Are You Passive or Active on Social Media?

Are you passive or active on social media?

That’s the question.

I have many friends and clients who have successfully set up profiles and accounts on various social media channels.

Then they do nothing with them.

Then they call me up and either ask what’s wrong or complain about social media being nothing but snake oil.

(The latter are a blast to deal with, trust me!)

This is where the discussion about being either passive or active occurs.

Passive are folks like my friends and clients who start out well but then don’t do much after that.

Active are the ones who grab onto social media and engage in the conversation.

The distinction is very important.

You can no longer just build it and expect them to come to you.

Yes, being complete is a great start and many don’t even get that far!

There may be a complete LinkedIn profile.

There may be a decent Twitter profile with a few desultory tweets.

There might even be a Facebook page.

Sometimes, there’s even a blog which gets posted to once in a while.

Be honest, would you follow or connect with any of the above?

I didn’t think so.

So, what should be done?

You need a comprehensive social media program with these highlights:

1. Have a content strategy
   1. Create your own original content
   2. Share the content of others
   3. Post and share frequently and regularly
2. Your content should be:
   1. Relevant to your community
   2. Add value
   3. Unique (In other words, don’t simply rehash what everyone else is sharing.)
3. Use your social media effectively:
   1. Cross promote your content over your social media channels where appropriate (What I mean is don’t post your tweets on LinkedIn!)
   2. Format your content for the social media channel (Which means remembering that Twitter only allows 140 characters!)
   3. Use graphics
   4. Use a social media account manager (i.e., Hootsuite)
4. Engage in the conversation!
   1. Reshare the content of others
   2. Comment on the content of others
   3. Follow others.

Social media is dynamic!

Others including your competition are using it!

If you don’t effectively engage with social media then no one will find you on the Web!

That’s it for now!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have.

I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

Remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me.  Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.

I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.

My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.Stay well!