HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps
Who are You?
If you are a participant in social media, I am assuming that one of your objectives in social networking is to connect with people from a personal or business perspective. Regardless of what social networking site you are on, without establishing social media credibility, you will not attract quality connections or business. I find many people are still in unfamiliar waters in social media regardless of whether they be on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or any of the other sites out there, so I wanted to offer some advice to help you establish social media credibility based on not repeating many of the common mistakes that I see.
As you read through the list, you will notice that nothing I write about here is rocket science. It is pure innate common sense. That is because social networking is also a basic human function that we have been doing since our childhood. Yet, you would be surprised by how many people are violating many of my guidelines below.
How to Establish Social Media Credibility
- Use Your Real Name. If you haven’t noticed, regardless of what social network I am on, my handle is always my real name, Neal Schaffer. After all, you want people to both find you as well as know what your name is, don’t you? I realize it is tempting to create “branded” user names like “IAmtheUltimateSocialMediaExpert” or “KingExpertofExperts,” but I don’t think the user name is where you want to be doing your branding. It should be in your actions and your content, not your name! And if you want to put your business name as your profile name, it only hurts your credibility. After all, who wants to network with a company? You can’t establish social media credibility without revealing who you are!
- Use Your Real Photo. If you are on a social networking site, why would you not be displaying your photo? If you are playing Mafia Wars or another networking game, I can understand your desire to use some sort of graphic avatar, but this is social media that I am talking about. Similar to using your real name, you can’t establish social media credibility without revealing who you really are! And if you put your company logo as your profile photo, you have lost any social media credibility you might have had; you are telling the world that you are on a social networking site to be anti-social and just see people as numbers that you can acquire for whatever business purpose you have. For an additional perspective on this issue, please see my previous blog post on including your photo in your LinkedIn profile.
- Complete Your Profile. Your profile that is visible to the public is there for a reason. If you are hoping to make new connections on a social networking site without completely filling out your profile, why bother? You’re not credible if you don’t completely reveal who you are! I hope you see a trend here: Social Media is about being completely transparent. If you are not being transparent in your approach, people will wonder why and you will lose your social media credibility.
- Connect! You’re on a social networking site yet you only have a few friends, connections, or followers? Why waste your time? There is no excuse for not being able to find great people to connect with! The larger the number of connections you have does not necessarily mean the more credible you are, but you should have a “healthy” amount of connections to show that you have a network that values your presence.
- Communicate, Don’t Just Broadcast. Social media is a medium that allows you to easily broadcast your message. Don’t fall into the trap of just broadcasting. You need to be communicating with people way more than just broadcasting at them. Would you walk into a room of 100 people and just start talking at them? Of course not. So why would you attempt to do this on a social networking site? BE SOCIAL!
- Share Before Selling. Social media is all about sharing information or expertise with others. After all, if users are generating content, they are ideally doing so because they think others will be interested in this content, right? Social media content should not be mere advertisements or Search Engine Optimization backlinks. From a Windmill Networking perspective, every person has unique experiences that may be invaluable to others without you realizing it. So whether it’s your blog, a LinkedIn Groups Discussions post, or a tweet, if you’re just advertising yourself without sharing information, no one is going to listen to you. Pay It Forward. Share your expertise with the world! For another perspective, please see my previous blog post on How to Sell to Your LinkedIn Connections.
- Always Indirectly Advertise Yourself. If you’re involved in social media, one of your objectives may be in selling a product or service, many times that product being oneself. And that’s OK. But once you start spamming people with emails and broadcasts about your latest product or your situation, you’ve lost your social media credibility. The key is that your message has to be relevant to your audience, you have to be adding value, and it has to have The Personal Touch, or be as personable as possible. In such a way you are, in essence, indirectly advertising yourself in a savvy way. Anything else and you will be seen as someone utilizing social media just for your own purpose.
If you follow the above 7 steps to establish your social media credibility, you will be well on your way to not only meeting lots of new people that are interested in what you are about. You will also be Paying It Forward in how you engage with others. You will become a role model for all of the other Windmill Networkers out there!
