We’ve all gotten them: the automated Twitter DM with a meaningless greeting. The spammy InMail. The sales-push Facebook message. These types of messages are clearly sent by people who just want to make a sale. And while most of us know social media isn’t the place for a hard sell, who hasn’t sent a message that felt…just a little bit…inauthentic?
It’s interesting how many us of—and how many companies—struggle to come off as human and authentic on social media. It is, after all, a social medium. All these conversations and new friends should come naturally, right?
But maybe that’s why social media can make our motives so obvious. People know when you’re pitching them. They know you’re reaching out to them because you want to eventually make a sale, or make a contact that might turn into a sale. So it’s all kind of forced and fake to begin with, right?
Not necessarily. There are companies and people who manage to preserve their authenticity. They still market on social media. They still make sales contacts and build business relationships. But they don’t do it in a way that seems canned.
If you want to lose that canned feeling on social media, I hope this post can help. It’s certainly not the last word on how to act more like a human being on social media, but I think it’s a pretty good start.
1. Say thank you
Say it a lot—at least once a day. Here are a few opportunities for saying thank you:
- When someone follows you
- When someone adds you to a list
- When someone shares your content
- When someone reshares your content
- When someone mentions you
- When you read a blog post you like
2. Personalize…and skip the automation
We all know how powerful it is to use someone’s first name. This applies in the real world as well as in social media. So apply it: Mention people by name in any communication.
While first names are good, beware of automated replies. I see a lot of automated replies on Twitter particularly. Some people ask me whether I’m on Twitter for business or pleasure, for instance. Or they ask me what I do for a living.
These are obviously automated responses. Anyone who’s even glanced at my Twitter profile would know why I’m on social media. They’d know what I do for a living, too.
These types of automated messages turn a lot of people off. They probably don’t work very well, either. So consider this: If you could double the results you’re getting from those automated messages, would it be worth the time to send half as many, but actually learn about the person you’re messaging? All it would take is a quick look at their profile page for that social platform. Or a quick check of their website. Time yourself: How long does that actually take?
3. Don’t be 100% business oriented
It’s good to share a bit about your personal life. Of course, none of us in the business realm should be tweeting like Kim Kardashian. But that baseball game you went to on Sunday? That’s perfectly safe to share a post about.
Remember: People like people. It’s interesting to know somebody spent a few hours at a game over the weekend, or went for a 5K run. Just don’t share five pictures from it (much less 50).
4. Take off your ‘results’ hat
This will be hard for many of you—especially if you’ve got a boss breathing down your neck to prove ROI. Many small businesses feel especially pressured to see revenue from their social media work. But if you really want to be more authentic, and thus appear more trustworthy, the sales pitch has to take a back seat.
People have become extremely wary of sales pitches, so wary that even a toned-down sales pitch will trigger their radar. This is especially true on social media, and even more true when you’re reaching out to new people.
Forget about selling to them—or even mentioning what you sell—for at least the first three communications. And when you do sell, use a really light touch.
RELATED: 6 Fun and Creative Ways to Connect With Your Followers on Snapchat
5. Be interested in other people
Ever read How to Win Friends and Influence People? by Dale Carnegie? It ought to be required reading for social media professionals, and maybe everyone else, too.
If I had to distill the whole book down to one quote, this would be it: This applies to social media in spades. And if you’re a salesperson aiming to do social selling, it applies even more.
Want just one way to apply this? Comment on blogs and social media posts. Most blogs don’t get a lot of comments, but they really want them. Just don’t be over-promotional; don’t include a link to your site in your comment. It will dissolve any good will you might otherwise have created.
6. Focus on a short list
Most of us would love to have tens of thousands of social media connections. But few people really need that many business contacts. And honestly, it’s unrealistic to try to maintain relationships with even a couple thousand people, even as passing acquaintances.
So consider scaling down. Several studies have determined that the largest professional network one person can maintain is somewhere between 100 and 300 people. What would happen if you focused your efforts on just 300 people? Who would you pick for that list?
7. Don’t automate everything you post
Social media is all about the moment. But despite the in-the-moment nature of social media, a lot of us are trying to queue up social media posts weeks in advance. I get why people want to do this—it saves a ton of time. But a social media feed with less than fresh content starts to feel stale.
This doesn’t mean you have to manually post every update. Just leave some flexibility in your posting schedule for some truly fresh—as in the last five hours—content. It’ll make your feeds more interesting. It’ll also make them seem like you’re actually paying attention to them, instead of outsourcing your activity to a bot.
8. Balance honesty, compassion, and good judgment for customer service
Social media has become the new front of customer service. That’s good—it gives us a way to help people faster and to be more accessible. But it can be rough when things go wrong.
There are many ways to flub social media customer service. One of them is to communicate in a tone that strikes your audience as “too corporate.” It can be hard to find the balance between a sanitized corporate voice and what sounds like a college student’s off the cuff answer. But you have to find that balance. Give your social media reps the autonomy to reply without having to wait for approval. And when things do go wrong, don’t relapse back to corporate speak (i.e., evasive, uncommitted language). You’ll only make your followers angrier.
9. When you’re wrong, admit it
Should you ever make a mistake, or say something dumb on social media, don’t try to cover it up. Many of the social media blowups that firms and people have gone through were only exacerbated by the “apology” after the fact. They could have avoided a lot more flack if they had just come clean and said, “That was a stupid post. We apologize. It won’t happen again.”
Also be careful about how you frame your apology. Don’t write it like this: “We’re sorry you were offended.” That slyly puts the blame on your audience when it was you who made the gaffe.
Nothing about a social media blowup is fun, but if you can just deal with it directly, honestly, and humbly upfront, you’ll fare far better.
10. Be yourself
Much of the advice about being authentic on social media boils down to this: Be yourself. Or in marketing speak: Be true to your brand voice.
It’s simple, but good advice. So long as you know what your company’s brand voice is (many don’t) sticking to it builds consistency. And consistency is one of the hallmark attributes of an authentic brand. Or an authentic person.
This may mean you can’t appeal to everyone. So be it.
RELATED: 5 Ways You Can Rock Social Media—Even If You’re Not Social Media Savvy
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