ARE YOU ANbyTedJanusz
NFORMER OR A MEFORMER?
n social media sites, about B0 percent of us share a common characteristic.According to researchers at Rutgers Universiry the vast majority of us useFacebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedln, and other popular sites to talk about
ourselves (in other words, we are "meformers"). Only about one-fifth of users takeadvantage of these tools to primarily share information that could benefit someoneelse ('infomers"). Which are you?
TED JANUSZ isa professional
speaker on the topicof "social media
for baby boomers,"author, and marketing
consultant. He is theauthor of the Social
Media MarketingGuide for Parking
Professionals,whichis a free publication
for lPl members andcan be downloaded
from parking.org/socialmediaguide.
He can bereached at ted@
ja n uspresentations.com or 614.440.7487.
An example of a post an informermight sendwould begin "Time-sav-ing detour around the new constr-uc-tion." A meformer might begin atweetwith "me now" information,such as "tired and upset."
Here is the takeaway: Inform-ers have twice as many followersas meformers.
lfYou're Happy andYouKnow lt
.a JtrP
It also helps to be upbeat. According to social mediascientist Dan Zarre11a, "Negative remarks include thingsiike sadness, aggression, negative emotions and feelings,arld morbid comments. Nobody likes to follou. a DebbieDowner. Accounts with lots of followers don't tend tomake many negative remarks. Ifyou want more follow-ers, cheer up!"
OtherThings Not to Do onTwitterThe following list of no-no's comes from Alice Martin,president of Shroomsociai:& #Tul-tweeting under the influence. Need I say more?
#LOLx Never glve your password when prompted to after
opening a link. Your account will be hacked, sendingspamming messages to the last people you followed.
* Don't send several tweets to people who don't followyou back or you risk suspension.
x Sending the same link or tweet out within a 24-hourtimeframe is considered spam.
a Don'tbe abul1y.* Don't ask inappropriate questions publicly or send
private direct messages to those who don't follow you.e #Don't #over-do +hashtags.
l'm Outta Here!An interesting study was conducted by a group ofKoreanresearchers to determine why someone might unfollowa Twitter account. After looking at 1.2 million Twitter
accounts, here were the top six reasons:s Too many updates all at once.a Uninteresting topics.* Mundane details of daily life('meformer").
e Politics.a Advertisement.Automatically generated tweet.
Like ClockworkThe use ofschedulers foryour social media
updates can be helpful, especially becauseyour followers are unlikelyto be engaged with
Twitter at all times and tend to read mostly real-timet\,yeets. But as digital strategist Charles Cunninghamwarns, 'Automation of your digital netvrorks is incrediblytempting but you aren't going to see the results you wouldfrom an organic approach." Be a person, not a robot.
Give People What They WantFormulate a social media policy for your parking facility,bearingin mind research conducted recentlyfor TWitterUK by Nielson, which discovered the top eight reasonswhy people follow brands:
. They like the brand.
. To be notified ofspecial offers/promotions.
. Staying up-to-date with brand news.
. Learning about new products and services.
. Current customers.
. To take part in competitions.
. They tweet interesting or entertaining content.
. To get freebies.Kevan Lee of BufferSocial sums it up: "TWitter users
love discounts and freebies, and they are like1y to followa brand to get some goods. Ifyou can add value in thisway-you might see your followers grow."
Lee summarizes by saying, "Post to social mediaoften, as part ofa consistent, dependable strategy. You'rebound to get better as you go, and people are going tonotice and appreciate that you're sticking around to stay
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