Social Media Engagers Connectors Bludgers and Grubs

If you are involved in social media you will come across many characters who see themselves as leaders, at least in their apparent circle of 'influence'. Unfortunately many social media 'leaders' are not so social.

The appropriate dictionary definition of social in the context of social media is: "Attitudes, orientations, or behaviours which take the interests, intentions, or needs of other people into account (in contrast to anti-social behaviour)." - Wikipedia

Obviously if you are using say Twitter to distribute information or ideas the reality is; once you get above a few dozen or so connections it will be extremely hard, or too time consuming to constantly interact with everyone.

One social media platform that describes itself as "social media rocket" fuel however almost demands by its design and style of operation a level of intimacy, co-operation, trust and reciprocation that is higher than most other platforms. If you are interested to take a look… it is:

http://www.empireavenue.com/RICTOWNSEND

One of the unique features of this social media platform is that you can offer rewards through missions to those that will help you achieve goals in other areas such as Facebook, Twitter Goolge+ etc. This is where the true individuals show their colours. Here is a recent mission I offered:

I won't mention individual players by name however my heading mentions four characters. In reverse order: 

Grubs: They are types that sponge off others, (e.g. in EAve. don't complete missions and just take the reward and run). This group also wants you to everything for them, share boring crap, help them become more notorious by voting them up silly competitions, offer nothing of value… other than that they see themselves as some sort of star or as "giants in their own lunch boxes". These characters often move away from what makes them popular in the first place and expect us love them for who they are rather than for the information they offer. I even saw one guy who offered tech advice do a video scolding his audience for asking what he considered dumb questions. He then started doing personal life videos and wondered why no one wanted to watch.

Bludgers: Well they sort of do stuff however always the minimum. They, in the case of EAve. as an example will do a few likes on a page that you want promoted however thats it. I even did a mission and gave away a large reward for doing nothing, just for being a shareholder and what did a get, a couple of guys didn't even leave a thank you note. These are not my idea of desirable social media types.

Connectors: Well they are numbers freaks. They want to have the most of everything, the most followers, the most accolades, the last word in every exchange and the biggest you know what on the planet. They spam, they manipulate, they just want bigger numbers. Often these types will have in their message or agenda a great idea you just must get involved in and they will flog it to death. These types see you as a potential customer and someone that can help get them what they want.

Engagers: These are the people we all seek. They believe in working for mutual benefit, they'll swap information and advice. They will complete task you want done as they understand the value of mutual leverage. They communicate and they are great to deal with. Many of these characters I believe would be great to meet face to face. These people without knowing it almost compel you to help them through their shear strength of character and demonstrated high levels of personal ethics.

So think about how you appear to others. What do your social media actions reveal bout you? Where you fit? I hope its in the social media engagers category.

5 Top Social Media Success Rules

Number 5. Engage its social

If you have a large following it is impossible to talk to everyone however if you have a core inner circle at least talk to them. When you do communicate make sure you use their name and thank them for anything they do for you!  Secondly write to your audience on the topics they are interested in and stick to your core message. I saw a leadership writer tweet "if you don't like what I tweet now, use the un-follow button". He was upset because of criticism he received when overnight he started to put lots of unrelated trivia in his preciously serious twitter stream.

Number 4. Stay away from the "Fluff"

"Empire Avenue" describes itself as a social media rocket fuel and maybe it is. Players ask you to do missions for a reward and often you uncover some great information you can pass on, Often as not however you get to see volumes of fluff… volume for volumes sake!` There is nothing less dissatisfying than going to someones facebook page and seeing lots of photos that you've seen on the last five pages you've visited… the cute cats, loveable dogs, their pretty kids and amazing landscapes… over and over again. It's the old substance trumps form every time. I understand a few human touches are good and the occasional 'personal' stuff doesn't hurt however, not all of the time, you'll end up with a page that is like fairy floss. Very little sugar with lots of volume... not very satisfying,

Number 3. Don't lose heart it takes time and constant effort

If you want to build a reputation on the web you need to keep at it and do at least a little each day or your followers will lose interest. As I said before stick to your core purpose and if you can't come up with new and interesting stuff of your own at least curate good information from others that is pertinent to your topic or topics. As the video says… be consistent!

Number 2. When asking for help from your followers give them something worthwhile  supporting

Again using Empire Avenue as an example you get people asking you to share their information around your networks. Well sharing has two purposes, one the specific message you want to get out and secondly to build your reputation (or brand) generally. Asking someone to tell their network to say happy birthday to your grandmother isn't going to make it. Trying to get others to retweet about your upcoming seminar on how to breed Llamas isn't going to wash with a diverse readership. So if you want someone to share stuff about you make the information your distribute something of interest to a broad audience.

Number 1. Forget "you" in your social media communications

Some social media gurus or divas even refer to themselves as gurus and divas, gimme a break. I heard on the radio today how social media is feeding the natural narcissistic tendencies that a lot of people have today. Me, Me, Me… no its about them, them, them so its not "me and you", its "you and I" or better still "us". I know one notable player again on Empire Avenue who gained some notoriety by answering technical questions (web stuff) who posted a video on you tube scolding his audience for asking dumb questions. He then made it worse by posting videos of himself shopping, eating driving etc… and then complained that some people didn't want to do his missions… he had become his own topic and his narcissistic rants were just plain boring.