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On this episode I talk about:
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Social Media Etiquette and Facebook Rants
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Train People How To Treat You
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Email Revelations: What You Don’t Know Could Probably Get You Into Trouble
- Ask Rodney – Send in your questions, comments and ideas
Recently I ran across a Facebook post of a prominent author and lifestyle business coach who published a post that personally I found a little off putting. In essence it was a heated post related to how people approach them via email to ask for favors, support, what have you.
I’m not begrudging this persons frustration but I was a little taken aback by their choice to take it to Facebook for support, validation or commiseration of their point. My immediate thought was, “why not take advantage of this opportunity to teach us (your fan base) how to approach you instead of creating a heated debate?
The reality is this, it’s not easy to run a business, especially one that places us in the spotlight. But as you grow and experience more success – the public will respond in kind. Often with requests that you have the option to either accommodate or not. It’s your choice!
Will there be times when you receive requests that are out of line, or asked in a less than respectful manner? Without question.
But for the author of this particular Facebook post it wasn’t the asking that bothered them so much as the manner in which the originator made the request. Clearly the requestor made a failed attempt to be mindful of the recipients availability to accommodate their request.
In fairness to the writer of the request there would be no way of them knowing this before hand and this is where the opportunity for the recipient of the request to educate their audience appears.
Here are my three tips for not only having a great experience on social media but how to interact with people in your everyday life.
1. Get clear about your purpose for being on social media (for example are you there to connect with potential clients and grow your business? Or is it outlet to connect with family and friends. Get clear about your intentions and a create a plan for how you’ll communicate with your audience.
2. If you use you page primarily for business be mindful of what you post and if something upsets or irritates you especially as it relates to the way others reach out and communicate with you be sensitive to what you post and how you respond. Remember ~ your audience is always watching.
3. Train us how to treat you. If something upsets you instead of going on a rant on Facebook, turn the frustration into a teaching moment. For example, if you have a preference for how you’d like people to reach out to you consider creating a short video, or maybe write an article or record a podcast like what I’m doing here.
Recommendations:
To take it a step further and expand on the teaching experience perhaps by providing a template or script on ways you recommend people to reach out.
Next, take the thing that frustrates you and use it as a learning experience for yourself and the audience that you’ve worked so hard to create – especially the one that’s watching you. And remember, we’ve all have had to ask for help on our entrepreneurial journey so be sensitive to the fact that people sometimes just aren’t aware of your particular protocols.
Especially in this day and age with the internet and the globalization of our economy we’re creating connections with individuals whose language and communication style will assuredly be very different from our own. So again the more specific and clear you can be about your needs and freely share them the easier it will be for others to honor them.
Social Media Etiquette:
This ties into my second topic for this episode Social Media Etiquette ~ should you share everything that’s going on in your life or how you’re feeling on Facebook? Listen, I know that Facebook is a communication tool on mass, yes we use it create or foster relationships but in my opinion we don’t need a moment by moment accounting of how you spend your day. For example, telling us you just checked into a 7-11 or what you had for breakfast this morning.
I get that for some of us it’s cool and sort of fun to share everything that’s going in our daily lives, but I also feel that these tools and the constant need to connect in my opinion actually becomes the vice that fosters separation from real live interactions.
If we can’t look at the person sitting in front of us and say hello but we can blow up our Facebook page with moment by moment accountings of our daily activities somethings off.
What I’m suggesting here is practice being present in the moment, tune into your existing environment and untether from technology a bit more.
Personally I go to the beach a lot, I’m fortunate to live in a beautiful coastal community here in Central California and love getting out outside for some fresh air or going for a walk, often I bring my lunch, and a book or my iPad loaded with Podcasts I like to listen to and learn from.
I refer to these precious times as my retreat afternoons. And lately I’ve tried practicing putting my phone in my backpack or turning it off completely. Fortunately I don’t have wifi at the ocean so it forces me to stay present to my surroundings.
The gift: ideas come, revelations occur and often I return with renewed focus, ideas for future podcasts or Facebook posts. Many times I take photos with my iPad and if you’ve visited my Facebook page you’ve probably seen some of my photography.
So I suggest carving out some personal time for yourself to have these creative inspirational downloads. Then when you share something with us on Facebook make something epic, something fun and light hearted, that gives us hope, and let’s us experience your world the way you see it.
And this brings me to another topic which is marketing on Facebook.
If you listened to episode 22 I dedicated that entire show to Facebook Marketing 101. I call it my foundational course on how to market your business on Facebook. If this interests you at all I recommend you check that out.
Email Marketing Tips:
If you find that your inbox has become unmanageable I found a resource you may wish to explore (with one caveat) I have not used Sanebox so explore at your own discretion.
- Email Marketing Strategies That Actually Work Special Report – click here to get my 3 Email Marketing Strategies You Can Deploy Immediately!
- Sanebox – https://www.sanebox.com/
What did you think about today’s show?
I’d love to get your thoughts, comments and feedback. Leave them in the comments section below.
Thank you for listening!
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If you have any questions head on over to AskRodney and leave your question there or if you prefer you can leave a voice message via Speakpipe. A wonderful online tool that allows you to leave a voice message up to three minutes in length, so get clear and be specific before you calling in. Finally, you can leave me a voice message via Google Voice at 858 413 7526.
Either way is fine it’s totally up to you, I’ll gather those messages and answer them via a future episode of the podcast. So ask away – I’m waiting for ya!