Many professional speakers use social media but most of them use it wrong. They see it as a virtual extension of their speeches and simply talk to their audience while completely ignoring what’s coming back their way. While this is one way to use social media, it’s not the best. Most people don’t care about your blog posts, coupons, tips, events or products unless they know something about you. So if all you do is post this “me” information— everyone is going to ignore you.
Social media is about interactivity — something many speakers may not be used to with their presentations. I’m connected with a number of speakers on various social media services and I see so many of them posting things such as:
- A note about how well a recent presentation went or how happy a client was with them – AKA bragging.
- A note about a new product or service they’re offering.
- A note about a discount or deal that they’re offering.
- A note about an update to their web site or newsletter.
- A random piece of advice about their topic.
- A reply to another user’s question that’s worded like something you’d normally here from someone pushing a “business opportunity.”
Posting these things isn’t a crime — I’m guilty of doing most of these (except the last one). But if all you’re doing is posting notices like this, you’re not going to keep your followers attention and pretty soon, you’ll be ignored all together.
Since there’s no perfect formula about what to post to social media, experimentation is key. Interact with people, tell stories, share tips, share links, answer questions, post a quote, etc…. If you look at my Twitter stream for example, you’ll see that I post a lot of different things — and just because something works for me doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. I interact with people (sometimes more than I probably should, but it’s fun) and share links related to my interests outside of speaking. While there are some people out there that might prefer all I do is talk about speaking related topics, I’ve found that a lot of followers like seeing my human side.
If you find that your social media postings are just going in one direction, mix it up a little bit by conversing. You might find that people will start paying more attention to you and even recommending you to others — something very hard to do when you use social media as an email blast.
James Feudo owns the Boston Web Design Agency JVF Solutions and loves blogging about personal development and communication in his spare time.