In this episode of #QandAwesome, I talk engagement. Like online, on social + digital platforms. While this word is thrown around a ton, I find that not everyone understands that engagement is about building relationships. This is how we create awesome, online and off. Thanks so much for watching!
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In school, we’re rewarded for having the answer, not for asking a good question. -Richard Saul Wurman
Questions… Our brain is triggered by questions. We move towards what we focus on. Awesome questions create awesome learning… In my life, with years of education, sales and marketing experiences, I have learned so much about asking good questions. #questionwisdom
Last night as I was getting ready for “sweet dreams”, and yes, if you didn’t know, when I post my sweet dreams message, I am in fact, getting ready to turn in for the night. I just happen to sit on #teamearlybird but will never ever tell you which team to sit on. Do you. Do awesome. So I digress… Let’s continue…
Last night, my awesome buddy and super smart human @andrewdoeshair posted a question he gets so very often, as do I, which is… “How do I get more followers?” You can see his post here. It’s awesome. He is awesome. He creates value. He is interested. He engages. It’s no wonder he has such a passionate group of followers and has managed to create wildly successful businesses and a rad life.
While I have blogged on the topic of engagement, relationships, and social, you can find just a few posts here, and here, and here… I will break it down one more time, well not really, I will blog on this topic til it no longer needs to be blogged on. Why? There still seems to be so much confusion about the word “social”.
Let’s look at the formal definition…
Social adjective (aka action word)
: relating to or involving activities in which people spend time talking to each other or doing enjoyable things with each other
: liking to be with and talk to people
: happy to be with people
: of or relating to people or society in general
Wow, it’s an action word. Who knew, right? Lol.
So now let’s try flipping the script, shall we?
1. Instead of asking how to get more followers, ask how can I be of value?
2. Instead of asking how to get more followers… ask how can I create more valuable content that followers want to follow.
3. Instead of asking how to get more followers, ask how can I create awesome work, consistently, and share it.
4. Instead of asking how to get more followers, ask how can I spend way more time listening than talking? Engaging, two way conversations, relationship building, you know, the stuff that matters.
5. Instead of asking how to get more followers, engage. And by engage I mean follow others who are of value to you, like, comment and share, authentically. Authentically. I mean authentically. There are some Insta experts out there that tell you to randomly search hashtags and make a super inauthentic comment on random peoples pages. #lame
6. Instead of asking how to get more followers, ask how can I become an awesome storyteller. Find out what’s important to your target audience and share. Consistently.
It’s not that we don’t know how to get more followers, and by followers, I mean create something of value for people to follow, it’s just that many of us are looking for a magic bullet, a secret sauce, and a short cut. And I am here to tell you, just as Andrew did so well in his post, there is no magic bullet or secret sauce.
Oh wait. There is a short cut… You can buy followers. I know, crazy huh? And good luck with that.
Love + Awesomeness-
Nina @passionsquared
PS: A big shout out of thanks to Andrew for inspiring this post! Love your face buddy.
The leaders who get the most out of their people are the leaders who care most about their people. – Simon Sinek
I got an awesome question from an awesome human on the Passion Squared Facebook page and it inspired this post. Thanks so much Nate for inspiring me to share my thoughts on the topic of engagement.*
In working with my clients, whether it’s my one on one clients or my awesome A School group, this is often a topic of discussion. And as one who has developed and lead teams as well as grown communities on social platforms, I am passionate about this topic as well.
Why? Because I believe many of us have challenges when it comes to engagement of people, teams or even social platforms and we know we can do better.
First, lets define engage:
Engage (verb aka action word)
to get and keep (someone’s attention, interest, etc.)
Now how in the heck do we do that? Get and keep someone’s attention and interest?
Listen
Ahhhhh, the old listening trick, works every time if we actually do it. And I mean really listen. Not with the intent to respond, but to show me, through your actions, that you are really listening and I am really being heard.
Be Honest
Having loving, courageous conversations are tough for many. But without them, we cannot nurture and grow ourselves or expect to nurture, grow and engage others.
Understand Me
As the great Stephen Covey taught us in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Seek first to understand.”
Be Human
Authenticity is the old, new and future black. If you want me to be engaged, than I want you to be real. I can see right through your “status quo” verbiage.
Show Up
Trust is possibly one of the most important elements of an engaged team or community. And trust is bread through promises kept. We must never get so “busy” in the mundane day to day that we forget an important part of leadership: showing up and being fully present.
Care
Like really really care. I know, we all say we care. But humans can tell if that is true or not. From our words, actions, promises kept, all of it. Just like Simon Sinek shares in the opening quote.
Choosing to lead a team, a community or a company is an awesome responsibility that takes a huge, selfless commitment. And it’s not for everybody.
If you are feeling challenged by your team, your community or your social platforms and not feeling they are engaged, take a look at this list, and in the mirror.
Lastly, two of my go to people on leadership are Simon Sinek and Marcus Buckingham. My go to humans on engagement are Brian Solis and Gary Vaynerchuk. All of these awesome, passionate and smart humans have tons of content online from books, to talks to blogs and more. I highly recommend them.
Love + Awesomeness-
Nina
*Edited blog post, originally published 3/16/15