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| Photo credit: KEXINO on Flickr |
Until now.
For all to see, I have laid out the Rules of Social Media
Awesomeness that are guaranteed to make you fantastic (online, anyway).*
How (Not) to Be Awesome on Social Media:
- Ignore comments/@ mentions. Why spend time answering those pesky comments and Twitter mentions when you could be using that energy to promote your online presence? Honestly.
- Gratitude is overrated. Did someone retweet your link or share your Facebook post? That’s nice. Your gratitude is implied, anyway. No use in spending precious time and energy to thank people.
- Spam ALLLLL the people. Now here, here is a worthy thing to spend time on. Send everyone you can a link to your blog or Twitter or Facebook page (etc.). In fact, if you do bother to answer those pesky comments, this is how you want to do it. Speaking of which…
- Use Direct or Personal Messages to send links (to your blog/Twitter/Facebook etc.). They’re not useful for anything else and you’ll really make someone feel special by gracing them with a personal link to your incredible pages.
- Constantly remind people to like/follow/add you. If you don’t post on your Facebook and Twitter and tumblr about your other Social Media pages that people should follow at least three times a day, then you’re wasting your time. People forget that you have other pages out there that they should be subscribing to. They’ll thank you for the constant reminders.
- Be Negative Nancy or Debbie Downer all the time. Because like gratitude, optimism and smiley faces are overrated.
- ALWAYS TYPE LOUDLY. HOW IS ANYONE GOING TO NOTICE YOUR MESSAGE IF YOU WHISPER IT ON THE INTERWEBS? TYPE LOUDLY OR RISK BEING OVERLOOKED. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
- Leave all of your links on other people’s blogs/pages. I mean all of your links—your Twitter, blog, Facebook, tumblr, Google +, Pinterest, Klout, LinkedIn and Myspace (you never know…they might still use Myspace!)—every time you comment on someone else’s blog or page. On another note, if you don’t have a page on each of those sites, then you haven’t diversified your social media presence nearly enough.
- Be rude. Hey, it works for celebrities and it’ll make you memorable!
- Never share other people’s content. Social media isn’t about sharing, it’s about YOU! Never forget that.
So there you have it. Now go out there and be awesome.
*And by “these rules will make you awesome on Social Media”
I mean, “please, please, please don’t
do these things or risk being very un-awesome on Social Media.”
What would you add to the Rules of Social Media Awesomeness?
28 comments:
All great tips.
I admit, I haven't been good at the twitter acknowledgments and I *never* do a #ff (I find those annoying). In my defense, all my Tweeting to date has been via computer, but I did just get a smartphone & this weekend intend to learn how to USE it. I only this week found out where retweets and mentions hide on Twitter.
Re: Debbie Downer - I do find it hard to comment on, let alone follow, somebody who sounds like she is one pantyhose run away from hanging herself by them. I feel guilty about that, but I only have a tiny amount of time each day for this stuff.
I very rarely do #FF, but I try to thank people who include me in their #FF round-up (followfriday.com can help a lot with that).
As far as the Debbie Downer thing goes, I understand having a bad day and venting a little (whether or not online is the best place to do it is another matter, but nevertheless...). It just becomes problematic as far as social media things go when people are consistently negative.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Beverly!
lol! I really need to work on talking louder. I'm guess I'm just a little shy when it comes to my posts. Oh, and I should also add lots of stars and hearts to go along with the shouting. Stars and hearts make everything better.
Stars and hearts and other little adorable designs are a must for EVERY. SINGLE. TWEET. (I'm practicing my shouting, see?)
The whole Direct Message thing is something I'm glad I decided not to take a part of. I don't really click through any of the links I'm DM'd when I follow someone on Twitter.
Unless I specifically asked for a link, I don't either. There are way too many viruses and hacks out there to risk it, not to mention that spamming is just bad form.
Love these. I try to make sure my tweets are a mix of glimpses of my personality, promoting other people's work, sharing interesting articles, and only then promoting myself. I dont always follow this balance perfectly, but I try.
Thanks for letting me know about the links to other pages in
DMs. Haven't done it, but was thinking about it. I just wasn't sure if it was appropriate or not. Now I know :)
Thank you, Javacia! The balance doesn't have to be perfect (or anywhere near perfect) for it to work as long as one aspect doesn't highly overpower the others. Sounds like you're already on the right track by trying to keep the right balance in mind. :)
Sure thing, Yesenia! If someone asks for a link, then it's always acceptable, but if it isn't asked for, it's generally considered spam.
great list! Made me laugh! Especially be rude like celebrities.
#FF @person @inever @speakto @directly @butonlythrough @thissoftware @ipayno @attentionto @thisis @arecording (via HelperSpammerBuddy5000)
Seriously, I enjoy being mentioned during Follow Friday or whatever, I really do, and I don't mean to seem ungrateful... but I'd appreciate it more if your recommendations didn't come from a machine.
Thanks., Leslie! Glad you enjoyed the post! ^_^
Ah yes, I agree. I appreciate all my Follow Friday mentions, but it definitely means a lot more when they aren't computer generated.
Fabulous post! You're saying what we're all thinking *nods*
You should add, don't follow people who follow you. Only follow the "cool" people. The operative word in social network is "network". If your not on it to follow others, what is the point.
Thanks for point out DM and link. I will stop, now. Is it ok to just thank people for following by DM?
Thank you, Angie! :)
Hmm, I actually don't think I would add that. I wrote a post a while back about why I don't auto-follow back on Twitter, and while I agree that networking is key, I don't think that necessarily means you have to follow everyone who follows you. It's a controversial topic, though, and I fully understand both sides of the argument.
As for the DM thing, while I'm personally not bothered by DMs that just say, "Thanks for following" others hate DMs with a burning passion. Your safest bet is probably to just share your gratitude through a normal tweet (but really it's a stylistic thing...there's no right or wrong way to say thank you IMO).
Yeah. I agree with not automatically following everyone that follows you. But, I do think that someone who has been on twitter for years, and tweets daily but only follow 100 people are limiting what twitter is all about and the possibility of networking with people. I don't follow people who only follow a small amount of people no matter how prolific their tweets may be.
That's interesting and I understand your point. I tend to follow interesting accounts regardless of their follow-back ratio (the way I see it, if I'm following them it's not because I expect them to follow me back, and although I agree that networking is very important to the social media experience, if they choose not to utilize it but still have something interesting to say, that's all that matters to me). Otherwise I try to follow people who consistently interact with me. :)
#Using #somany #hashtags #its #almost #impossible #to #understand #followback #indie #bananasplit
I love this list! It's spot on. I hate getting those DMs that say "Thanks for following, now follow us HERE.com and HERE.com and HERE.com!" I always think, is it not enough that I followed you on Twitter? Obviously I know what a follow button is and how to use it, so please don't push me to be your biggest fan. It usually has the opposite effect.
Yes! That one is much more Twitter-oriented, but I know exactly what you mean.I understand the usefulness of hashtags, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
I have to agree. To me, the "Thanks for following" part is lessened when it's followed by, "now follow us HERE." That kind of pushiness tends to alienate people pretty quickly.
*crawls back on chair after fit of laughter* Awesome post, Ava! Dead on brilliant :)
Thank you, Gene! So glad you enjoyed it! ^_^
love your post. I feel like so many people (at times myself included) miss the mark with social media and forget that it is a conversation and not a bull horn.
Exactly! Social media wasn't meant to be used as free billboard advertising.
And thank you, James!
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