How does social media work?

I am not a social media guru, I used to build websites and do social media and even search engine optimisation for a living.

I was doing this before the industry got flooded with people in it for a quick buck and before fools were advertising websites for R 500.00. I got out because the industry is over populated and most people believe what they want to hear, and it's not “you need to spend money to get money” or “you either have time or money” and you need to invest those wisely.

They go to the cheapest bloke for the website and won't take the advice from the bloke who has all his clients at the top end of the Google results, They think that spamming everyone is a legitimate tactic and it gets results.

I got gatvol and closed my web design business and went back to the trade I learned before the internet and computers became popular and necessary.

You want to find my business it's easy, search for the stuff I do, localise it to my town and there I am, as were all my clients. So many are no longer there because they failed to realise what an important job I was doing for them.

You see some moron with a slim bekkie talked them into trying something different.

Social media is about networking, communicating and keeping in touch. First I am going to talk about networking because this is what everybody and his dog, webguru and granny think it;s all about. They get told that you have to be on facebook to be seen.

They are not willing to pay for real advice, they sure as snot are not going to pay someone to sit and talk nonsense on facebook, so they do it themselves.

They start a personal profile for their business and sit in the corner shouting look at me, look at me, I am on facebook now. They realise no one is paying attention and they find groups of people in their own town, so they join those groups sit in the corner shouting look at me, look at me.

Soon they realise no one is paying attention and they say well that's a waste of time. This would be fantastic for social media if they all did it at the same time and got it over with, but the thing is as soon as one stops another starts.

None of these people would go to a business networking meeting and stand in a corner shouting look at me, look at me. Well some would and they would soon find no benefit to being in these meetings.

Most would start up a conversation with a few people introducing themselves, adding some value to the conversation and making friends. The key part here is adding value.

Social media is exactly the same. Adding value makes you a more interesting person. It makes you more friends and gets you noticed. Spamming a group upsets people and they report your profile and sooner than you like you will be punished by having your profile suspended.

When someone offers you advice on how to survive social media, it's not in your best interests to get hardegat and tell them to go away, some of us have been around these halls and windows for a long time and are more than willing to help.

It pays us to have knowledgeable people adding value, teaching us, making things interesting. You know how much you hate TV adverts? People on the web hate ads just as much, they love info, adore cats and babies, no not so much babies unless they are doing stuff that is awesome like the grind, porn (but they won't admit it in public) but they hate adverts, spam and people with no social media savvy.

The thing is let's talk about property, Most people either own property or have a desire to own a mansion someday. Estate agents are not well liked for a number of reasons, not unlike used car sales people.

The reason that some are highly successful and others are not is attitude. Let's say a page on property was posting regular information about how to work toward saving your deposit, how to qualify for a bond, how much can you save by paying a little extra on the bond, how to make your house easy to sell, and another was just posting their business card over and over, which would you rather visit and talk to?

Take your own business and apply these principals. Social media will become interesting and you will build followers and discussion, You will become the go to person if someone wants to know something and most likely the person that will get their hard earned money because they trust you.

See networking is not so hard.