Tag: engagement

The Social Media Balance Act

This post is in response to a fellow N.E. Wisconsin, Kate Unger , who was looking for feedback on her recent blog post titled: Twilebrities, Comets and Tweets.

It’s just funny how good things happen. Everything seems to happen for a purpose and  the old adage that my father used to say, “Good things happen to great people” fits here- I’m not sure exactly how, but it does. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to take a look, a good look, inside myself to see why I do the things I do and where I find the time to do them.  Before I can help you understand why I handle myself the way I do in social media, I think it’s important to have some background information.

I’m the oldest of 7 kids. To this day I have the best parents anyone could ask for. My mom and dad spent so much time showing me how to love, teaching respect for others and to appreciate the things around me. Sometimes it was hard to do those things due to the fact I got picked on so much in school. There were days it was so hard to go at all. But I rarely, if ever, showed that negative side of life. I never wanted to be the one to make a wave or cause issues. I didn’t try to hide it; I just kind of became oblivious to it. Kids at the elementary age can be so cruel. I too had a hand in that. It seemed that every jab that came my way; I sent two or three more out back at others.

This was not how I wanted to live my life. There had to be a better way to deal with my frustrations. Slowly over time I became to see the error in my ways. I’m not sure whether it was, 7th or 8th grade, but my outlook started to change. I started to see that comic relief was one way of coping. I have always laughed since I was young, but in high school things started to evolve and in college I took my love of laughter to a different level.  From that point, making people happy has been an end goal of mine. I look at it as one key for my “meaning of life.”

How do you make people happy? Well, what do people desire and crave? We all want attention, to be listened to, and for someone to find interest in us, even if only for a moment. Whether it’s a technology problem someone is having or simply wanting to celebrate success- everyone wants to be acknowledged and heard.

Fast forward to our social media discussion… Social media is the perfect place to be heard and recognized.  It is an ideal way to be “part of the conversation”.    I want to be part of the conversation, but how do I do it? I have made social media part of my daily tasks. With tools like tweetdeck, pluggio, foursquare,  hootsuite on my iphone, and a simple Kodak Zi8 video camera, I can create videos and keep others informed on where I am,  what I’m doing, and to chat with others. I have made social media an integral part of my daily routine. I imagine social media is just like a huge party. You can’t chat with everyone all at the same time, but you can jump in here and there and add to the conversion at a moments notice. Twitter fits that bill perfectly. I have over 28,000 followers and very few are online at any given time, but I can jump into any conversation, add my 2 cents and then just keep on going. I make sure to reply to comments of tidbits that hit my timeline and DM’s. I keep my tech following up to speed on the latest happenings along the way and it just works for me.

Like Lisa Cruz said, there isn’t moderation in all things… but I need mrstommytrc to know she’s #1. I try to work my social media efforts around her and the family. It is important to be considerate of sacred dinner times and weekly date night. I know this may not always happen as planned.  I know that every so often I need a reality check, but I try. I try hard to keep things in check. My family is very tolerant of me and my social media habits… it’s a balancing act I’ll always be working on to be better- for my followers and for my family.

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Lets do Breakfast Some Time

How many times do you fun into a friend or acquaintance and say, “we should get together soon..or call be about doing lunch.” Well every other Friday I have a wide open opportunity to invite people to do just that. Meet me for breakfast. I LOVE IT!!! Tommy meets with Erin Davisson at WFRV.

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My Five Key Ingredients for Social Media Engagement

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Lisa Cruz, President of Red Shoes PR in Appleton, WI to do a guest blog posting on the Red Shoes PR blog. I was totally 100% overwhelmed and humbled by the invitation. The reactions and comments have been stunning. You can read all the comments here. My life has been forever changed by the relationships I have made. It keeps getting better and better…  – Tommy
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Today’s guest blogger is Thomas Clifford, or tommytrc as his followers know him as. Red Shoes PR first met tommytrc via Twitter during the fall of 2008. Tommytrc regularly ranks as one of the top three Twitterers in Wisconsin and top 100 in the world. Tommytrc’s presence on Twitter skyrocketed after tweeting throughout the birth of his son. We asked him to share his passion and expertise on social media. Thank you tommytrc!

I come from a very heavy Italian background. My grandfather on my mother’s side was born in Sicily, so eating and food preparation took a major role in my social upbringing.

