This is the third post in the series Developing a Stellar Social Presence: Attract, Bond, and Cater.
In business, the number one go-to person is the one who can best help you make appropriate contacts for promoting you and your business. Developing a stellar social presence is akin to becoming that invaluable business contact.
In the last two posts, I discussed the attraction and bonding aspects of social media. The third facet is catering to your followers’ needs. Each of these activities is important on its own, yet dependent on the other two, like a three-legged stool. Without attracting followers, you have no one to bond with and cater to. Without bonding, you don’t understand their needs or remain attractive to them, which may result in becoming unfriended on Facebook, removed from circles on Google+, or unfollowed on Twitter or your blog. Catering to their needs is the sure-fire way to increase your importance and deepen the bond.
How you cater to your followers’ needs, depends on what you have to offer, your personality, and which social media you are using. Use your uniqueness to advantage.
“It’s not how fast you fly, it’s how you fly fast” – Planes.
The animation quoted above is a great example of how helping other helps you. In the cartoon, Dusty a dust cropper helps other planes during a race just because he is a nice guy. His catering to their needs results in his being helped by those he helped. Additionally, because of his good deeds, his fame expands.
Just like in the animation, your catering to others must be genuine. If not, people will eventually figure out that you have an ulterior motive. This insincerity may lead to lost followers. To retain followers, be honest with them.
Ways to cater to your following
Twitter is one of my favorite tools for catering to my followers’ needs. It is easy to retweet (RT) their messages. As a courtesy, I always RT a follower who RTs one of my messages or write an original tweet about them. On FF (friendly Friday) I send out tweets to several people as in introduction to each other. When I receive such tweets, I follow all the “new” people. This is a very helpful way to enlarge your following and help other’s enlarge theirs.
On LinkedIn and Google+, help others by commenting on a post they have written, referring others to the post, or tweeting about it.
On Facebook, do similarly. Like their pages and share their news feed. Join groups and be participative.
Whichever tool you use, remember that it is not about you but about helping others. With the right attitude and confidence in your ability to use the tools, you can find your unique way to cater to your follower’s needs. The more you do this, the more your social presence will rise.
How do you cater to your tribe? Please tell us.
