IDreamInTech

I’ve been taking a look at Linkedin groups lately and recently added myself to a social media group that I found.  I signed up for the email notifications and thought I would give the group a chance, until I got the following in the first email.

I saw this question and immediately smacked myself in the head.  I thought we had moved past this, at this point.  People do not want to see the same conversation on every platform.    Also do I need to point out that EdgeRank and people don’t like third party applications, using Facebook.

People think social media is just a tool, it’s not.  Every converation and social media application is different.  Imagine if Twitter is where you talk to your barber and Facebook is where you will talk to your wife.  Do you want to be sharing the same thing with your wife and barger?  I don’t think so.

A friend of mine recently turned to Facebook to help build his online audience, but soon found the application to be much harder to manage than he originally thought.  His follower count stayed in the lower teens and after a few months, he just stared at the account dumbfounded, not knowing what to do with it.

“How do I get friends?” He asked me over and over again.

I took a quick look at his social media accounts and realized a number of mistakes he was making, including he had no social media buttons on his website and he was not updating the account regularly.  His customers were simply getting lost in the maze, that is now the social media bubble.

ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS LOST IN THE MAZE?

When building a social media platform for your customers, your first priority should be why are you going to be there and how are your customers going to find you there.

There is tons of social media channels out there, so if you’re going to be on one, you have to make it easy for your customers to find you.  Post your social media buttons everywhere and constantly remind your customers that you are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

Then post to your accounts.  Once your customers are able to navigate the maze and find your social media accounts, let them know that they are arriving at a prime destination not at a Sahara.

Don’t let your customers get lost, like my friend Michael did, because when they get lost they might just find another destination to go to.

If you live in the Social Media sphere, you’ve probably heard of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s Trust Agents.  If you haven’t though, that’s fine.  My copy’s been sitting on my bookshelf since Christmas and last month, I was finally able to spend some time with it and finish it.

For those of you unfamiliar with Trust Agents, it’s considered to some the original social media bible.  The book refers to a Trust Agent, as someone we trust not only on a personal level, but on a social media level as well.  We trust what these people say and take in every tweet that they send.    In the book, Smith and Brogan, give us 7 easy steps on how to be respected and trusted, and ultimate how to be a trust agent.

I highly recommend this book and Brogan/Smith give plenty of real life examples of how a trust agent can not only affect a person but a community as a whole.  The book is not just for social media people but for anyone who wants to better captivate a person, community, audience.

3 TIPS TO BE A TRUST AGENT

1) Be Agent 0 - If you can connect people to each other, people will remember you.  Connect people to hiring managers, funny experiences, or to loved ones and they will remember you.
2) Be one of us - Simply put, act like an important figure now.  Don’t geek out or be nervious, but act like you’ve been there.
3) Create an Army - Build your network.  If you work in the social media sphere, create an army of social media people who will help you navigate your audience.