How much more social media advice can you take? In a recent post about Social Media Day at the Savvy B2B Marketing blog, each of the Savvy Sisters shared personal lessons. As their name implies, these people are dedicated practitioners with a big whack of collective expertise. The post resonated with me due to their practical insights. Here are some lessons of my own.
In the Savvy post, Stephanie Tilton spoke about generosity as being an important aspect of social media behaviour. Taking Stephanie's observation a step further, I've discovered being nice is also a terrific tactic. While it may not seem logical, the biggest gains come from generously sharing information and being pleasant about it. Initially it was difficult to give intellectual property away and endorse competitors but it didn't take long before more was coming back than I was giving out.
What does being nice mean?
Think about traditional good manners and how you can apply them to your virtual relationships. In short, make sure you:
- Thank every person who shares your content or mentions your name.
- Answer every comment posted on your blog.
- Ask permission to use all or part of someone else's content in your own content.
- When your content appears somewhere else, help promote it through your own channels.
- Recognise great content. Tweet or share it with your network regardless of who created it.
- Always cite references.
- Always give attribution for any creative content including photographs, images, cartoons and videos.
- Don't hesitate to send an email or handwritten note when someone has given you a helpful suggestion or useful advice.
What's in it for you?
I'm always surprised when the authors of a blog don't weigh in on their own comment section. Even blogging rockstars like Mitch Joel and Chris Brogan participate in the discussions taking place on their blogs. Why? Because the goodwill it builds is worth far more than the time it takes. Abandoning your posts smacks of arrogance. The whole point of social media is to build healthy, active networks. When people are ignored they quickly lose interest and you acquire a reputation for being arrogant. It's not just blog posts, either. Every facet of your social media activity works better with genuine involvement.
The Take-Away
Fostering a successful social media presence requires more than content strategy and distribution activity. It's vital you actively participate with your network. Old-fashioned good manners are rewarded with better relationships, more referrals, wider reach and improved authority. It's been my experience the benefits of reciprocal behaviour have a greater ability to drive business through your door than guarding your information and avoiding your competitors. Say please. Say thank you. Share your stuff. You'll be glad you did.
What other social media good manners do you use?
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Image Credit: first place by EvelynGiggles, on Flickr
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