d never met before, but who showed up on your door with a
slick advertising message?  Didn’t think
so. 

Does all this
seem hard?  It’s not, because if you have
already been in business (and thus sales) in any capacity, you’ve already been
using Social Media.  Ever strike up a
conversation with someone at an after-hours party?  Did they eventually ask you what you do for a
living?  If you have, you’ve already got
practice in Social Media.  I’ll bet
you’ve even gotten a few new customers that way.  Now it’s just a matter of moving that same
conversation to an online platform like Facebook or MySpace. It’s the
individual and friendly (another word for social) conversations that will
forward your business message, because people will like you, and even more
importantly, understand you on a level they aren’t even aware of themselves.  Powerful stuff.

Social Media
Networks are a fun, useful way to share the individual that is you with the
rest of the world.  The steps to
participating are as follows:  Join,
listen to the conversations  that are
already happening, participate where you are interested or can be useful to
others, give where you can, and be prepared to receive what others give you in
return.   In this way you can organically
build a genuine community of new friends, customers and goodwill that may last
a lifetime, no matter what business you may find yourself in down the road.