Joseph Lapin is an associate and social media strategist at Olmstead Williams Communications.
The worst decision you can make when starting your social media campaign is not preparing a strategy beforehand. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and others all have their own language that is initially confusing. But it’s easy to fix by just doing a bit of research.
The world of social media is not complex; it’s user-friendly. So, if you’re new or just trying to brush up on your knowledge, then check out these five basic but essential rules for the social media novice.
Have Patience
When many companies start their new social media campaign, they begin with unrealistic expectations. Many people have this impression that developing a following is easy and doesn’t require a tremendous amount of work; well, these people are wrong. Many experts estimate that an excellent social-media campaign should take about three hours a day.
The world of social media is not complex; it’s user-friendly.
So, take your time when starting and focus on developing your story. Don’t rush into social media with expectations of garnering gigantic followings over night — maybe not ever. Remember, you want to connect with your audience and so using programs that find or pay for followers only gives you the appearance of success.
You want to connect to real people, and like all genuine connections, they take time to grow organically. Don’t force them. Pace yourself.
Learn to Deal with Silence and Rejection
The other day, I brought my car to the mechanic. I waited a week to get my car in the shop, because Major Muffler’s Yelp page was extraordinary. Repair, fast; bill, affordable … incredible service. I told the owner, Scott, he had an excellent Yelp page. He hadn’t even seen the page yet. Here’s what he told me: “I believe in a few things — never advertise and provide excellent service. That has been my success.” The same, in a sense, holds true for social media. If you continue to put out excellent content and not sell yourself too hard, then you will develop connections and an audience. And like all great businesses — even the mechanic — they must build those connections, and in the beginning, they deal with a lot of dead air.
Because it takes time to develop social-media relationships, this means there is going to be a lot of silence. But it’s important to continue to put yourself out there, even if it feels like you’re speaking to no one. Users on social sites are looking for connections, and by continuing to draft interesting posts, you’ll find, eventually, people start to talk back. No response, however, just means you have to try harder and create better content. Don’t stop. Just take a look at all the inactive social-media accounts out there. If you continue through the tough/silent times, then you will see results.
Be a Facilitator
The best conversations start with questions. You want to be the facilitator of conversations. Imagine that you’re hanging out in a room with a bunch of people; most likely, the person only talking about themselves doesn’t have that many friends. It’s important to remember the social aspect of conversations and become a facilitator for a larger conversation. You want to notice trends that people are talking about and pose an open-ended question to invoke discussion. And you want to limit judgment over those comments, choosing to support and continue other peoples point … even politely disagree. Remember, start with questions and facilitate conversations.
Be Real. Be Human. Avoid Robots
