![\"\"](\"http:\/\/patrickhester.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/privacy.jpg\" "\\"privacy\\"")
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1.\u00a0 No politics, religion or BBQ<\/h1>\n
This has been my mantra for several years now.\u00a0 Easily the three most polarizing topics in America (or any country), talking about your politics, religion or BBQ preferences will alienate you from 50% of your audience.\u00a0 Democrats will wonder about Republicans, and vice-versa, same with people of different religions or folks who put sauce on meat and call it BBQ…\u00a0 You want people to think about you as the person who can help them with ____, not as a member of X, Y or Z group who they don’t identify with.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0 Obsessive self-promotion is a turn-off<\/h1>\n
The easy thing to do with social media is to plug it into your website and have a long list of links spit out to fill your stream with every update, or to jump on, manually link off to whatever you have going on right now, and then disappear, never to engage or comment with anyone.\u00a0 This is an immediate turn-off for most people who are looking for value, and to connect.\u00a0 At most, self-promotion should be 5-10% of your social media output.\u00a0 And yes, that means 90% of your time should be spent being social.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0 Don’t overdo it.<\/h1>\n
This one is difficult even for me.\u00a0 I have the gift of gab.\u00a0 You have to find a sweet spot where you are putting out just enough to engage, but not so much as to make people tune you out because you are spamming their streams.\u00a0 Rule of thumb is to start out slow.\u00a0 I suggest 15 minutes here and there, maybe in the morning, at lunch and before you head to bed.\u00a0 Do a little update, engage with a few of the people you are following, and get out.\u00a0 You can always increase activity later if it seems to be paying off for you.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0 Be literate<\/h1>\n
With most social media sites limiting how much you can say with any one update (Twitter is 140 characters, for example), it can be very tempting to shorten words or use abbreviations to get it all in.\u00a0 I would suggest you think before you tweet, and take a second look at what it is you are trying to say.\u00a0 U dnt wnt ppl gssng ur int.\u00a0 (You don’t want people guessing your intent).\u00a0 Be clear and precise, it will be appreciated.<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0 Be careful what you link to your social media profiles<\/h1>\n
A lot of sites are offering things like Facebook login or connections to Twitter when you visit.\u00a0 This has the benefit of being convenient for you (which is one of the reasons they do it) but connects that site to your profile even to the point of allowing the site to post your activity to your profile (which is the other reason they do it).\u00a0 I had this happen to me recently with Pinterest.\u00a0 I had no idea it was posting every single thing I pinned to my Facebook friends, but not my wall.\u00a0 This meant I didn’t see it, but they did.\u00a0 I cut that cord when someone clued me into the spammyness of what was going on.\u00a0 So be careful when a site asks you to use your social media account to login on their site.\u00a0 There’s usually a checkbox or something you have to click that will warn you about what, exactly, you are agreeing to allow the site to do.\u00a0 Like post to your wall\/stream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When it comes to social media, some people think they should put it all out there while others are loathe to reveal any part of their personal lives.\u00a0 Knowing where to draw the line can be difficult, but really, it … Continue reading