“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” (Warren Buffet)
Great quote from a very wise and successful man, who has seen this play out in many different ways over many years!
The questions I get asked most frequently, when working with people on their brand marketing and social marketing strategy is, “How do I build a following and build my reputation?” and, “How do I get people to comment and re-tweet?”
I have been a student of the social space and platforms, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for about awhile now. I observe and pay attention to the people that have large followings and influence for the right reasons.
“There are people who have huge fans and followers but they are not authentic to me and I have no interest in their “shtick.” Wish ‘em well, just don’t want them cluttering up my stream.”
The social media mentors I respect come from different arenas and all kind of say the same thing. Be authentic and real, create useful content, be consistent, engage in the conversation and give more than you ask. This was easy for me to embrace, as my personality and personal philosophy aligned very well with this.
So, spring of 2009, I dove off the board into the social media playground pool! I have always loved the park, pool and playground, so this was fun for me. Here I am two years later and I am still a student, but I’ve gone from junior high to high school! I loved high school too. Did you?
Here are some of my insights and some of the things I have learned that have helped me make amazing connections, grow my reach and business and have a whole lot of fun sharing ideas and learning from others.
1. Be yourself so if we met in person, you’d be the same as you are online.
The social media world is one dimensional, but you can make yourself multi-dimensional. Writing for social media sites is very different than writing a “term paper.” A more personal approach to writing, more experiential writing works really well. Write how you converse. Practice and study other successful bloggers and web writers.
2. Be more interested in others than yourself, it multiplies.
Let people know you care about them, their issues and challenges. “Here’s what I can do to help…” is a powerful connector. Sharing, serving and giving good, useful and pertinent information to help them solve problems goes a long way.
3. Give people glimpses of your personal world.
Getting to know each other on many levels is what builds the foundation for personal relationships. Letting people know what you do, stand for and believe in is certainly important, but what foods you like, favorite places you’ve traveled to and books you recommend, some fun pictures about your family can really give people a well rounded glimpse of you and your world. Careful though about what and how much you share. Remember, though, how viral the web is and you can’t delete or erase it!
4. Get to know your followers and what matters to them.
OK, So you have 1,000′s of friends and followers! Do you know anything about them? Survey them for their demographics and psychographics. Get to know what they need from you and let them know how they can help you. This is “social, mutual” media right?
5. Collaborate and hook people up.
I have found this to be one of my most effective was to build trust. I connect and hook people up regularly. I simply introduce people via e-mail introduction, state the synergy I sense and let them take it from there! Try it, it works!
6. Temper your humor and anger. (This is the 5 minutes to ruin it part.)
Hey, I love a great joke and some edgy language, but I don’t need anything really off color or any profanity to get my attention. Careful here and remember again you can’t delete or erase this. One click and it’s on the web for what could be a very long and tedious time.
7. Be consistent and show up.
Be a kid in the playground. Show up, get to know the other kids, let them know what position you play best to help the team, acknowledge when others make a great play, and play your heart out when you get picked to play!
8. Give and receive.
Lot’s of people are comfortable with giving to others but not allowing others to give to them. This is one area I have really improved on. When people ask me how they can help me, and I know they are coming from a genuine place, I accept their invitation and allow them the pleasure of giving and me receiving. Try it!
9. Provide solutions, options and answers that have worked for you or others.
The rule with social media, which is kind of unspoken is 4 to 1. Four posts or tweets where you give and provide information that provides solutions to problems or challenges and one promoting yourself. Sell, sell, sell is a sure way to get hidden, un-followed or un-friended.
10. Spread hope and positivity.
We all benefit from others sharing their successes, silent heroes, triumphs and lessons, especially now. Do share yours and others that you have found!
Now…take your online connections offline and get personal! Time to get out of the pool and dry myself off in some sunshine. (I live in Florida.)
If I can help you build your brand reputation strategy, call me!
Deborah Shane is the chief motivator, educator and catalyst of the professional development consulting company, Train With Shane.
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Great post, thanks. I have just gotten our business into the social media thing and want to build on it. I am not a sociallite by nature but I am apparently good at talking to people because of the number of customers that keep coming back to me. I will try to do this from the perspective of trying to get feedback from my customers to see what is most important to them then maybe expand on that. I’ve tried to anticipate our cusomers needs (in the context of our business) and I think we do pretty well at that but onward and upward. My concern is the amount of time it will take to “socialize”.
Mark, block in time each day as you do for other things and do more ‘smart socializing’. Qualify the why and who.
Love these tips! While saturating the internet with one aspect of yourself might seem right, strategic content and delivery is especially crucial. For job seekers, aim to show potential employers that you are a well-rounded person as well as a phenomenal worker.
Great tips and ideas here. For job seekers, show an “entrepreneurial mindset”-leadership, initiative, team player, go to and count on person. Share what you would do in various work situations to give them a glimpse of “you” on the job.
You say “Sell, sell, sell’ and you get unfriended or unfollowed? What does that mean? I thought the entire point to getting a career was to sell yourself and show what you can do so well. This does not make any sense to me. I guess I am backwards. That’s Asperger Syndrome for ya. Oh, and I’m typing like a speak. I talk like this with my friends.
Sandbar, thanks for your honesty! Selling yourself is about presenting your personal brand in a way that shows how you think, your values, potential, skills and intangibles. Learn more about who you are selling yourself to and share ideas that can help them and their company.
As always, nice post. I think if everyone tried to live by these rules they would see a dramatic increase in the opportunities in their life – both professionally and personally.
Thanks Andrew, being real, sincere and sharing good info goes a long way today!
I like your 4:1 guideline. I’ve never quantified it, but heavy posters (except @tweetmyjobs, etc.) are quickly unfollowed on Twitter.
Alan, thanks for the comment. It’s not anything written in stone, just a ‘best practice’ that seem to work..serve more sell too..