Social Media and The Sounds of Silence

Tweet

This is part two for part one click here. 

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again…

Saw an interesting post on Google+ two days ago. The poster had written a blog on out-of-the-box advertising.  Hey, I just wrote something on that myself. So I read her article. And left a comment with the link to my article so that she could see my thoughts on the subject and we could have a discussion on it.

Alas, that was not to be.

But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

She never commented on either my comment or the other one that was left there by someone else. However, the next day, she made two fresh posts. So we never did have that enlightening discussion. Her profile information reveals that she is a Social Media Director. Apparently, she is a very quiet one who is missing the whole point of what social media is all about!

But this article is not about checking out the brilliance of Social Media Directors and googling candidates prior to hiring to see if they really do understand their craft. This is about being quiet. And it just happened to me again. A European journalist made a compelling post and I replied. Perhaps he went to bed early since he’s nine hours ahead of me?  This is social media darkness, my old friend!

In both cases, I offered up my input in an effort to engage. Feeling rather let down now.
Here’s the lesson learned. If you’re going to post something that is sure to spark a discussion why not stick around and participate in it? Lack of response on your part doesn’t make you look very stellar, now does it?

I've said it before. Social Media is meant to be engaging. A poster, who may be a business owner or representing a company, has an opportunity to display their understanding and knowledge on the subject they’ve posted about simply by replying intelligently and demonstrating just that. This, in turn, could lead to potential sales down the road; remember, social media is NOT a sales tool but plants the awareness seed. Why pass up an opportunity?

Does this make sense? It does to me. Simply put, you’ll never see me post something then walk away for two days. If I can’t be available to you, I won’t post. That’s fair, right? And hey, wait a minute! Do these folks have smart phones? It’s so easy to keep your eyes on the pulse while you’re on the go or hanging on the beach. If you chose to do so.

Silence is NOT Golden.

Simon & Garfunkel sang about the Sounds of Silence. This video is a live acoustic clip from early in their career.