Gettin' Geeky Guru and Chief Hooligan Gina Schreck
‘Social media is not about you – it’s about them’ says geeky guru and chief hooligan at SocialKNX, Gina Schreck. She also says ‘there will always be the ‘next thing’ in social media, focus on the best place for you and your clients right now’.
Do you remember when people said Facebook would never last … well it’s still here!
As one of the leading experts in social media, her book Getting Geeky with Twitter is an excellent resource for those wanting to know how to do social right. Her firm manages the social media activity for a diverse range of clients across the globe from small businesses to large hotel chains and every client will tell you she makes them sound amazing online.
While researching our latest book project we interviewed this geeky genius to understand how people could be more engaging online.
Gina shared social media has changed our interactions and access. No longer do we need to be concerned about connecting with the media, celebrities or well-known authors and speakers, they are simply a tweet away. Social media has provided greater access to people; it has removed gatekeepers and given everyone a greater sense of boldness when connecting with others.
Here is some of the brilliance she shared with us:
Be present – don’t just send a few status updates and assume that is your social media presence taken care of. She advised you need to interact with people, respond to their posts, comment on blogs, like status updates, re-tweet information. Online is a conversation – there are just more people involved.
Engage in conversation on multiple platforms – she recommends visiting profiles of others; don’t restrict your activities to one or two social media sites.
75/25 split – focus on others 75% of the time and the remaining 25% you can focus on sharing information about yourself. This requires you to be engaged and present to be aware of what others are doing and sharing their content and information with others. Don’t just broadcast – share.
Be strategically social – get involved in Tweetchats for your industry or client base; make lists online to follow others and develop relationships. Have a plan of who you want to develop relationships with and then seek them out online. People are more likely to accept your invitation to connect on LinkedIn if you have exchanged tweets and Facebook comments she says.
Use technology – one of her recommended apps (and my personal favorite for social media) is Hootsuite. This great tool allows you to create columns to follow lists, watch hash tags, and post to multiple social media platforms.
Schedule social time – set a goal to reach out to 5 people each day you haven’t chatted to in a while, determine what time of day is best for you to visit certain platforms i.e. Pinterest is busy at night with people enjoying this site while they watch TV or do other activities. People are more social at night and more business focused during the day she says, remember that when you are online. Commit to daily online activity to build your community.
Blur the lines – your offline and online conversations are blurring so ensure you are your most authentic self and be involved in conversations, bring more of you to the online world.
Have we connected online? Have you been to our Facebook page? Do you follow us on Twitter, need quick productivity videos to share with your team on YouTube, want great eye candy on our Pinterest boards or chat on LinkedIn – however you like to connect we’d love to be in an online conversation with you!
What can you do in your practice to engage in more conversations on-line? Where are you focusing your social media attention? We’d love to hear your thoughts, please share them here on our blog.
PS. If you are using a mobile device and would like to know some great tools and apps to have fun and increase your productivity – check out Gina’s list here:
