One of the dangers of posting to our social media networks is broadcasting. When we broadcast to our social networks, we can be perceived as “It’s all about us” and worse, we could become boring and irrelevant. Whether our business is in Halifax, Dartmouth, Truro or Toronto, we need to mix things up.

20-80-social-media-spread-Halifax

Here is a social media tip that I sent out on Twitter:

I learned this tip early on in my social media usage. As a business, it can not always be business all the time. The real life equivalent of this would be someone coming up to us every time asking us… “Do you want to buy a house!” Every time we see them, it’s the same question and then they walk away. These people are into the 100 “No’s” to get the 1 “Yes”. They are not building any good will along their journey.

As a business, there is a time to ask for business. But it is not each and every time they encounter someone. What ever happened to “Hi. How are you doing these days?” There has to be room for small talk and value added conversations. Why would we thing social media would be any different?

So according to my tip above, we should make business about 20% of our social media tips. So what do we do with the other 80%?

Here’s some thoughts on the other 80%:

  • These posts need to fall under “Interesting and Useful”.
  • These posts need to educate our community. They can include “How to tips” for example.
  • These posts need to entertain our community. Are there any funny things about our industry that will make others laugh? Are there things on the Internet that we can share that will put a smile on our community members?
  • These posts need to inspire or empower our community. Are we making our community a better community by helping them live better and stronger lives.
  • These posts can still be industry related, but are not asking for the business or trying to sell the business. They are not in our face “Buy buy buy right now!” messages.

In my last social media workshop in Halifax, I encouraged my workshop participants to really mix their posts up to my their social media more interesting to the communities around them.

There’s a song I believe called… “It’s All About Me!” Unfortunately this mentality will not work in business today. Sure a business has to make money. That is a primary task for the business. But successful businesses today are very much community minded. They give as well as take. There is that balance. They are seen as valuable members to the community and people are glad that the business is located in their area.

So if we want to be heard and appreciated on social media and in the community, we need to strive to be balanced in what we do. One way broadcasting outward will not win hearts and minds. We could end up annoying people and causing them to see us as irrelevant.

So let us strive for balance and bring value every where we show up. Let’s put a smile on others when they encounter us. So when they talk about us, it is with great favor.

Here’s to a great day of business for you. If I inspired you today, please share this post and inspire others as well.