I want to get something out in the open:  social media is a conversation.  A real life conversation…happening on the Internet.  The way you engage on social media should be the exact same way you should engage when you walk into a cocktail party.  If you’re anything like me, you look around the room and assess who you’ll chat with.

Okay, let me take that back.  If you’re anything like me, you’ll likely grab a drink and stuff your mouth with fried appetizers because you’re so nervous, THEN you’ll look around the room and assess who you’ll chat with.

Once you set your intentions to chat with a group of people, you engage.  You don’t walk into the center of the room and start shouting: “Hey guys! Hi! How are you?  I’m great!  I sell products!  I’m creative!  Buy my products!  I’m so fun!  I like long walks on the beach!”  

I see people do the equivalent of this on Instagram and Facebook every single day.  And then they wonder why no one talks back to them.

Of course no one talks back to them…who were they even speaking to as they stood in the center of the cocktail party?  No one can tell.

If you were to speak to a small group of people about things they liked, offered great insight, presented value with your product or service, there’s a great chance, people would talk back to you.  This is precisely the same thing that happens on social media.

Your goal is to define: 1. who you are speaking to and; 2. how they want to engage.