The Insurance News Net article “Don’t Blow it with Social Media” has excellent advice for effectively using social media to build relationships.

Social media and connecting has become an integral part of the business practice nowadays, but it continues to be a fast-moving and quick-changing landscape. It can be easy to become caught up in the swirls of blogging, tweeting, and posting as much information as humanly possible, yet this is ultimately a strategy that will only hamper your efforts and get in the way of interaction with clients and associates. To stay on top of things and avoid information overload, there are two steps to follow which help manage information input and feedback: the 90/10 and the 10/4/1 procedures.

People have the natural tendency to talk about themselves when discussing business and other matters with their associates, but what is key to remember is that people want to hear what will interest them, not you. The 90/10 procedure is a great way to balance how you deliver your information to clients—90 percent coming from other parties besides yourself, with a bit of insight or relevant knowledge added in, and the other 10 percent focused on you, you, you. Another efficient way to share information, the 10/4/1 model, is more specific. Ten items come from third parties, of which four can be written by you but should be topics specific to sales and non-product matters. A final piece of information can be about you, but this rule is often best applied to bloggers and people with regular contributions to publications from other sources. As a final balance to these useful steps, it is important to remember that information overload can confuse and overwhelm the people you need to connect with—be careful how much you post and how often you post it.

One of social media’s greatest assets is the ability it grants to see into your audience—it makes it much easier to get a feel for their concerns, interests, and general personality before you really begin interacting. Creating a social media account is a great way to “break the ice” before meeting a prospective new client while avoiding the awkward just-met mentality as you do so. On the reverse end of information reconnaissance, social media is also an excellent way for you to provide interesting information to readers and attract them to your websites and blogs. Facebook and Twitter provide the interest, and the website contains the real info detailing your business and your products. Getting these things across is important. But to be a real credible user of social media, they should be communicated in an implicit manner while the major thrust of your website answers the essential “why” question—why does a consumer want to use the service or product that you can give.

There are many aspects of the dominant yet still-emerging social networking sphere that can confuse and overwhelm. The constant is that these fundamental changes to the way business works and how individuals interact with each other are a good thing for you. In order to tap into these new resources the best approach to take is to establish yourself in as many spheres as can be maintained and project a positive attitude and balanced mix of information to attract the business you need.

If you’re in healthcare, insurance, technology or other professional services industries, and need help with public relations, marketing or crisis communications, contact Scott Public Relations.

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