Saturday, March 14, 2009

Personal Media - Nah - Social Media Sounds Better

Tonight on Twitter I was reviewing profiles of new connections made throughout the day.  I always check out profiles of those following me, and read their tweets before following them.  I generally try to RT at least one post for each new person that I follow.  I came across this one tonight:

@joelcomm tweets to @GrowMap "Without personal touch, you limit the social in social media" 

And to that I say... 

Really!  SOCIAL Media... Say that again... SOCIAL Media.  Be personal - be social!

I have to say, I'm very much enjoying really digging into Twitter and getting to know some really fabulous people!  Once you engage others in conversation and take a genuine interest in what other people have to say - rather than what you can get out of it - you'll be hooked!

I almost feel bad - I seem to get out of it, more than I feel I give, but at the same time, others are ReTweeting my goodies, and I got some great shout outs today for #followfriday!  It's humbling and so very much appreciated.  I only hope I can give back ten-fold!

I really don't know what I have to offer, but I know that I enjoy chatting with and listening to what others have to share.  I'm finding the more I listen, the more I am heard.  Amazing really.

Your personal touches can go such a long way in Social Media, so long as they are sincere.  Insincerity in social networking is spotted a mile away!  Maybe you do have something to sell on Twitter, and that's okay - but that will come in time if you are passionate about building real relationships - those relationships will build your brand and drive your business.

A few points I struggle with that I have run into in Social Media networks:

-->  You follow me on Twitter, so naturally I want to learn more about you and what makes you tick, and perhaps what I might be able to share with you - but your Tweets are blocked?  How the heck am I supposed to get to know you?

-->  On LinkedIn... You have a public profile on a business networking site, but when I express a sincere interest in networking with you, I'm told "I only accept connection requests from people I've already done business with" - Now to me that defeats the entire purpose of LinkedIn and Social Media.

--> On Facebook...  I send you a friend request because perhaps we work in the same industry, we have a similar interest, or common connections - and am told "I only connect with people I have met face to face".  Again - Facebook with 160,000,000 users... I use FB for personal and for business.  And I purposely do not keep those profiles separate, after all I am a person, so my personality is personal, and I am who I am personally and professionaly and they are the same person!  Make sense?  Why would you NOT want to connect and get know a potential information sharing source?

I understand the privacy thing - but in some regards, and on some networks, it defeats the purpose of SOCIAL MEDIA.

I will continue to remind everyone to #payitforward in all you do (Twitter and beyond)!  Give more than you want to receive and you'll get far more than you ever imagined possible - but BE SINCERE!

Thanks for the inspiration @joelcomm - I truly look forward to following you!  

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3 comments:

  1. There are two modes of social networking. In one mode you are making connections - preferably to people that you like and respect.

    In the other mode - people you connect to are looking at your connections and the things people say about you in researching you as a potential vendor, partner or connection. I for one don't see the "Score" (as in the number of people you're connected to) nearly as important as the quality of the connections. Careful, thorough business people will look carefully at a potential business connections profile and information prior to doing business with them. Part of that is determining who else they are connected with and their reputation and connections.

    When someone asks me to connect via a completely social media like twitter - I generally go review what they've posted in the past and their profile and if it interests me I'll follow back. But I certainly don't follow everyone who follows me. In linked in, I insist on at least having corresponded with someone in the past, or a common interest that we share, a question they are asking, or some other connection prior to allowing them to be linked-in to the point of seeing my personal contact information or my link-list.

    I have had users in the past who connected to me, and then proceeded to spam all my 1st level connections (since they then become their second level connections). All they had to do was "join" an open group we had in common. I've also had users who claimed a business relationship that they had with me - which had no substance in fact - based on being linked in.


    The final "filter" I apply has to do with business vs personal. I have a facebook page and a linked in page. I keep all my business contacts (and friend-business contacts) on linked in. I keep my family and friend contacts (including friend-business contacts) on facebook. I admit it's a purely selfish thing to limit things in this way but I find it makes my social networking easier to divide up my contacts in this way. I also can feel very comfortable with sharing more personal information on my facebook page than I would necessarily share with just anyone (family health issues, etc.).

    It's a matter of being careful of who you make connections with, while continuing to be an out-going social person. It would be nice to believe that everyone in social networking was kind, generous and interested in your well being as much as their own. But that's just not the case - just like it's not the case in the real world. You wouldn't let just anyone into your home - why would you allow just anyone to link-in with you.

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  2. Wendy- thanks for the affirmation that it is good to keep one's personality and "self" within the business wrealm. You do that everyday in your blogs and links. You seem to easily know where to draw the line between business life and personal life. Your line affirms my hunch that people in business do want the social back and do want the personal touch. When working with my clients, I don't think of them as much as "clients" as I do people I want to help in being successful. I'm going to do all I can to professionally help them - and that's personal. Thanks for providing a lead to follow!

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  3. Thanks for the info and the follow! I'm liveonpurpose on Twitter, and it's kind of nice to be able to speak in complete sentences here on a blog comment! I think social media is more feminine in nature than guerrilla marketing. That's exactly what you're saying here: the more I listen, the more I receive.

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