It’s been said that all you need to know you learned in kindergarten. There’s definitely some truth to that statement. Here are three nuggets from your first days at school that make a huge difference in your social media experience.
Share
On the first day of kindergarten, if you didn’t already, you learned the importance of sharing.
When you see something that you like, share it with your connections, friends or followers. The person who posted it first will be happy that you liked it enough to pass it along. They’ll love you for it if they created the content.
One of the greatest aspects of social media is how easy it is to share what you like and find interesting. Do it!
On Twitter, be sure to credit the original source by keeping their username in the tweet.
Sharing can also be as easy as taking an article from your favourite newspaper or periodical or a blog post that you enjoyed and taking the initiative to share it. Match it to the audience on your different platforms. If you find it interesting, someone else will too.
Respond
In kindergarten, you learned to respond when someone talks to you. No one likes feeling like they are talking to themselves. Yet when posting on social media, you can be forgiven for feeling that way-even me.
At times, it’s hard for me to tell if I’m sharing ideas that are resonating or not. Then I’ll meet someone who tells me how much they love my tweets or my blog. Often it’s someone that I didn’t even realize was reading it, let alone someone who thought highly of it.
If you like someone’s content, take a moment to let them know. Better yet if you like something specific that they have posted, respond such as a RT with “Agreed” before or say “Thanks for sharing that article.” You can even disagree-just do it politely and preferably constructively.
A response helps affirm to the person posting that others appreciate what they think and do. The result is they are more likely to continue to share that content.
Comment
As kids, we’re taught how to think and respond to ideas. In plain language, we’re taught how to have a conversation. As we grow older, we’re expected to be able to develop critical thinking skills about longer more sophisticated ideas.
Anyone who blogs or posts content on Facebook pages lives for comments. They want to know what you think about what they have taken the time to write or posted on their wall.
They want interaction. They want to know what you think. If they didn’t care, they either wouldn’t write it or share it in the first place or they could easily do so where it is not possible or difficult to respond. Instead, they intentionally choose to give you that opportunity.
Social media is intended to be a dialogue not a soliloquy. Think of a blog post or even a post on a Facebook wall as someone inviting you to engage in a conversation. Join it.
And don’t be afraid of being the first. There seems to be a great hesitation to be the first to respond. People appear to be more open to commenting if others have already have. So why not help get the conversation rolling by being the first.
The Golden Rule
Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you is another nugget that was reinforced in kindergarten.
If you dedicate time to sharing what you find interesting or what you think will help others, I’m sure you appreciate when people share it, respond to it or have a conversation with you about it.
So make sure you let someone else know you like and value their content. Hopefully, they’ll either return the favour or pay it forward.
This is excellent. I’ve been seeing a lot of posts lately about “don’t share your intellectual capital… don’t let people buy you a coffee in exchange for your advice”… and it’s really been bothering me! Sharing and lending a hand is how networks are built. Trust networks. Being a good friend can lead to amazing things.
Thanks Tricia! I think sharing is fundamental to social media. I also like to think that being generous of your time in real life also has its rewards.
You are right, sharing is important, and so is a conversation. Yet we are all falling into the habit of clicking “like” or RTing something; It’s so quick and easy to do without commenting. I have been guilty of not wanting to be the first to comment, and if there are already a lot of comments, I don’t feel my own are necessary, so there is a happy medium!
I agree that hitting “like” or RT instead of saying something. Anyone who mainly does that should challenge themselves to engage at a higher level. My post was directed more at people who lurk without even doing that much. For them, it would be a good first step to becoming more engaged in their use of social media. I’m surprised at how many times I learn how much people like what I post or tweet that I didn’t know read my blogs or liked my tweets enough to say something.
I understand not commenting when there are a lots of comments already. Popular blogs can have hundreds. Unless you have something new or unique to say, I don’t see it as a must. But if the post is good enough, maybe it should be shared via another SM platform?