A social media presence should be about relating to people. Whether the goal is more visibility for a brand, more personal influence over the public conversation, or just plain socializing, companies and individuals must emphasize relationships.
Lots of people have lots of good ideas for how to begin. There are wonderful resources that are shared openly. People and companies of any size can learn, pretty quickly how to begin, improve and excel on the variety of social networks available today.
I believe the best approach to social media begins with the same thing we should all be learning as children: how to initiate and participate in a conversation. From there it comes down to ten basic elements that enrich an online conversation — and make relationships possible.
| 1 Converse – don’t broadcast | 6 Stakeholders: Customers, influencers, suppliers, regulators |
| 2 Follow – find people and companies to watch, benchmark and engage in conversation | 7 Location: Where your product or service can create/stoke the best social experience |
| 3 Curate – collect the social content of companies and individuals you admire | 8 Story: Your product or service and its role in your stakeholders’ lives |
| 4 Link – link your content to influencers and make it easy for them to link to yours | 9 Content: The substance that tells your story and connects your company to stakeholders |
| 5 Share – circulate your content | 10 Community: Extend or build one |
For more detail on how to go social in 2014, and for some of those free resources I mentioned, visit this deck on SlideShare. [ From a workshop presentation in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, hosted by the Town of Big Stone Gap and the Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park.]
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