Using Old Tactics with New Media

It has been a month now since the insane social media ride that took me from a Silver Lake living room to Amsterdam, where I attended a conference brimming with 1200 leaders from all walks of life.  Now that I have been home almost a couple weeks, I have had some time to reflect about the lessons I learned from this experience.  Whether you are starting a business, promoting an event, or trying to win a “blogging” contest, I want to share some pointers that I think can work for you, your firm, or your personal goals.

Whether you want to attend an integrated reporting conference in Amsterdam, have a new service you wish to promote, or want to make sure your event is attended, here are some suggestions:

• Of course social media works.  LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogging:  they all can be put to good use.  But the challenge (especially with the 140-character limit on Twitter) is not just giving the what—but the WHY this service, event, or goal is important to you.  It should not be only about what is in it for you—what is in it for them?  Less “what” and more “how” and “why” will make your message resonate.

 

• But do not over do it.  As the contest to get the most votes in the blogging competition closed, I did post often on Facebook—but that is because I actually save FB for friends, while I try to keep LinkedIn for professional contacts.  I didn’t bombard my contacts in LinkedIn with updates, nor did I post on the LinkedIn groups.  I did post a lot on Twitter, but that’s because I have about 300 followers and the same number follow me, so those tweets were drowned out.  The upshot is: use common sense.

 

• Target your audience.  This is where old media comes in, which I suppose these days, includes email.  Besides broadcasting on Facebook, for example, I used its message function to contact my friends.  However, I contacted only a few at a time:  various alumni pals, former colleagues, friends in a geographic region, etc.  I did send out one blast email to the “miscellaneous” folks, and the results were interesting and hardly surprising:  few responded.

 

• Do not let your contacts or friends do the grunt work.  I did have some friends who went ahead and reposted my appeals for votes on Facebook—but that was their idea and their doing.  I was grateful for their help, but I was not about to ask anyone to “pass the word on.”  I was reminded of an email I received a few days ago, sent with good intentions.  There was an appeal for content for some new web site, with ridiculous requirements, without any hints of what would be received in return.  Some charlatan out there basically asked a former colleague to do his work for him.  To me, that’s a deal breaker—for whatever cause you are promoting, it’s up to you to do the politicking and hard work—not others out there.

 

• Be transparent.  If what you want requires your contacts to sign up at a web site, input personal information, or write a testimonial, but be up front and honest about those caveats.  For example, the competition I had entered required users to sign up at a site, create a password, and enter some information.  I was up front about that, advising them that more would be involved than clicking a “vote” button.  We are all inundated with email newsletters—so if there is a few minutes of work involved, be honest about it from the onset.

 

• Follow up and thank people!  I may be old-fashioned here, but a thank you note goes a long way in my view.  Tell people about your success and let them feel your enthusiasm for what you achieved or the new venture on which you are embarking.  For some folks, email is fine.  And no, I don’t mean one big spam email—send them individually.  The eco-mafia may frown on me for suggesting the this, but if you have their address, a good old-fashioned thank you note by snail mail will also be appreciated because it shows that you are putting in the effort to think about them.  Think about how many times some person out there asked for you for a favor and then you never hear from them—classless, in my view.
• Reciprocate.  I find that a lot of professionals out there see networking as only reaching out when they need something.  Be prepared to repay the favor down the road—and even if it’s not for that person who helped you out, as the saying goes, “pay it forward.”

 

• Use Social Media as a Filter for Knowledge in Your Field—Not as a Crass Self-Promotion Tool.  We’ve all fallen into this trap.  We have a blog or are involved with a particular cause, and we max out our social networking tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to share our latest posting and thoughts.  As recent as six months ago, this was probably effective—at least it was for me.  But everyone is doing this now, which results in nothing but white noise as everyone is promoting himself or herself.  Instead of just posting your most recent thought or blog article on all the different social networking sites, learn the in’s and out’s of the various social media sites.  And rather than  rehashing your latest random thought, look at yourself as a filter of information.  Show that you are a thought leader by promoting the work of others in your field.  It takes a bit of work and the payoff is not immediate, but by being proactive and helping others, you will be in a better position to “cash in” when you need something.  At a time when everyone is tweeting or posting the same drivel, you can make a name for yourself by carving out a niche, which in turn will earn you a loyal following—who in turn will be there for you at a moment’s notice.

  I am curious what your thoughts are—feel free to reply whether you agree or disagree.