Use Social Media to Help, Not Just To Promote

Social media has lost its way. It’s moved too close to ‘look at me, look at me’ and frighteningly far from ‘I want to help you’. If all you are about is ‘look at my greatness’, you’ll quickly alienate your followers.

Social media should be grounded in the concept: I want to help you with a key piece of information.

The scales have tipped too dramatically in the favor of pics from Vegas, cute holiday shopping finds, and an insanely stupid video of a cat. I am amazed that people have the time to build these gems, much less to consume them.

When on social media, don’t be surprised if you feel a pang of regret about the 15 minutes you just lost from your life.

Carve a different path. For every ego-filled selfie that sucks the conversation dry, try sharing 5 things of value with your audience. Show your connections you care about solving the problems that keep them up at night.

I know the selfish nature of social media won’t vanish, but let’s be a little more intentional about putting forth items that can stretch, grow, or motivate your audience to be better tomorrow than they were today.

Until next time,

Dan Naden