Guest post info: Drew Gneiser works for Axiom Marketing Communications in Minneapolis, MN and writes on their company’s social media blog at DailyAxioms.com. He enjoys discovering new music as well as exploring new ideas within social media.
In July 1969, the Beatles began recording the last song they would ever collectively record together, aptly titled “The End.” This Abbey Road song ends on what is one of their most famous lyrics – “And, in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
Interestingly, this is the only Beatles song that showcases musical solos from all four members of the band. The Beatles understood that they must each give their individual talents to make the band work. Social media depends on the livelihood of giving and receiving. Link sharing and retweeting are often praised as supreme in social media, but in my opinion, these really only scratch the surface. It is not enough to casually get involved, but you must develop a true desire to benefit and help others. Find ways in which your talents can help solve other’s needs.
True community is built by deeper giving. Instead of just replying “Great post!” on someone’s blog, think about how you can advance the conversation. You may know things that could invigorate the conversation or add a new layer of information. Establishing meaningful and lasting relationships requires this type of giving.
Many people online have a selfish mindset when approaching social networking. I frequently run across people who are trying to get ahead at whatever cost. They follow thousands of people on Twitter and Tweet their web address every few minutes to get more traffic. They connect with hundreds on LinkedIn and Facebook to impress people with their numbers. A lot of people can see through this type of behavior, and in the long run, it won’t pay off. Numbers mean little if there is not real substance to back it. Instead of focusing on how you can become known, focus on how you can help others, and if you continue to work hard at it, the love will come back around.
“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” What are you doing to truly give to your community? How can you increase the value you are adding to conversations, blog posts, Tweets, etc? Are you so focused on numbers, traffic, stats that you are loosing sight of actually helping people?
As Jacob regularly says, thanks for reading.
