The Art of Conversation and Social Media

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The success of social media is completely dependent on relationships. Relationships flourish because humans converse with each other on an ongoing and consistent basis. Without conversations, social media would not exist. Everyone must converse to make social media work.

It really doesn’t matter who you are or how popular or famous you are. Social media works exactly the same for all people across the universe. If social media is going to work for you, you must commit to being consistent and reliable with your conversations that you have with other people online. You may be a person who can handle conversing with numerous people at once or you may be more comfortable with conversing on a regular basis with a smaller number of people. The most important thing is that you are committed to conversing on a regular and consistent basis so that you can build relationships with your online connections that will last a very long time and that are of mutual benefit.

Not bad, just different

Contrary to what some people think, conversing through social media has not detracted from face-to-face conversations. It has simply take on a different form. The conversations that take place through social media are often quick and to the point. Many people prefer that to taking a long time to get to the point. It is definitely valuable to learn how to converse in different ways. That is part of what keeps the relationship interesting and fulfilling. It is a misconception that if you converse through social media, you are not able to have a deep, personal relationship with another person. You most certainly can have a relationship that is just as valuable. Eventually (in most cases), you will start to converse with other people with whom you share an online relationship in person. At that point, your relationship will have blossomed to the next level.

Blogging as a form of conversation

Blogging can be legitimately viewed as another form of conversation. You write a blog article and share it with people in your social media communities. Your followers read your article and start to discuss some aspect of the article. The definition of conversation is a “combination of interaction, spontaneity that follows the rules of etiquette.” If you read blog articles that other people write and you react to those articles in writing, you are having a conversation of sorts (although, perhaps not in the traditional sense). In fact, you may find that people will be much more inclined to converse with you than they would if you were interacting with them in person. Many people are bolder when they converse in writing because it isn’t quite as frightening or as risky.

Using various social media channels to converse

The popularity and “user-friendliness” of social media makes is very easy for people to converse and for many people to have relationships in general. For example, Facebook and Twitter make it especially easy for people to have interesting and valuable conversations. With Twitter (because of its 140-character maximum per tweet), you converse about all sorts of interesting things in short spurts. With the limited amount of time that people nowadays seem to have for having conversations, it is perfect. Facebook is another excellent social media tool that makes it very easy to have online conversations that are valuable and compelling.

Conclusion

Social media is definitely here to stay. If you recognize it as part of your everyday business (and personal) life and you figure ways that you can integrate it appropriately when it comes to relating to other people and conversing with them on a regular and consistent basis, you will be opening yourself and your business up to a whole new aspect of communication and conversation and you will be more successful for it.

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Author

  • Carolyn Cohn

    Carolyn Cohn is the Co-Founder & Chief Creative Services of CompuKol Communications. Carolyn manages CompuKol’s creative and editorial department, which consists of writers and editors. Her weekly blogs are syndicated globally. She has decades of editorial experience in online editing, and editing books, journal articles, abstracts, and promotional and educational materials. Carolyn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo.

14 Responses

  1. Keri says:

    Carolyn,

    Great points!  We now need to be thinking of conversation.  Telling stories that trigger others to talk about us.
    That's why it's called "social media," isn't it?  🙂
    ~Keri

  2. Tina Serio says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Executive Suite
    Discussion: The Art of Conversation and Social Media

    I completely agree. Without individuals who have something to add to a conversation actually adding it, this venue becomes just another place that bombards one with unwanted and unnecessary advertisements. Do you have any tips that you would like to share with the group to provide direction on how to know what conversations and/or groups in which they should invest their time and expertise?
    Posted by Tina Serio, I.C.E.

  3. sandy says:

    Hi Carolyn,
    Not long ago I thought that social media was a waste of time and something I experienced with social media is that doing  it on a consistent basis is really worth it.

  4. Stephanie Fischbach says:

    Great points Carolyn! I think for some marketers, the thought of the conversational strategies versus old school "talk at you" strategies may be a little intimidating. With the help of technology and social media, Customers are well educated and want to be able to have a real conversation and develop a real relationship with an actual human being, not a robot.
    Thanks for posting!

  5. Catherine Zang says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Professionals in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industry
    Discussion: The Art of Conversation and Social Media

    The art of conversation also includes your ability to attract the attention of your audience.
    Posted by Catherine Zang, MBA

  6. Don Lomangino says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Official Direct Marketing Association
    Discussion: The Art of Conversation and Social Media

    I get your point — then how do you expand the relationship where the person on the other end either buys your product and/or donates money to your cause?
    Posted by Don Lomangino

    • Michael Cohn says:

      Don,

      Ask that person to join your social media channels and connect with you. Listen to the person and share your content with him/her. Engage in the conversation.

  7. Tony Kazemi says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: American Marketing Association of New Jersey
    Discussion: The Art of Conversation and Social Media

    This is a great article and extremely relevant in today’s social media environment.
    Posted by Tony Kazemi, MBA

  8. Srinivas says:

    Conversation is the heart of social media or any other social activity. When we look at many LinkedIn groups or posts (or many communities for that matter), most of the time there is no response from the people. Is it because the topic is not interesting or is it because (at least in LinkedIn case) most publishers are trying to push their messages and nobody is there to respond back? 
    Srinivas

  9. Robin Hendrix says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: American Marketing Association of New Jersey
    Discussion: The Art of Conversation and Social Media

    It's very true that social media isn't a bad way to converse, it's just a different way.
    Posted by Robin Hendrix

  10. Madonna says:

    Carolyn,
     
    Great points you make.  I used to be always on at my teenage son for spending so much time online with his 'imaginary friends' as I called them.  Now that I am blogging, I am doing the same thing and loving it.  
     
    Madonna

  11. Dr Indra B Jha says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Professionals in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industry
    Discussion: The Art of Conversation and Social Media

    Meaningful conversation is the key to the success of social media. It impacts our relationships positively and helps in the development of our conscience.
    Posted by Dr Indra B Jha

  12. Paul Bastante says:

     
    Paul Bastante via Triboro Patch
    I agree with your assessment of social media in general and especially from a 30,000 foot perspective, but I would add that, while conversation is critical, it is the right type of conversation that is the essence of social media. Most businesses think that "conversation" consists of marketing their products and services every time they make a post. The art of conversation has more to do with engaging your business prospects on their turf and soliciting them to take part in the discussion. As a social media consultant, I always advise my clients to post at a ratio of 8 to 1, meaning for every 8 posts that they make that is of value to their target only 1 should be any sort of direct pitch or sales message. This will put you squarely on the top of your prospect's minds when it comes time for them to need your product or service.
    Thank you very much for putting the topic of social media in the forefront with your coverage.