The Five Fears of Social Media
There are many reasons people won’t share on social media. One of them is obvious, but the other four may surprise you.
1. Fear of technology. This is the obvious one. I’ve spoken to lawyers that literally had to be taught how to copy and paste a link. “What do you mean by ‘link?'” Or, seriously, one of them said, “oh, THAT’S what copy and paste means.” While a lack of technical ability is holding professionals up, it is a very small hurdle to overcome compared to the others.
2. Fear of looking like a salesman. This is probably the most powerful barrier keeping professionals from sharing with their networks. They don’t want to look like a used car salesman shilling their wares. Most people with this fear don’t appreciate that good engagement on Linkedin and Twitter will always add value to your network by helping people, not by promoting yourself.
3. Fear of saying something stupid. This is a huge one for extremely conservative professionals. There is an old saying that “you can’t unring a bell.” The fear of saying something stupid forever paralyzes many first-time users of social media because they don’t want to say the wrong thing. The permanence of social media is a double-edged sword. You realize that the same power social media has to disgrace, can also build you up with a date and time-stamped record of all the insightful and useful information you have shared over time. Be careful, but don’t let your fears keep you from taking advantage of the permanence of social media.
4. Fear of worlds colliding. We all have personal and professionals friends connected to each of our social networks. “What if my uncle sees me posting about tax law? Won’t that be annoying to him?” No. He wants you to be successful right? Besides, if he doesn’t see your posts, how will he be reminded to refer his friends to his favorite nephew? Your personal contacts are the most understanding of occasional posts about your business.
5. Fear of losing. What if they unfriend me? What if they unfollow me? What if they block my posts? What if nobody likes me? There comes a time in everybody’s life when they need to decide to take a chance. Be yourself on social media, share the best of what you have to offer. The people that love you and that “get” you will follow you and re-post and comment on what you share. The people that unfollow you or unfriend you, you don’t need them. The whole idea of social media is finding like-minded people that want more of you, not less.
Are these fears keeping your firm from having success on social media? Flip the switch. Join us tomorrow afternoon (October 11th, 2016) at 2 pm EST for a free webinar with Adrian Dayton, to learn How to Turn Reluctant Professionals into Marketing Machines on Social Media. Click here to sign up now.