Crossing over
This is an issue brought to my attention by Althea from Worldly Bites. As a member of Victoria’s Social Media Club, she noted that some of the members represent themselves differently online than they do in person; or, worse yet, never appear in person at all. Living their life behind the glow of the monitor, they are quick to add a comment or give advice to others but no one has met them. Are they communication angels? Floating in when needed to add insight and expertise? Or are they recluses, typing in their underwear while snacking on a bag of chips? Without emerging into the real world, no one will ever know.
Don't be a Social Media Ghost
Get out there and meet those who you are connecting with through social media. Go to events, hand out business cards, make yourself known. Don’t just be an eerie presence on the web. Cross over to the real world, we welcome you.
BUT, remember to portray yourself accurately, otherwise your real world debut will not be so successful.
You’ve been communicating with a potential client over Twitter, and the time has come to meet up to discuss business details. So far, you’ve determined that his company needs a social media presence, and he wants you to lead the project. You may have exaggerated your past experience just a little in order to get the job. Now, you have to deliver on those promises. What do you do?
Everyone lies on their resume, right? Wrong. Represent yourself accurately, whether it is in person or online. It is a proven fact that people have less inhibitions over the internet and although it may be tempting to elaborate on your skills over Twitter, you will have to prove your abilities when called upon. A true professional is confident in their abilities, but does not misrepresent themselves. You will lose the respect of prospective clients and employers faster by lying than by admitting that a skill needs to be further developed. Honesty is the best practice, in person and online.
Tweeting it like it is: Part 2
In my first post about Twitter, I outlined how to get as many followers as possible, quickly. However, these followers may not be of the best caliber. To weed out the followers that are not contributing to your network there are sites to help you out.
Friendorfollow.com – By entering your Twitter name, you can see who you are following that do not follow you back. There, you can go through, hover over each picture, and unfollow anyone that is not adding quality information to your Twitter account. I wouldn’t suggest unfollowing everyone that isn’t following you. There will be some people on Twitter that will still contribute positively that may not be following you. Be selective, but choose carefully.
Socialoomph.com – This site is designed to help you manage your new followers. By signing up, you can set it to respond with a customized welcome message, automatically follow new followers, or to put new followers on hold pending approval.
Tweetstats.com – With Tweetstats.com, you can track your Twitter data.See how many tweets you make, who you send them to, and when you send them, along with other information.
These are only a few of the sites available to help you manage your Twitter account. A list of 47 Awesome Twitter Tools you should be Using, from Deontee.com, gives you the names and links to other sites that will help you to maximize the potential of your Twitter account.
The Fine Line Between Private and Personable
How do you decide what information to post online?
A big concern with using social media sites is who sees what is posted. Some experts suggest having a public professional account, as well as a private personal one, and keeping all information separate. Others say that this discredits you as an online persona, and creates a distance with the reader. There is a delicate balance that can be achieved, and with minimal effort.
My guideline in life has always been “don’t do anything you’d be ashamed to tell someone about later”, and this also applies online. Are you excited to show your boss those drunken party pictures from last weekend? If yes, then, by all means, post them on your Facebook profile. If you answered no, like the rest of us, either refrain from posting, or edit your privacy settings to limit who views your wild night out.
It really is quite easy, just go up to the top right of your Facebook page, where you will see the Account drop-down menu. Select ‘Privacy Settings’. Once in that screen, you can adjust all aspects of who can see what on your profile.
Facebook Privacy Settings menu
By adjusting your privacy settings, you don’t have to monitor every picture posted of you on Facebook.
As for Twitter, I really don’t find it that difficult to self-edit what I tweet, but if you find it hard to not complain about your jerk boss or awful coworker, maybe you shouldn’t have a Twitter account in the first place. As far as I can tell, and I may be wrong, there isn’t any way to edit your settings so that certain individuals cannot see certain tweets. Try and keep the inappropriateness to a minimum, and I’m sure you’ll be fine.
Another good rule to follow is to not say or post anything that you aren’t comfortable owning. This means that you can say whatever you feel like to whoever you feel like, so long as you are taking responsibility for saying it.
By completely editing your web presence, you remove the individuality that makes your audience want to follow you. Without the authentic personality shining through, you are just another generic web user doing nothing spectacular.
Tweeting it like it is
New to Twitter, I am learning the ropes to tweeting.
Goal: Get as many people to follow me as possible
Step 1: Follow as many people as possible. This includes people who have nothing to do with my cause, who I will eventual stop following
Step 2: Follow everyone that follow someone who follows me in order to have them reciprocate the follow
Have I lost you yet?
Step 3: Retweet random information I find in order to entice new followers
Step 4: I’m not really sure. Take over the communications world? When I find out, I’ll let you know
CG
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