I saw a tweet the other day where someone said social media was designed to make connections and not just sell, and he was pretty animated about it. I can understand why because in a desire to drive sales, a good number of people have forgotten that it is engagement that drives the medium. Listen as this week’s podcast explores how you can begin to put more social in your media.
I think what the guy was trying to say is that social media alone will not take the place of interactions or to use a popular term engagement. There is almost an arms race going on to get followers or drive home a point and connecting with the people you are trying to reach is forgotten. Too often the focus is on getting up to critical mass in terms of followers or likes; only to discover later how shallow your reach is when you start a campaign of some sort, and no one is really listening. The app “Klout” may not be fool proof but it does give an indication of if people are taking note of what you send out. Mashable did a perfect parody of what I mean by comparing what people share to a high school year book.
Social media was designed to help you connect with living, breathing human beings. You get the chance to interact and learn from people while developing connections. This is important because humans are pack animals and the deeper your connection to your pack the greater their loyalty. That is the social part of social media, to be able to provide positive personal experiences to people in many forms and cause them to want to buy your product or listen to your advice.
Any sales person worth their salt will tell you that the best advertising is a personal recommendation where a friend tells a friend and in the social media context sends a tweet, mentions it on Facebook, uploads a photo to instagram, or mentions you in a blog post. This doesn’t mean you need to comment on everything you encounter, but every now and then let someone know you appreciated their attention beyond the usual, and believe me they will return the favor in droves.
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