How Much Confidential Info Do You Share On Social Media?

How Much Confidential Info Do You Share On Social Media?

How Much Confidential Info Do You Share On Social Media?

Recently, I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad thing happen. When you work in the social media realm, people expect certain things. They expect you to share. And yet, although some of my best friends knew about the terrible event, I did not share it widely.

Connection Does Not Always Equal Friendship

Connection Does Not Always Equal Friendship

Connection Does Not Always Equal Friendship

Being “friends” on Facebook does not mean that someone is truly friends, despite the saying that a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met. If you are squinting at someone’s image, wondering where you met them (or if you met them at all), maybe it’s time to cut them loose if Facebook is your “safe place.”

 office photo

Being a Private Person

Are you a private person? Now, I’m not necessarily talking about being an introvert because that’s different. But are you private in your communications online? Would you be ready to share something and then have a relative stranger come up and say “oh, hey, I heard that you fell off the roof while on vacation!” If not, then you might consider not sharing that tidbit, although it’s easy to forget that 100s or 1000s of people could potentially see what you post.

rock concert photo

How to Decide What to Share

Here are a few questions you could ask yourself before you share something:

  • Will this hurt me later?
  • Will this expose a friend?
  • Will sharing this get back to the person I’m sharing about?
  • Could this have any negative impacts?

And here are 9 things you should never share on Facebook, from Post Planner.

social media photo

Where to Share

Certain people have places that are more private than others on social media. For instance, I consider Twitter to be the most filled with strangers of all of my platforms. Yours could be Facebook. Or LinkedIn. At any rate, there’s a hierarchy of places for all of us. I might share something in a closed Facebook group before I share it on Twitter.

Some would say that you could share more safely on Twitter, since it doesn’t ask you to share your own or your friends’ information as much. See Facebook vs Twittter: Privacy Issues.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Social Sharing

There are many good aspects of sharing. For instance, you could share a picture that you want all your friends to see. It beats emailing it to everyone! And you can create an album on Facebook or a secret board on Pinterest for those images. By the way, here are Ten Ways to Be Social, from the archive.

The Bad and the Ugly

There are also many, many ways to fail on social media. For instance:

What’s Something You’d Never Share?

I promise not to tell! Leave me a comment. Thank you.

Facebook Twofer: Sharing Content to Be Seen

Facebook Twofer: Sharing Content to Be Seen

Facebook Twofer: Sharing Content to Be Seen

You might have read my recent post about Facebook “stealing my cheese” a few days ago. And you might have also heard that you should be more social on social media. A post that my friend Bridget Willard created gave me this idea. Why not share posts from people similar to you once or twice a day? It’s an easy way to be social, plus you get the added benefit of posting more often and (possibly) getting better numbers on Facebook. And by the way, here’s a terrific article about how to determine what works on your Facebook posting frequency, via Social Media Examiner.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

That’s what happens with social media. Things change. And also: there is no one size fits all. What worked last year, last month, or even last week may not be the same this week. And that’s especially true with Facebook and its changing landscape.

Form Alliances By Sharing Content

Sharing other people’s content is a super easy way to get your post seen by more people, plus it’s an excellent way to form alliances.

An Easy Idea

Facebook Twofer: Sharing Content

Facebook Twofer: Sharing Content

Just like when you’re in the grocery store and you get a twofer coupon that is doubled at the checkstand, sharing gives you two for the price of one! It’s a happy surprise. And, it’s such an easy idea, that you might not even consider it. And like me, you might be in favor of easy.

Not convinced? Here are more reasons to share content

  1. Building relationships. The main reason people share is to build relationships. They’re looking for community. If you share someone else’s content, you help build community.
  2. Creating social capital. By sharing, you build social capital. When you need something shared, people are more likely to share your content.
  3. Finding others with similar interests. By sharing something you find interesting, you let others know what’s interesting to you. People may not know of your newfound interest in vegetable gardening or roller derby. And you may discover a new friend–or rediscover an old friend.

 Try Sharing More Content

Let me know if this idea resonates with you. Try sharing more content, maybe once or twice a week, and let me know how it goes!

