As I walk down the long hallway at Mount Royal University, I can’t help but wonder why I begged Steve, a former classmate of mine, to put all his little red dots on my piece of paper. See, all of the attendees of BarCamp were asked to write down a topic that related to entrepreneurship and start-ups on a large sticky-note paper, and stick the paper to the sidewall. This was an opportunity for someone, like Steve and myself, who aren’t necessarily experts or have ‘celebrity’ status, to be able to share our knowledge and experience with a classroom of people.

Once I find the room, I notice that is empty. I look down at my watch and it’s 10:55. A few more minutes go by and I can’t help but wonder if it might just be Steve and myself. One person walks in, then two, and then two more. I count 10 people total; I start to get nervous.

Facing my audience, I try and think through the key social aspects of social media. My mind wanders and lands on three very simple, but often-ignored premises – that social media is all about social protocol, honesty and authenticity, and reciprocity.

Before I begin to talk about the three simple premises, I want to some key points. It is very important that before you begin posting, tweeting etc., that you listen and research the category your company resides in. This category should be the essence of your company, not the broader scope. Narrowing down to the niche market your company is apart of will also help to narrow in on key wording and phrasing that your competitors are using to engage their specific audiences. From there, you can develop strategies and tactics, based on your companies mission, vision and brand, to better engage potential followers and social influencers (http://socialmediatoday.com/node/448280)

Social protocol is a fancy phrase that can be summed up into one word – hierarchy. Most everyone has a strong set of friends that all hangout together. To better understand types of friends in these circles, you have to break them down into three categories – you have the alpha, beta and omega. Alpha males and females usually dominate the conversation and decisions in a group. The beta males and females are strong individuals, but often lack leadership skills and dominant/assertive personality that the alphas have. Omegas are followers that are strong members of the group, but often lack confidence and assertiveness that the alpha and beta possess. So, how does this relate to social media?

The alpha is the top influencer, someone who possesses confidence, innovation and a magnet-like pull that can’t be ignored. To be an alpha company or organization doesn’t mean that you have to be assertive or aggressive, it means that you aren’t afraid to be an outlier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book), or someone who has obtained certain skills or knowledge that followers find attractive and innovative. Their ideas are interesting and unique, and they care enough to generate, and be apart of online conversation.

Let’s talk about honesty and authenticity. Relationships are born and fall apart everyday because of trust and honesty. It is the glue that holds families, friends and lovers together. What we are familiar with in our everyday lives is no different than what the essence of social media is. If what a company or organization tells us conflicts with the actions that they take, they lose our trust. That is why it is so important to be open and honest with your followers.

Authenticity connects directly with honesty and transparency. It is very important that when faced with conflict or issues on social media that you be your companies self. There will always be haters out there that will disagree with what you do or what you say. This can be discouraging and disheartening to know that your baby isn’t loved and adored by all. You can ‘listen’ to these people, take their opinions as they are, but this doesn’t mean you have engage in conversation with them. They could be competitors or critics, trying to rattle your cage. Remember, you can be anyone on social media.

Reciprocity is the idea that strong and healthy relationships are built on a foundation of give and take (http://www.giveandtake.com/Home/AdamGrant). To gain and be respected and valued by your followers, they need to know that you aren’t just taking their money or time. They need to know that you want to strengthen the bond you share, whether on a small or large scale. By asking questions, responding to your status updates and using crowdsourcing, you can both strengthen relationships with your followers and save on unnecessary costs. Don’t be afraid to let a conversation go a little wild from time to time. People will debate and challenge each other on your feeds; it’s only human nature. If you choose to monitor these conversations, it takes away from the true essence of social media – freedom of speech.

Experiencing for the first time what it was like to teach was an amazing feeling. It’s challenging and rewarding in so many ways, I now know why so many teachers love what they do. I want to thank everyone who attended my session at 11 a.m. and for asking such great questions.

I admit that my speech was much longer than this blog. I did not include any information on public relations or the examples I used in my speech because honestly I was nervous and forget a lot of what I said. I also changed the structure of my delivery in order to provide a more succinct and logical order of things (Thanks to Alex from Ask Design for her feedback J). My goal was to provide some of my personal insights as well as give some advice to budding entrepreneurs who may have questions about social media. If you are interested in chatting with me further, you can reach me at connor@startupcalgary.ca @cmheffring on twitter.

One last thought; a gentleman asked me what is a good way to get the attention of potential followers as a new start-up? I gave him some advice about having a name that stands out from the competition and a logo that is creative and innovative. I wanted to add onto this by giving him, and anyone that reads this, the name of a company that does open-sourced logo, mobile, websites and more. The website is called 99 designs  (http://99designs.ca/).You fill out a request form and companies then can bid on your idea and generate a logo, website etc. based on the information you provide them. Then you get to choose which one you like, and purchase it from there.

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