If you’ve been following me on social media for any period of time, you’ve probably heard me talk about this idea of “no tweet left behind”, which started years and years ago. I am a huge believer, that when someone tweets you, tags you on Facebook, messages you on Instagram – you should respond, always. I started doing this from really my beginning days when I worked for Inman News. I remember thinking, “If I can respond to every tweet, every notification from a media company (who would receive on any day hundreds and hundreds of notifications) – I could certainly do this for my own accounts.”
To this day, if you tag me, if you comment, if you message me, DM me, tweet me, Instagram story me, whatever it might be – I’m going to respond. Many people have asked, “How do you do this, Katie? That seems so un-scalable – you must be on social media 24/7.”
The reality is that I’m certainly not! Now ironically, I am in the business of social media, but I am certainly not on social media 24/7. In fact, I’m probably on the phone a whole lot more than I am on Facebook or Instagram. But what I have found that’s really valuable, is to just be really intentional with the time I’m on social media. If I hop on for five or 10 minutes in the morning as I’m drinking my cup of coffee, I don’t necessarily go right to my newsfeed, I go right to my notifications. I check my notifications first, and that’s been my process for years and years.
For for me, it’s an integrity piece. If someone’s going to take the time to respond or reach out to me and tag me and take the time to do that, I’m going to take the time to respond. Like I said, it started with Twitter, but it certainly has translated to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and now YouTube.
What I would recommend is if you’re thinking about how to incorporate this into your life, into your business, into your social media strategy, the best thing I can say is be intentional and be really mindful of the time that you’re spending on social media. You certainly don’t need to be spending all day. You certainly don’t need to be spending hours and hours. If you only have a few minutes here and there throughout your day, be intentional.
Respond to people, engage. I would also take this a step further and say this applies to all areas of your business. If someone emails you, email them back. If someone texts, text them back. If someone calls, call them back. Be a person of integrity, be that person and you’ll be amazed. People will be amazed when you are that person because in this day and age, most people don’t do that. Most people don’t return the call. Most people don’t comment back when they’ve been tagged in a Facebook post. Be that person who shows up, who engages, who understands that with social media, that first part is social.
I’d love to hear from you. What do you think about this? Do you think it’s unreasonable to respond to every comment notification? Is this something you do? Is it something you’ve thought of doing? I would just love to hear your opinion about this, so reach out to me. Facebook or Instagram are the best ways to find me. And as always, if you enjoyed this podcast, the best thing you can do is share it out, tell a friend, subscribe, leave us a review!
Lessons learned:
- It’s all about relationships. Relationships are built with those small tiny interactions over the course of time. Every like, comment and share adds up.
- Be that person who shows up, who engages, who understands that with social media, that first part is social. Be really mindful of the time that you’re spending on social media.
Additional resources:
- Visit me at KatieLance.com for more info about my speaking, consulting and our #GetSocialSmart Academy (use the promo code PODCAST to save $30/month)
- Follow me on Instagram for more behind-the-scenes into my life and business @katielance (Enjoying this podcast? Tag me on IG and let me know!)
- Inman News (Listen to the story of my time at Inman here and my accidental leap into real estate)
- “Jab, Jab, Jab – Right Hook” book by Gary Vaynerchuk *affiliate link
