Leverage the Power of Facebook…Get More Followers on Twitter…Influence More People on YouTube!
Too many people jump on the social media bandwagon and instantly barrage you with sales messages, and advertisements. They think that Twitter and Facebook are advertising platforms, they’re NOT! They are a place where people go to make connections and find like-minded people ultimately, to build relationships with those people.
People in general do not go online to look for ads… unless of course, it’s a hysterical commercial from the Super Bowl.
When you first meet a person do you immediately jump into explaining what you do and talking about the services or products they can buy from you? Of Corse NOT…or at least I hope not! You would look like a jerk.
There are thousands of so called Social Media Experts out there, all preaching how to get 19,523 followers in one week, but what they all seem to be missing is the relationship side of social media. They seem to be taking the direct marketing approach to social media, and sure you can get a certain number of customers doing this, but you will not build loyal customers.
Here are the real facts; people buy from people they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST. The big question is how do you accomplish that when you have never met the person face to face? Think about it, how many times have you seen a person and then met with them before you felt you knew, liked and, most importantly, trusted them? It takes a while, right? So why do we lose this thought process online?
The only “guru” you truly need to follow is a guy that was born in 1888…yes that would make him over 121 years old. And he wrote a little book out there that I am re-naming, “The Lost Book on Social Media”. This book covers everything you need to know about making better connections on Facebook, gaining more followers on Twitter and how to win with YouTube. The crazy part about this book is that it was written over 70 years ago, well before social networking, the internet, and even before the first real television broadcast of the 1936 Olympic Games of Berlin.
The book I’m referring to is Dale Carnegie’s classic, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.
This classic, read by millions of people is the official guide to Social Media. You can get it on Amazon, or in Barnes & Noble, go out and get a copy now.
Some of the highlights that you can use in Social Media immediately are principals like, “Give Honest and Sincere Appreciation,” “Become Genuinely Interested in Other People,” and my favorite, “Smile.” These are just three of the principles outlined in the book but are truly at the heart of social media, it is about building relationships, not about blasting out your advertisement.
Maybe I should start a series called “How to Win Followers and Influence Tweeple.”