How to Have a Winning Social Media Personality

Hint: Be Open and Honest to Win Prospects, Customers and Fans

What if we just told the truth in our marketing? For many marketers this is a scary concept. Yet, being honest and telling the truth is the basis for being transparent in our customer interactions. At the core of social media, it enables us to build relationships with prospects and customers over time. At a point when the trust is gone for prospects and customers, and marketers are guilty until proven innocent, it’s critical to overcome consumer skepticism.

To win over prospects, customers and the public, use what Scott Monty refers to as the Dale Carnegie Approach to Social Media based on Carnegie’s best selling book Winning Friends and Influencing People (Affiliate link). Real life connections win over traditional advertising messages. To this end, show up on social media platforms, listen to what’s being said, and contribute to the conversation (Note: This doesn’t mean broadcast your promotional message.)

5 Benefits of being honest and open (aka transparent)

Here are five ways that being honest and open helps you to build a winning social media personality. These points were at the heart of Johnny B. Truant’s BlogWorld Expo New York’s presentation.

1. Disclose information about your motivations. Otherwise your audience and the public will invent one for you.
2. Give people a reason to pay attention. Being honest and open is refreshing;  people can spot the difference.
3. Talk to people like people, not as a potential sale. Make your prospects and customers feel like an insider.
4. Ease the tension of marketing by telling an ongoing story.
5. Avoid the potential for prospects to claim they were misled.

How to Have a Winning Social Media Personality

To be a winner on social media, here’s a set of social media dos and don’ts.

DO’s

1. Be yourself. Act like a real person. Don’t be formal since that puts your audience at a distance.
2. Have opinions. Take a stand but be careful that you don’t hurt others in the process.
3. Admit when you make a mistake or don’t know something. Everyone makes errors at some point in time. Own up to it without blaming others.
4. Maintain a sense of humor. Take a break from being serious all the time. This can be helpful when your personal life spills into your professional activities.
5. Give credit to others where appropriate. If you use someone else’s ideas let your readers know.

DON’Ts

1. Don’t be lazy, unprofessional, or irresponsible. Remember that there are real people with feelings on the other end of your social media efforts. It’s important to consider social media’s social responsibility. Take the extra effort to make sure that whatever you’re saying is well founded.
2. Don’t speak badly of others. Respect other social media participants and understand that they may not know English as well as you do.
3. Don’t complain about something if you don’t have a solution. Look for answers that contribute to the community.
4. Don’t try to trick people. Your goal is to be open about your relationships with others on social media. If you’re selling something or trying to persuade someone to your point of view, don’t do it in a deceptive manner.
5. Don’t tell everything. While honesty is important, you need to be consider those around you and think about the implications of your interactions.

Use this honest and open approach to help readers find you. Even if they don’t purchase from you, they’ll at least respect you and you’ll develop a set of followers.

Do you have any other suggestions that help drive more prospects and customers? Please include your stories in the comment section below.

Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen

Here are some related articles that you may find of interest.

• Blogging checklist-60 tips
• 29 Reasons you’re not getting traffic
• Integrate stories into your marketing
• 29 Ways to find stories in your company

Photo credit: mrecuay via Flickr