Are you socially savvy?
Over the weekend my husband and I had an unexpected opportunity to have dinner with a gentleman that is running for congress in the state of Texas. After our brief encounter, I went home and googled him. To be quite honest I was very surprised by my findings.
Even though he gave a passionate and dynamic speech and he obviously moved many of those that attended his conference, his online presence was just the opposite. His website was a mess and looked unprofessional. He had no Facebook page and has never tweeted once.
In 2012, companies and people are not only judged by real life encounters, but also by their social media persona. Many people, like myself, expect companies and politicians to be socially savvy (online and offline). When that expectation is not met, there are usually plenty of other choices for us to move on to.
Being social media savvy will become more and more important as time goes on. As a mother of teenagers, I know firsthand where the rising generation gets their information (Here is a hint…it’s not offline). The great news is that, for the most part, it’s free and easy.
Fortunately for this politician, I was able to talk to him after my findings and give him a little friendly advice. My advice to him and you is:
- Clean up your website. Less is more in most cases. This is one area you may need to spend some money and hire a professional, but it will be money well spent. This becomes your online face.
- Get a presence on Facebook! Post often. This is completely free!
- Get a Twitter account. The great thing about having both FB and Twitter is that you can connect them. Anything you post on FB becomes a tweet.
- Start collecting email addresses from your admirers and customers. Email is still a very effective way to communicate. It is also very inexpensive.
And of course…. Don’t forget to be socially savvy offline too!
