Many styles of engagement exist in social media. From pure content marketing to commenting on every post, we see many companies and personalities successfully market. I gravitate towards thanking and serving.
There is no absolute right way.
One thing I have learned over the years about social: The most important thing is to represent your personality authentically.
The more manufactured the interaction, the less likely your personal presence or corporate culture will resonate with online stakeholders.
Applied that means I won’t be the most prolific commenter.
Like Mitch Joel, I prefer to start conversations and listen, adding additional thoughts when there’s more to say. It’s about spreading and developing ideas.
I also know that my mercurial personality can cause more fire than necessary in a situation, so I try to restrain myself on and off line.
Instead, I rely on thanking and serving people online. Let’s dive deeper.
Thank People
Gary Vaynerchuk nailed it with The Thank You Economy. Thanking people is an essential and timeless skill.
It requires you to be unselfish and conscious that people have invested in you with as small of an act as a comment or a tweet, or as significant an act as a meeting (time) or business (money). Acknowledging that investment lets the person know you appreciate what they did. You care. This is people skills 101.
Conversely, not thanking people represents an act of selfishness, in my opinion.
I definitely notice when someone doesn’t thank me for regular contributions. It makes me not want to come back.
I may not plant the best “comment daisies” in the social garden, but I can surely thank people as often as possible for participating in conversations with me. After all, they invested social capital in the effort.
Beth Kanter remains one of the best thankers I have ever met. She is amazing!
Serve People
Image by Villa Del Mar Turks & Caicos
One of the other things I do well is listen and try to understand my stakeholders. Then I like to give them content to meet their needs.
Some people call this inbound marketing, but I think it goes beyond just publishing content on a web site.
In particular, I like throwing events, taking photos, penning books, writing blog posts, and curating links – all to hopefully add value to my stakeholders’ business or personal lives.
Like thanking, this practice extends beyond social media.
When I follow up on a sales lead, I don’t call and ask how it’s going. I send them something valuable like a story or resource to prove that having me (or my company) in their business life is one of the most worthwhile decisions they can make.
When you add value to people’s lives, they want you in it. Make a difference for people, and be of service to them. Help them succeed.
It’s no coincidence that these approaches are basic networking principles that work both on and offline. If it works offline, it usually works in social media, too.
What’s your online social style?
I share your perspective on this, Geoff – and adding value is a critical part in how I approach my writing and my content. While I’ve made it part of my routine to publish daily (with an occasional missed post ;)), that schedule also forces me to be on top of my game and produce content that I’m proud to publish and respects the time of my readers.
Yeah, we do have a lot of similar habits online. I do write every day, but not here. I write three or four posts a week here, and then guest elsewhere. As the MiR guest posting winds down, I think I’ll probably turn to more private writing again. It’s hard to be public and yet write what you want to, eh?
Thanks for the comment!
Aye, we do see eye to eye on quite a few things. It’s why we’re friends!
Like you, I write daily – but nothing everything gets published. I’ve been a serious journaler since high school – and I’ve kept every single one. :)
Thought provoking as usual, Geoff. I have noticed that some companies that used to be thankers are no longer thanking people for mentions, retweets, and comments. I assume it must be a resource/volume thing.
Personally, I try to add value (and often some humor) to my retweets and comments, highlighting a specific point made by the article that I found to be true. As my business alter ego, Left Field Social, I tend to be a little more reserved and focus on passing along good advice my clients can use.
That kills me. Talk about building an expectation and that letting the customer down. I only am me online right now, which makes things easier. I don’t envy folks like you who have to maintain two presences…
I share the same ideals with you, Geoff! It may look insignificant for other countries but yeah it does make a difference. Letting your client feel special and spreading how grateful you are fosters great relationship and thus better business progress.
I share the same ideals with you, Geoff! It may look insignificant for other countries but yeah it does make a difference. Letting your client feel special and spreading how grateful you are fosters great relationship and thus better business progress.
I agree with you Geoff! So many of us, and I fall into this category as well, really forget to show our genuine gratitude. Thank YOU for the reminder!
I am as guilty as anyone, too. But wanting to rebuild my blog has made me appreciate how important everyone really is!
Absolutely – it’s funny how involved we are in social media yet most of the time we forget to be ‘social’, which gratitude is a part of. I’ve written about this myself at my blog: strategic propositions. Looking forward to reading more of your posts Geoff!
Very simple, and very timeless advice. When I first started using social media I was obsessed with the latest metrics on when to post, how much to post, how to write engaging leads to ensure a higher click through rate etc.
Then I started going back to my organizing roots and just interacting with people, saying thank you, making the time to give them a phone call, tell them I liked what they were doing, and sending things I think might be helpful.
Metrics are important. It’s nice to know that mid week is a good time for a new blog post, or that social media is more active over the weekends. But if you’ve built up a dynamic, vibrant network built upon your reciprocity, gratitude, and helpfulness, you can post at 2am every other Monday, and probably do a lot better than someone who has learned how to game the system.
Great post Geoff. Often times, it’s as easy as a simple reminder of saying “please” and “thank you” that carries a lot of weight.