When you are taking part in the social media sphere, realize that content drives relevancy. The focus of the conversations you create, the manner in which you take part in them, and the stories you interweave into them all speak directly to your target audience- or they don’t.
The goal is to quickly find, connect, and engage with people you are best able to serve. This predicates a clear understanding of your ideal client, an understanding of the demographics and psychographics represented by each social media site, and an understanding of what topics of conversation are likely to engage further.
In its simplest form, content drives relevancy is all about creating meaningful conversations and participating in them meaningfully. It’s about making a person to person connection, and building up your circle of influence incrementally.
Social media is not a popularity contest, and it’s not about how many “friends” you can make in the shortest amount of time. Used properly, social media is about being a thought leader in your industry- about creating conversations people didn’t even know they needed- and then offering them tools and information that is relevant to them.
The best social marketers are the ones who are real people, and connect with their intended audience one person at a time.
The best way to connect is to offer relevant information, in a useful context, and share your expertise generously. You will never know what opportunities will come from the social net effect of one person telling two friends, and those two friends telling two friends, and so on.
This is the most difficult thing for writers – finding and writing for the target audience. When we are in chat rooms, we all become writers, of sorts. Most of our blogging (and what-not) is done via typing. And if we start speaking above or below the person(s) we’re speaking to, it is immediately noticeable! I mean, after all, you certainly wouldn’t submit McGuffey reader text to a college professor! (‘See Jane. See Jane run. Run, Jane, Run!”) While in live chat, you have the opportunity to immediately adjust your content to that it is relevant to the audience… but it stands that only the people you connect with in proper content will find it relevant.
I learned on the old McGuffey Readers! Now, I look back at them, and see how simplistic they were. But as a child, they were one of the most difficult hurdles to straddle. It all comes down to the story, though. I will suffer through a story not written form (as a “target”), whether it is above me or below me, so long as the story is good. The same is with these social sites. If the person is interesting (as most are), then I will suffer through them, if they are not at my level. Everyone is trying to make a point – and it’s up to you to decipher it. Like me, here. Did I make my point? I hope so!