Social Media is like a Cocktail Party
In the ‘old days’ if we wanted to participate in marketing, we may have put an ad in the paper or on the radio, and if we wanted to meet someone we would have gone out on the town. Boy how things have changed! Now everything is ‘Facebook Me’ and LinkedIn profiles and Tweety Bird…oh no – Twitter! (lol). For those of you who don’t know (and I’m sure there’s still some out there – lol means ‘laugh out loud’.)!
So how do those of us who may be ‘old school’ participate in Social Media in an effort to enhance business performance? Well, first – if you’re not currently involved – you should be. Times they are a changin’ and it’s never going to go back to the simplicity of the ‘good old days’.
Second, there is a great analogy that’s been very helpful to many people in regards to the use of Social Media for Marketing, and it is that ‘Social Media is like a Cocktail Party’. This means that though the online social world is very different – it is much the same as it relates to etiquette and manners of a real-life social scene. For example, when conversing online you should:
1. Listen more than you speak. This is a good rule of thumb in general, but it definitely applies to Social Media. You don’t want to jump in and start telling everyone how great you are, and that they should buy your product and/or services, similar to how you wouldn’t walk into a cocktail party and yell, “I have arrived – and I’m the guy you’ve been looking for!”
2. Seek to start relationships by being friendly, not pushy. Follow the ‘know, like, trust’ factor.
- People have to know you before they will like you;
- They have to like you before they will trust you;
- And they will buy from you (and recommend you to others) only after the first two (know and like) have taken place.
3. Give input only when you have good input to give. Constantly giving people information they don’t want and/or didn’t ask for will only lead them to block or worse - un-friend you! Pay attention to the conversations others are having, and seek to become a resource.
Ultimately Social Media will never provide instant gratification in the way of marketing and increased business. It is instead a great place to meet people, nurture relationships, and much later do business with them. If you approach it with this mindset you’ll be better prepared and equipped to use it to your advantage in the long run.