Image credit: http://www.mikemccready.ca

Your social media efforts have probably gone through several evolutions since you first began developing your online presence.  At the onset, you may have jumped in with both feet while discovering the ins and outs and proper social media etiquette. It was and still is a learning process. The rules change, people maintain different ideas and policies but all the while the main premise still remains, it is about nurturing and growing relationships. It isn’t all that much of a mystery. Unmask your potential, share remarkable content, be authentic and build your brand.

“Tweet valuable content and don’t get caught up in numbers…get caught up in building great relationships!” Lisa Malcom, The Social Suite

In the midst of all of this, is the quest to be on top, showcasing your talents, your knowledge, and business acumen. We all want to be heard, seen and have a voice. What I have noticed over the years is the tremendous increase in the amount of noise and sometimes an unfortunate decrease in engagement. Building your relationships, instilling loyalty and trust within your community is at times forgotten with the push of content and URLs or the blind retweets only because you trust the source.

Proving you’re a reliable thought leader is significant, however willy nilly digital diarrhea can be overkill. Info excess is crushing  – our brains are on overdrive attempting to filter all of the data thrown at us and we miss out on personal relationships during the digestion process.

“Activate your fans, don’t just collect them like baseball cards.” Jay Baer

• Mix up your content
• Don’t just post links
• Share posts of your followers and networks
• Add in some inspirational quotes
• Use dynamic images
• Spark the conversation
• Listen, truly listen
• Visit the profiles and websites of your network
• Take a REAL interest because you care
• Learn about your followers and fans
• Give credit where credit is do
• Share more than you promote

BEFORE you retweet, actually read the article.

If you care enough to share it, you should know what you are sharing with your trusting audience. Yes, it’s kind and generous to give back, but blindly posting for the sheer sake of it is almost meaningless. Does the content resonate with you? Spark any thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? What was the catalyst for sharing??

Invest the time and energy to know what you are reposting. Wouldn’t you like it if people actually read your content before they did the same?  Speaking from personal experience, after having thanked someone for an RT, I have also asked a question about the post. Some respond and others don’t. Those that don’t could fit into one of 2 categories, they aren’t all that social in social media or they didn’t read the post and didn’t care to go back to it when I posed the question. Of course, there is always the chance that didn’t see my inquisitive tweet??

“You can never go wrong by investing in communities and the human beings within them.” Pam Moore

Take an active role WITH your online universe, getting to know and engage with your followers. You never know who you will meet or where the road may lead. It is a fascinating world when you invest the time and passion to mindfully participate.