 

Social Media Managers: 10 Ways the San Francisco Giants Can Improve Your Game

Social Media Managers: 10 Ways the San Francisco Giants Can Improve Your Game

Social Media Managers: 10 Ways the San Francisco Giants Can Improve Your Game

Recently, I saw the San Francisco Giants play at AT&T Park. You might not realize that the Giants have their very own Social Media Cafe, where you can see tweets about the game scroll across giant screens and see their awesome command center. Here are some of the ways I found the Giants’ social media effective, and some ways the Giants can improve your game as Social Media Managers (“SMMs”).

Engage Fans Before They Reach the Game

While waiting for our friends to arrive, my friends decided to visit the Giants clothing store in the park. I tweeted a picture of some t-shirts (below). And @CafeSFG not only heard me, but replied! So my experience of them being awesome began before we even got to the game. How awesome is that? For SMMs, your blog can be a way to “warm up” your possible clients before they meet you in person. If you need hints on engagement, you might want to read my post on being engaged and tweeting texts versus links.

The reply tweet from @CafeSFG, below.

Be Accessible

If you visit the the San Francisco Giants’ Cafe at AT&T park, you’ll notice a few things. You can walk right up to their social media team and talk to them. As in, “Hey, thanks for sending me that tweet!” accessible. They sit in a room, where you can see all the hashtags and accounts they’re monitoring on a huge screen. And you can get an idea of what it would be like to work there, how quickly the tweets fly by, and how fast-paced the job really is. As an SMM, how accessible are you to your fans? Meeting fans in person is always the best way, but if you can’t do that, then how about Google Hangouts on Air, responding to people on Twitter, or meeting people at conferences?

Be Accessible

Be Accessible

Allow for Spontaneity

If working for the Giants isn’t the most spontaneous social media position in the world, I’m not sure what is. Fans tweet and post Instagram pictures, which the team reposts, replies to, and favorites. Chosen tweets and Instagram pix appear on the big screen, so you can see your own words and pictures “up in lights” as it were. Sometimes being an SMM is the extreme opposite of spontaneity, with all the scheming that goes into planning posts, creating good content, and choosing images. But having spontaneity is what makes the job interesting, and for me, is what makes me want to get up and do it all over the next day.

Let Your Fans Create the Content

When your fans have interesting things to say, why not let them? When there is passion and excitement about the game, why not allow those opinions and images to flow freely? If you’re at all familiar with the success of ICanHazCheeseburger, you know that letting fans create content is a win times a million. Although this article about the popular cat meme is from 2008, I love the explanations (along with the charts and graphs).

Give Them the Right Drink

On a cold night, give your fans a hot drink. The Giants’ cafe has hot coffee, chocolate, and pastries from Peets Coffee. Are you giving your fans the right drink?

Create Branded Clothing

The Giants have worked with brands such as Victoria’s Secret to create their soft, beautifully designed and branded clothes. And I’ve heard the Giants are about to sign a deal with ZipzShoes for co-branded footwear. Maybe you don’t have a huge budget, but many places let you make one or two pieces at a time (including Zipzshoes).

Tweet from Zipzshoes saying they’re working with the Giants (guess who their first customer will be?)!

Let Your Fans Share the Spotlight

When a fan shares a really great photo on social media, that photo gets reshared on the big screen. At a Giants’ game, fans are watching taking pictures of their team, but also watching to see if that picture they took will show up and get reshared. Here are some tips on creating a good retweet, by the way.

Be A Leader

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m a huge fan of the Giants in more ways than one. They really knocked it out of the ballpark with their social media engagement. While creating their own cafe and engaging with fans may not be the only things causing them to sell out their games, those things do cause many fans to want to return. What are you doing to knock it out of the ballpark for your clients?

Give ‘Em Fireworks!

Give 'Em Fireworks!

Give ‘Em Fireworks!

Not just fireworks, but fireworks! The SF Giants’ fireworks display was bigger and better than many displays I’ve seen on the fourth of July. You can walk outside the ballpark onto the dock and see everything overhead–one of the best displays I’ve ever seen. Again, maybe you don’t have the budget for a fireworks display, but how about an unexpected gift? Flowers and chocolate, anyone?

Be a Winner

Last, but not least, the SF Giants won the game! Of course they did! What are you doing to create a win for your fans or business?

Be a Winner

Be a Winner

 

 

 

 

 

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