Know what your community wants to know and tell them

It seems obvious. Why spend efforts posting information no one is going to care about? I can’t count the multitudes of posts I’ve seen alluding to something I have no interest in and even more bazaar – the obscure coded messages that lead me to believe that everyone “gets it” but me.

There are really two lessons here.

First: Gather friends and connections that are relevant to your own interests. It’s not a competition about how many "friends" you have. It’s quality, not quantity. I can’t help but recall a client of a mailing house who insisted that the mailer send their collateral to a list of ancient, and non-deliverable names because their list would not have been large enough otherwise. (duh!).

Second: Communicate something of value to the audience. Again, it’s not much different than relevant-target marketing at its best. Why would anyone take the time to read your story if it doesn’t resonate for them? Of course, in the world of Social Media, along with targeted communications it’s critical that it offers something of value. That is, information - not a blatant directives to buy.

So, now my quandary: If I get no responses from this post does it mean I’m posting meaningless dribble? - just what I’ve said not to do.