Related articles by Zemanta
- Elaine Fogel: Help! I Have Social Media Rejection Syndrome! (mpdailyfix.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=b7d8d450-1afc-4836-bb14-af3eb83a3e73)
Neal Schaffer is recognized as a leader in helping businesses and professionals embrace and strategically leverage the potential of social media. An award-winning published author, frequent speaker at social media events, and an avid blogger, Neal is President of 
Comments
Neil, Great post as usual. You are so right about the transparency of Social Media and building relationships versus advertising your wares.
Hi CJ,
Thank you so much for your comment and I’m glad that you agreed. Regardless, those advertising their wares seem to be on the increase, almost hijacking social media in the process. Help!!!
- Neal
thank you, I am very new to all of liknedin & social networking stuff- this article was really helpful. If I might ask you, how did you create this great Windmill page? it's informative, professional and shows your creativity.
Hi Nina!
Thank you so much for the nice comment, Nina. The page you are looking at was created for free using open source software. That being said, the logo and graphic were done professionally by a company. If you are interested in utilizing them let me know and I will make the introduction!
Thanks again for the comment and hope you enjoy my future blog posts!
- Neal
CJ, Thanks for the comment!
- Neal
Hi Nina!
Thank you so much for the nice comment, Nina. The page you are looking at was created for free using open source software. That being said, the logo and graphic were done professionally by a company. If you are interested in utilizing them let me know and I will make the introduction!
Thanks again for the comment and hope you enjoy my future blog posts!
- Neal
CJ, Thanks for the comment!
- Neal
RT @WindmillNet HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps. Are you revealing your true self? http://budurl.com/neal72
It’s worth a reminder…HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps http://budurl.com/neal72 (via@WindmillNet)
RT @WindmillNet: HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps. Are you revealing your true self? http://budurl.com/neal72
RT @WindmillNet HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps. Are you revealing your true self? http://budurl.com/neal72
RT @clementyeung: HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps. Are you revealing your true self? http://budurl.com/neal72
RT@nealschaffer HOW TO: Establish Social Media CREDIBILITY http://budurl.com/neal72 Thx Neal — cred⋅i⋅bil⋅i⋅ty: capable of being believed
RT @NealSchaffer: HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps. Are you revealing your true self? http://budurl.com/neal72
RT @HelenMcAdory @NealSchaffer: How To Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Steps: http://budurl.com/neal72
RT @nealschaffer HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps | Windmill Networking http://bit.ly/ooQP6
[...] Establish Social Media Credibility in Seven Easy Steps – Since social media sites are so important to modern networking, you’ll want to seem as credible as possible. [...]
HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps | Windmill Networking http://ow.ly/nQwK
Good article, nicely written. I disagree about using your photo, though. It's easy for you–a white, young, good-looking guy to think we should all do that. But those of us who are not attractive, young, white, or any number of other things readers feel comfortable with, want to give our readers a chance to know us before we give them a chance to reject us because we are not like them. I've done a lot of research on this, and while I'm not a scientific expert, it seems to work that way.
And since 72 people in the US have my name, it's already being used on Twitter. So are variations I'd normally use. So I use the company name because it's as close as I can come to being real.
Thanks for the compliment. I believe that, regardless of how you look, there is a need to have a human face. In real life we do business with people we meet and like. I believe that the same core principles exist in doing business in the Social Web. I understand and respect your opinion, but from my perspective people that don't show their photos raise potential questions as to the “why?” If the photo was there that is taken out of the equation and it is easier to do business. Just my two cents…
@Neal
Thanks for the compliment. I believe that, regardless of how you look, there is a need to have a human face. In real life we do business with people we meet and like. I believe that the same core principles exist in doing business in the Social Web. I understand and respect your opinion, but from my perspective people that don't show their photos raise potential questions as to the “why?” If the photo was there that is taken out of the equation and it is easier to do business. Just my two cents…
@Neal
[Rated 90%] HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps | Windmill Networking | Social Media Stra http://tynt.me/3L8j
RT @nealschaffer HOW TO: Establish Social Media Credibility in 7 Easy Steps | Windmill Networking http://bit.ly/ooQP6