Social media is like the recipe for Mom’s favorite spaghetti sauce or chocolate chip cookies. Everyone has a recipe and each is a bit different than the next, though the purpose of the finished product remains bringing smiles to the eater’s face!

Like every good recipe, you start by throwing a few key ingredients together, season to taste and Voile! your masterpiece takes shape. The key ingredients to social media engagement are really simple. Your mileage may vary as everyone’s social media engagement “strategy” is different. Here are my five key ingredients to social media success:

Interaction
It’s next to impossible to be involved in social media without interacting with others. Interaction is one of the main ingredients to a successful social media experience. Regardless of if you are using Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, the base for each of these social media services is interacting with others. This may be the hardest work you do. You must get out there and meet people, strike up conversations and do some old fashioned “networking.” People can tell if you are genuine or not, and in social media, the one thing you cannot fake is interaction. While some people may find it hard to strike up a conversation on social media sites, I say just like the first dip into the pool, just do it! Once people start replying to your questions or comments, you will get the bug. And it’s infectious. Interaction feeds on other interaction, and before you know it, you will be a social media butterfly.

Share
As you build your social media recipe, it’s next to impossible to go through your day without seeing something that is worth repeating. Whether it’s a post on Twitter or a comment on Facebook, if you like it, spread the word. Like a telephone operator in the old days, if you see a comment that you feel your network of friends will like, “patch it on in” and pass the good 411 around. On Twitter you would retweet it, or on Facebook you comment on it. That way people in your networks can be exposed to valuable information and find people they normally would not cross paths with. In the Twitter world, the sincerest form of flattery is to be retweeted by someone else. Sharing is critical for true social media engagement.

Listen
Many times, the most important ingredient for your master recipe is also the one that you are most likely to leave out. Kind of like the salt in your mom’s favorite chocolate chip recipe, “Why does something sweet need salt??” You may think that skipping this all-too important ingredient will not make any difference, but have you ever tried chocolate chip cookies sans salt? You get the picture. In social media, the top engagers are also the best listeners. Its one thing to want your message heard, it’s totally another to listen to other’s messages. Like a great parent, favorite teacher or counselor at school, what makes them great are their listening skills. Many times it’s not what you say that is important, it’s the fact you give someone a listening ear.

The same holds true to social media. Just like an IRL (In Real Life) conversation, listening is one of those ingredients that can make or break the interaction. A conversation without listening is just like mom’s chocolate chip cookies without salt. Do not forget to listen.

Moderation
A great cook knows when to hang up her apron and leave the kitchen. Likewise, in social media sometimes you just need to log off, shut down and spend some quality time doing something else. I’m not talking about just going to bed either. You cannot be a top engager in social media if you are not engaged in real life. You cannot neglect your local friends. Things like local tweetups, local Twitter meet-ups, are great opportunities to network and build new friends, while also feeding your hunger for social media interaction. Locally, we have a pancake tweetup every other Friday at 7 a.m. This is a great way to put real faces to the Twitter avatars and talk more openly about issues and situations. These local interactions actually strengthen our Twitter relations because now you are true friends with these people.

Family
Like moderation, family time is one thing that you may not expect to hear in a social media engagement “must have” list. But, family is one of those ingredients that will add so much pizzazz to your social media experience. Looking for content to share on Twitter or Facebook? Look no further than family oriented stories and experiences. Nothing builds more credit on the social media networks then someone who shares true blue family interaction. You can’t build good family interaction if you are on Twitter or Facebook all day, which is why the family ingredient goes hand-in-hand with our moderation ingredient. Showing family pictures and stories not only warms the heart of your friends and followers, but also shows you are a real person, which in turn builds your followers and friends. It’s a vicious circle that works.

Now, just because you talk about your family, does not mean you need to give up their identity. Privacy is one thing we all need to be careful of. I talk about my wife online all the time, but instead of giving up her name, she is referred to as “mrstommytrc.” This makes it fun, while also keeping your privacy level high. You can experiment to see what works for you.

Now remember kids, if your initial blend of herbs and spices isn’t exactly right, no need to worry or fret. Social media is your creation and you make it what you want. I know from personal experience that mom’s special sauce was always a work in progress. A little more of this, or a little less of that. Like all great cooks, experimenting to get the blend just right takes time and practice, but once you hit it, you will be a social media engagement gourmet!

Connect with tommytrc:
Twitter: @tommytrc