I was introduced to Social Media Today by Jay Deragon. I am not a regular blogger and at first I was admittedly a little shy about what to write about.
I consulted with Jay and he simply said, "Share your views but don't sell your views". I asked "What is the difference? His response opened my eyes and mind to better understanding why so many people blog and how the successful bloggers attract the largest audience of readers.
Here is what he said: "People get sales messages all day long from span emails to banner ads over promising and under delivering. If you're going to write something for a community discuss something of interest that people will relate to and do it in a way that is engaging. Work on establishing a relationship with the audience by telling your story and ask for feedback. If your audience responds re-engage with them if they don't try a different message that is relevant to them. Do not fear falling rather embrace who you are and what you have to say? Your topic needs to be centric to a need the audience has or may have in the future. Focus on the audience rather than yourself"
Well at 22 years old I had to step back and think through everything he told me. I thought about it for over two weeks then sent him and email with a bunch of questions. He responded right away as usual and I now feel great about sharing what he said rather than feeling shy. Here is the breakthrough he gave me.
Jay said: Mike, are you're currently interested in any particular girl? I said yes. He said "OK when you approach this girl how do you engage her in conversations. I said I try to find something to talk about. He said "do you usually end up talking about yourself? I said yes and he said that was my first mistake. He then went on and said "People want to be heard and understood which in turn helps you learn, understand and relate to them. Blogging is a lot like dating accept you're not in pursuit of sex rather your pursing relationships with like minded people. The key is to read what you think like minded people are saying, listen and then respond with your own input or thoughts on whatever you and they have in common but listen first."
I thought long and hard about what he said then I had to ask him more and I did. I asked, how do I tell people about Business 3.0 without selling Business 3.0? How to I promote Business 3.0? His response was simple. "Find and define the benefits of Business 3.0 then tell people how they could gain from 3.0 and specifically find out what they get that they currently aren't getting but want or need. Don't hype it, don't over promise just tell a story using the facts and the value you think you've identified, learn to relate"
OK, I heard him tell me the same story three different ways but with the same message and my brain went "I got it" and the revelation has changed my frame of reference about not only my business but relationships in general. Then I came back to Social Media Today to see how well my first post was received and found 366 views and 11 people rating it with a plus. I immediately called Jay and shared how excited I was and whether he thought this was good. He responded "You hit the ball out of the park now go and improve it". I asked what you mean. He said "It is time for you to think on your own and don't let your one post success go to your head, stick with the basics. The best thing you could probably do is thank the audience and share what you've learned from the experience"
He then asked, "by the way have you applied what we discussed to chasing that girl you mentioned". I said yes and it worked like a charm. He laughed and said, "OK, if you really want a relationship with her don't manipulate her with the method rather stay sincere and open, it is the best method in all relationships."
So I share all this with this community at the risk of exposing that which I didn't know but have now learned and want to learn more. Thank you again for giving me the motivation to learn more and to use what I am learning to create even more value for those interested in Business 3.0 within and throughout the social web.
I won't steal Jay's tag line rather I will end by asking: What can Business 3.0 do for you?
Hey Jay, hope you don't mind me sharing our conversations. How did I do?