It's a telephone... not a television

connect instagram social media Aug 05, 2022

Name that movie and who said it: "It's a television not a telephone."

 Social media is a conversation, not a speech. The best way to connect is to practice telephone, not television. 

“Hello? Is anyone there? Alright, like I was saying, today has been a really weird day. First, I had eggs for breakfast and one of them had two yolks! TWO! Can you imagine? Anyway, after breakfast I had a fun workout and realized I was wearing two different shoes. I’m so silly…!”

I’m already living my own life, eating breakfast, working out, being silly. I don’t want to read about your life without you also caring about mine. The reciprocity (or the exchange of things and ideas for mutual benefit) is HOW we are social.

We listen, we respond, we listen, we understand, we listen some more. Really, we should listen ten times more than we do. Which is tricky when we think of creating social media posts and an Instagram feed.

We typically think of how to showcase our product or services, how to share OUR content. But how does the person on the other end handing out likes and comments feel connected to us if we don’t let them know HOW? If we don’t connect back, how is it social? It may as well be a magazine, not a media machine.

Let your audience know how to connect with you by leaving CTAs (Calls to Action), ask questions, tell them in your bio how you prefer to communicate. “DM me!” or “Email us for collaborations” and so on.

And respond back.

Take a few minutes after you post to connect back to those who interact with you.

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” Stephen R. Covey