I have 14 different social media accounts that I manage, I’m overwhelmed most the time and I most of them are poorly neglected. I’ve been losing interest in social media altogether, seeing almost no return on my efforts, or so I thought. I needed some direction or I was about to delete every last one of my accounts and stick with blogging alone. Then I found the book Got social Mediology by Jay Izso.
The book is based on the psychology of social media which made it pretty interesting to me before I even opened it. With a background in journalism (ok, I took a few classes) I’m always interested how people’s minds work, how they’re drawn to products and ideas, which eventually made me lean away from journalism and towards sociology. The book sort of rewrote how I think about social media and taught me to stop looking at the online universe as a bunch of blank faces staring back at me. I had to imagine every one my followers as people, and people they start to become.
The book encourages an organic, personable approach to socializing with your following, something that seems obvious now, and actually much easier than trying to relate to blank faces. As I read on, I started to notice mistakes past clients have made with their following as well. Impersonal tweets over and over again, like “Purple Yoga Pants, Seamless Design, on sale all day! Buy now!”. Who want’s to see that in their stream? I’m more likely to unfollow someone who over and over again is just trying to sell me things. It comes off as desperate and needy, and as the book made me realize, this is because the company is not thinking of me as a person but as a potential dollar in their pocket.
The book goes into detail about the pros and cons of each type of social networking platform and made me appreciate the benefits of them all and how to relate on each. For example, you don’t post blogs on Pinterest, and you don’t post an uncaptioned photo on Twitter, there are rules to know, etiquette to follow and knowing them can mean the difference between engaging and alienating your following.
Probably the best part about this book, especially since I’m an entrepreneur with no capital, is that is encourages FREE ways to engage people, and more successfully than if you were just paying. Pay for a banner on a website but TALK to your potential customers, clients and consumers.
I truly think this book is an invaluable resource for social media managers of any kind, of any skill level. I’ve been doing web design and social media for a decade and learned things I wish I’d known when Facebook and Twitter were just becoming a thing. It’s never too late to start engaging your audience though! They’re just waiting for you to notice them and in return, they’ll notice you and your product right back.
You can get Got Social Mediology on Amazon.