“I @ replied to Justin Bieber 100 times today.” –a Justin Bieber Fan, from Never Say Never
Access: ‘the state of being approachable.’
Social media allows the “feeling” of access in an unprecedented manner; this girl did not receive a response from Justin Bieber even though she sent him 100 messages. But social media provided an opportunity for them to interact in spite of geographical, relational, and chronological distance.
Just having an account on Twitter, Facebook or any other social media sites puts you in “the state of being approachable” to millions of people. It’s easy to skip over this tremendous opportunity or focus more on sharing information than increasing your approachability in the eyes of those you want to influence.
Many people wait to get on Twitter because they are unsure of what they would say, and they think sharing “insignificant’ information such as what they are listening to or where they are having coffee is useless. But this kind of personal, real-time sharing creates a new layer of accessibility and opportunity for interaction.
You are what you say AND who you link to, RT, @ reply, Like and Share Online
The people I actively follow on Twitter share other people’s content as much as their own. Most of their tweets have either a link or the Twitter handle of a person that’s interesting and worth following. They provide access to not only themselves but a larger group of similarly minded people.
How to Improve Access:
- If you have a “big” title then it’s helpful to share little things to humanize yourself.
- If you have a “little” title then it’s helpful to talk about your ideas, dreams and passions.
- Share media that invites conversation: what you are listening to, watching on TV, and reading.
- Measure the content you are sharing. Figure out what kinds of media get the most interaction and spend more time sharing it than others.