ARE YOU SICK OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOO?

Would you attend a session on how to use an air conditioner (or question the ROI)? Stay cool when it’s hot! How about a workshop on five reasons to get a mobile phone? Make calls wherever you are! How about an all day course on how to use email? No more stamps to lick!

We take those things for granted.

Social media has become routine for me (and perhaps you?). It's part of daily business life — like checking email and answering phone calls. And air conditioning (though not in the Canadian winter).

Skeptics

If you're unconvinced about the merits of social media, maybe you’re a late adopter. Think back. How quick were you to

• get an email address?
• put your email address on your business card?
• answer email from your smartphone?

That's fine. Innovation isn't for all. Not everyone wants to explore or risk making mistakes in public. Some people aren't generous.

Social media is the best tool to demonstrate consistent persistent generosity to the world. You can't fake this for long and quitters are easily spotted. When the focus is on sharing for free, does the question of ROI arise?

Converts

If you "get" the benefits of generosity, you just need to use the tools. As with exercise and diet, good habits take time to develop and discipline to maintain.

The real benefits come after mastery. The real opportunities arise after you routinely use tools like LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Meetup and Google Plus. You can then think about what's next now that your clients' expectations have changed.

This Year

This year I wrote about social media extensively because I was doing live presentations on the "why". That was my final attempt to convince the skeptics and congratulate the converts. I've got speaking engagements for the next four months and am not seeking any more.

It's time to move on. I'm not planning any more posts specifically about social media. That's my New Year's Resolution. Let's see if it sticks.

This is the final post of 2011.

The best to you and yours during the holidays.
May your 2012 be swell, swell, swell!

Links

These posts from 2008 and later are related to social media.

1. How can your clients find you?
2. How to organize your events like Harvard and IBM
3. Create your web presence in three easy steps
4. Why Twitter finally makes sense for your business
5. Two simple steps to endless referrals
6. Where’s your Google Profile?
7. A proven technique to expand your LinkedIn network
8. How to apply consistent persistent generosity
9. Measurement matters: Free tools
10. The easiest way to catch up with social media as the web fades in importance
11. Picking the best medium for your message
12. How to hire a social media expert
13. Make your views public to stand out
14. LinkedIn’s Jonathan Lister discusses social media
15. The ROI on social media, reputation and a hungry rabbit
16. Building trust with social media (video)
17. Arranging the perfect social media workshop
18. Signs of the wrong social media expert
19. Are you a parrot or a pundit?
20. Building trust with blogging at Word11
21. How much time does social media take each week?
22. How many explorers discovered you today?
23. image courtesy of Martin Walls (UK)

PS If you're not a social media master, the holidays are a great time to catch up.

HOW MANY EXPLORERS DISCOVERED YOU TODAY?

The days of explorers on the quest for uncharted lands have passed. Now a search takes an Internet connection and a comfortable chair. Progress!

Now that sites encourage visitor comments, you'll discover people everywhere. You may be attracted by a particular person’s photo or message. A quick click shows you more about them. Maybe you’d like to stay in contact?

Maybe they’d like to stay in touch with you/

Found

In the beginning, there’s satisfaction in getting discovered. Over time, the “gee whiz” fades. Traffic is good but for results, you want the right explorers to discover you.

Some techniques help you get found. Analytics show you which ones. The problem is that you rarely know who your visitors are. That’s where LinkedIn helps. You can see who some of the explorers (more with a paid account) and then visit their profiles. Maybe you’d like to stay in touch with some of them.

Hello

Can you reach out to them? They will appreciate this and often say yes. I've experimented on LinkedIn and still find that over 91% of my requests to connect are accepted by strangers. What do they know about me? Little beyond what my profile shows.

If they visited my profile and then I invite them, the rate is still 100.0%. It's as if they are happy that I took the time to reach out. Some say they wanted to contact me but were reluctant. Some of these connections even led to business, though that was not the goal. It's a nice side benefit, though.

Pruning

Since my LinkedIn network has grown larger than intended. I’ve taken steps to show up in fewer searches. For instance, I’ve removed some keywords and made my profile more specific.

Since we’re judged by the company we keep, I’ve started pruning and pulling out weeds. Here are examples of disappointing behaviour that’s likely to break a connection without warning:

• too salesy: their goal is to take money from your wallet and fast
• lack of generosity: they don’t helping others by curating or creating original content (neither parrots nor pundits)
• inconsistency: they start and then quit
• incompetence: they say things that are incorrect or misleading

There are exceptions for most silent connections. They aren’t doing anything offensive. They aren’t doing much at all. Some may be strategic. Others may eventually start sharing. You may have different criteria.

What are you doing to attract and get discovered by the right explorers?

Links

• The trap of social media noise (Seth Godin, Dec 2011)
• The myth of search engine optimization
• Gently remind others what you do
• How much time does social media take each week?
• Are you a parrot or a pundit?
• The detour to proving your expertise
• Make your views public to stand out
• Go beyond LinkedIn (a sad case study)
• Adventures in networking without even meeting
• Make better first impressions without even being there
• How to make your “cherry farm” worth picking
• A proven technique to expand your LinkedIn network
• Mailbag: why you need to be findable
• The easiest way to catch up with social media
• Image courtesy of Nayan Deshmukh (India)

PS If you’re uncharted territory, leave clues for the explorers ... unless you don’t want more business.