As I sit here at Starbucks in Beaverton, Oregon waiting for my appointment to arrive, something caught my attention. Though today there was not intent on posting a blog today, I just couldn’t avoid a point that needs to be made.
The Starbucks I am at is very busy today. I was able to finally get my “normal” spot against the window, which is at the head of a larger kitchen style table. Since sitting down, plugging in and attempting to get caught up on my social media stuff since leaving the office, there was a young lady talking with a friend. When I say since, I mean since. This young gal has not stopped talking about herself, her issues, her job, etc. I hardly think she has taken a breath in the last 25 minutes.
Not only has this been extremely loud and distracting to me and others around us, it is a pretty incredible example of what is wrong with some peoples social media marketing efforts. What you say and how you say it is very important in social media. How frequently you post is equally. Dominating your feeds with a ton of useless, less than valuable posts makes you a talking head.
Conversation is two way. Follow these guidelines:
1) Don’t be the brand that dominates your friends/followers feeds.
2) Don’t be the person that makes every conversation about YOU.
3) Reach out to others and engage them in conversation.
4) Listen and shut up!!!
Ask yourself several times a day… Is what I am posting, doing or saying right now valuable to my social media audience, or is it all about me? Make it about others and build relationships where the value you bring is helpful for others.
* Real-time update – Now at over an hour and a half and she is STILL rambling. I feel so sorry for this poor guy. Don’t be this gal in your social media!
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Great post, Robert. I agree. Starbucks would be a great office except for the noise. I like your analogy to social media chatter when it’s just blasting one way.
Enjoy your java. BTW, I’m sure you have a great coffee machine in the “home office”. I got one of those Breville jobs that takes K-Cups. They just started with Starbucks…yummy….
hahaha honestly I just have a reg ole coffee maker. Works just awesome for me. I am at Starbucks quite frequently, so that makes up for it.
Thanx for the comments man!
Robert
Long as it cranks out french roast! Enjoy. Maybe we’ll meet at a coffee shop one day. :)
Well heck ya! Let’s do it!
I think this applies to ANY relationship. Great reminder because I know, sometimes I have a tendency to be guilty of a couple of these.
So true Desiree… Step one you got covered. Moving to step two will help. :-)
Oh it’s a 4 step program. This is doable now that you’ve made me aware.
go after it GF!
One interesting point…dominating the friends’ feeds is definitely relative. My personal friends, and more recently many of my employees that chatted with me while I visited HQ, mentioned that I dominate their feeds. Ironically, I still post much less than a lot of the more influential/engaged friends I have on 12Most. Now, people like the content…and it isn’t a bunch of self-promotion…but the frequency is still high even when spreading over a business day. And a lot of my Facebook friends see a fraction of my Twitter discussions ;)
Great comment Brian. I get that occasionally as well from some of my non-SM friends. The fact is they login once a day and compared to their other friends that post once a week, we do dominate their feeds. Very different based on markets served, etc.
Good point!
Robert
Haha! That’s how I probably sound sometimes in our conversations. :-)
Great advice. Let’s see how long she can go. Maybe we should call Guiness up?
You do not Aaron… lol
Thank you Robert!
I’m no Blogger/writer so try & usually fail to get a similar point across to people in the LinkedIn group I run.
If you just treat Social Media like an in-person conversation, 80% of people would finally ‘get’ how to communicate on it. Of course there’s still the 20% like the girl you mention, but for people not out to spam (but still to do business), what a breath of fresh air & relief this concept is.
If the volume of your supportive engagement, comments of value to others & support of other people is high, you create a larger ‘window’ of opportunity to indulge in getting your own points across.
Bingo Jason! Great input buddy…
Every situation requires tact & diplomacy. Even online conversations.
Very true Christina :-)