After speaking, training, and writing books about Social Media for over nine years, I can completely assure you that most questions people ask regarding Social Media aren’t Social Media questions. They’re relationship questions. They’re also networking questions, but I’m gonna include networking questions in the relationship category.
When you were learning to drive you probably didn’t ask many questions about transmissions and brake calipers. You probably asked questions about traffic signals, signs and speed. You don’t need to be an auto mechanic to drive a car.
Connecting with people on Social Media platforms is just the first step. Not the last, as a lot of people think. Now the relationship begins.
And this is when your character shows up. If you’re someone who’s just collecting “Likes”, “Follows”, and “Friends”, you’re in deep doo-doo, because after they connect with you, you have no idea what to do next. And no, the answer isn’t “Sell ’em something.” People don’t like feeling like a commodity. Do you?
Study relationship skills. Any idiot can teach you how to use Social Media for marketing, branding, and blah-blah-blah, and many idiots do. Social Media for relationships is a different animal. And if someone doesn’t know how to build, enhance and maintain relationships offline, tell me how they’re gonna know how to do it online. They won’t. They’re out of their league.
Yes, learn the basic mechanics of Social Media sites and then double down on relationship skills. You’ll never worry about where to find your next job, client, project or opportunity again. You’ll be a mosquito in a nudist colony.