Social media, online networks, Web 2.0 - these are all names I continually hear for the online systems connecting us together. We may be linked; you could be my friend, or perhaps my follower; however our online relationship is defined, it is important to identify how you can make it work for your association without getting burnt out.
Nicole Fischer's recent blog post lent some great insight into getting organized and not letting the social media atmosphere overwhelm you. When you have found a level of comfort, you should then make it a priority to grow your fan/follower base and get them involved in your social media conversation. This is where my greatest frustrations with social media lie. Although, like you have just read, I myself have read in countless articles about social media that the key to a successful page is to involve your friends/fans/followers and make the page conversational. The part that so many articles and experts tend to leave out is exactly how to do so.
As I worked to grow the fan base and fan participation of NCTA's Facebook Fan Page (Christmas Trees & Wreaths - come on now, no one can avoid a shameless plug!) I found that all of my thoughtful attempts were yielding unsuccessful results. Why is that all 50 of our fans were Facebook friends of someone in the office? Why were the only wall posts from the NCTA staff? And, why was no one commenting on my interesting status updates?
That was the case, until I began to notice fans I didn't recognize, ones that sought out our page on their own! And then, my greatest confidence boost, a fan commented on one of our daily status updates. Yes, I realize this is no large feat, in fact it is quite small, but I have learned to celebrate the small victories and persist, the large ones will follow. So persist I did. I have continually looked for new and interesting things to post and many days, I receive no response, but learning that persistence is key has been my most important lesson learned when it comes to social media. Continue to put your association out there in the world of social media, it will eventually pay you back.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
Great post Aly.
Persistence is also the key for Twitter. The number of followers (unless you are "spamming") grows slowly. Yet, if you keep providing good content and fresh ideas and RT tweets of others, the momentum starts growing. I've been surprised by how fast my followers grew from 500 to 600 ... as compared to getting the first 100.
Steve
Even in our now electronically connected society, there are many, many listeners and few contributors to a conversation. Sometimes we have to shout into the darkness to know someone is there.
Post a Comment