A few weeks ago, I talked about how it doesn’t really matter who follows you on Twitter. What is most important is your content. Today I’m going to discuss conversations, an important part of content in any form of social media.
Step back from social media for a moment and think about conversations you have in person. What do you do when you see a good movie? You share, right? Or if you read an article that makes you think? Again, you share and talk about it. When you hear a friend is sick, you reach out with encouragement.
All of these things work in social media and should be part of a good presence. Remember my post where I talked about “1/3, 1/3, 1/3?” Let’s apply that to conversations.
In a networking conversation, someone might ask what you do. Or you might want to share a recent accomplishment. But you won’t spend all of your time talking about yourself, at least not if you want anyone to continue talking to you.
If you spend about 1/3 of your time talking about yourself, that’s not a bad ratio, in both social media and face to face.
Again, at a networking event, you might hear a need and connect two people who can help each other. You might talk about another networking event or a great book you just read. It might be appropriate for you to make a plug for one of your trusted vendors.
You can do all the same things in social media, where you share articles, refer others, promote vendors or other great accounts to follow.
Okay, I’ve been talking about conversation in this post, so what do I mean here? I mean just talking. Did someone just win an award? Congratulate her, just to be friendly. Ask a question. Answer a question. Tell a joke. Laugh at someone’s else’s joke. Discuss something you really enjoy. Chat about a movie you just saw.
Some people tell me that they want an absolute barrier on social media between business and personal. Why? Ultimately, we do business with people not businesses. Why can’t we learn a bit about you as a human being? Use some sensible discretion. Don’t over share, but it’s okay to give us a view of who you are. If we like you, we’ll do business with you. If we don’t? Well, we won’t, and that’s okay. We probably weren’t a good client anyway.
So what do you think? Ready to go out there and have some conversations, both online and in person?