Social = Engagement

 Sometimes as I look around I see things that I don't quite understand. One of these things is from people that claim to be heavily into social media but I rarely ever see them engage in any conversations with anyone. They post their messages or such and once in a while something from someone else but that's about it.

It seems that they are missing something. How are you connecting with others when you never engage them in a conversation? How can you have social interaction but yet hardly udder a word that isn't just your own message? If you were talking to this person in real life person,face to face, is this how the friendship would go. They sit there, you tell them things and then you walk away? Seriously, how long do you think this would last?

Social media has also been recognized for the way in which it has changed how public relations professionals conduct their jobs. It has provided an open arena where people are free to exchange ideas on companies, brands and products. As stated by Doc Searls and David Wagner, two authorities on the effects of Internet on marketing, advertising, and PR, "the best of the people in PR are not PR Types at all. They understand that there aren't censors, they're the company's best conversationalists."^[6] Social media provides an environment where users and PR professionals can engage in conversation, where PR professionals can promote their brand and improve their company's image, be listening and responding to what the public is saying about their product. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

The highlighted section seems to indicate that there is a conversation going on or needing to go on. Conversations to my best knowledge involve more than one person just talking. It's about engaging with your friends, followers and everyone that is interested. They had hoped for more than you are offering which is no engagement just a stream of you and whatever message your trying to get out. "Trying" being the word to focus on as it won't work for long.

The reason they originally connected with you is that they probably thought you had something interesting to offer. 

So do you have anything to offer before they move on or ignore you?

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Use me, send me, let me help you

The title about says it all.

I am willing and wanting for companies to use me so I can have more content for my blogs. This one and my other blog http://www.thebuildingblox.com/   I love to write and many love to read them. 

Send me your PR releases with new products or services that you are launching. Great new information should be spread around.

Send me to a trade show or event. Who doesn't like reading about what someone else saw and what they learned while they were there. The spring show for Coverings Tile and Stone Show was full of photos, information and I also had a great time assisting their social media campaign while I was there.

Offer me a product to test. If it's a great product, don't you want as many people as possible to know about it?

Offer me a product to use as a give away for a contest. That should create some great exposure on many channels and levels.

Invite me for a factory tour to showcase your products and people. I did that recently for The Genie Company http://www.geniecompany.com/ and it was a blast. It gave me many great posts to write and still more to come.

Ask for help with your social media program. I would love to assist, manage or do whatever I could to help make it a success for you.

I'm sure there are many other things that I could do to help you out either directly or indirectly but the key is for you to...

Step up and use me. Really!

toddvendituoli@gmail.com

toddvendituoli@socialmedia4builders.com

thebuildingblox@gmail.com

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It does work- actual case

Many of you out there I'm sure wonder whether social media actually works or is there a value to it? To that I would respond with resounding Yes and an example that recently happened to me.

A while ago I wrote a post on a building material product that I had used over on http://www.thebuildingblox.com/ and there were the usual comments but then months later I received an email from a women asking for more information, stating she had a home that was 7 years old and it was  giving her major repair issues. My first response was to wonder how she had found me so I Goggled the manufacturer and low and behold the article I wrote was the second listing after the company site. Now I knew. We had numerous email describing the issues, what her present contractor had told her, she sent me photos to illustrate the product as it was installed and what had happened.

So why did she contact me as opposed to going right to the manufacturer? She didn't trust what they were going to tell her. She was willing to trust someone that she didn't know based on a blog post. Isn't that the power of social media and where we are headed? Did it happen overnight? No. If the company was trusted would she have contacted them first. Maybe but it's an example of people trusting complete strangers who write blogs, real people. So does your business need to write a blog, humanize yourself and participate in social media? My vote is YES.




Post script:

I gave her my advice and thoughts but in reality I am not there. I do not know exactly how the product was installed, painted etc so I cannot pass judgement as the product does have a great many things that if done incorrectly, could have caused the issues (the installation PDF is quite detailed). A simple thing such as using the wrong paint can cause the product to do what she described so I suggested she contact the manufacturer and was thrilled she had contacted me for help.

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Why social media- video

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