Social Media: The Key Word is "Social".

Let's say you're at a friend's house for dinner, and someone that you have just met comes up to you and tries to sell you his car. What are you going to think? You're most likely going to wonder why this guy you have just met and don't even know wants to sell you something.

Now what if you meet this person, develop a rapport, a friendship over a period of weeks, months or years and then he tries to sell you his car. You are far more likely to respond positively in this scenario. Perhaps you don't need or want his car or perhaps you can't afford it but you are more likely to listen.

When I am on Facebook, Twitter or other social media websites, I often notice that there is a lot of hard selling going on. I am guilty of it from time to time and it is something that I am trying to change. How often have you seen posts on Twitter or Facebook such as:

"You can have your very own website for just $99. Click here for more information"

Posts such as that are fine once in awhile, but too many businesses are making those same posts every day and even multiple times per day.

The key word for me in regards to social media, is the word social. If I have hundreds of Twitter followers, chances are that most of them don't really know me. Some of them might be friends, or current clients or family but for the most part they will only know me from my Twitter updates. If all they every see from my updates is posts like the above, it's a recipe for a quick unfollow.

I believe that the best way to use social media is to be social. Engage with your followers. Provide them with useful information and comment on information that they post. Your goal is to create a relationship, a friendship if you will, with them so that when you do post something on Twitter or Facebook your followers feel that they know you and consider you a trusted resource or even a friend.

My goal for Twitter and Facebook posts as well as LinkedIn groups is:

Get them to my website
Read and comment on my posts
Sign up for my mailing list
Subscribe to my posts

Once they are on my mailing list or subscribed to my posts, I now have the ability to communicate with them in almost a one on one fashion. They trust me enough to sign up for my mailing list and are inviting me into their inbox. I cannot abuse that trust by selling to them with every single post or email message.

Cultivating the relationships you have on social media websites by interacting with your fans and followers will earn you more trust, a higher comfort level and will lead to more business success down the road.