There are times in life when you have those moments of realization. Those moments of how much you have to be thankful for. You look around your world, your business, family and life and realize how blessed you really are. It's often the little things that make it so. It's the flowers on the Magnolia tree outside, the bike rides to school with the kids and the friends we have online. Sometimes it's the little 140 tweets or the private Facebook messages that make you tear up in a few seconds. It's new friends, old friends and real friends. It's friends across the globe, friends in your back yard.
As I pondered some of these thoughts the past week after my Granny passed away I wanted to share my promise to you. Granny was such a testament of endurance, strength, kindness, giving and faith. She was honest, always told you how she felt and was the first to cook you a good meal. If there was a problem she knew it was nothing that couldn't be solved with a good discussion over some chicken, cornbread and a good piece of chocolate cake.
In our family a promise is a VERY big deal. Our promises are kept. I have never broken a promise to my kids, ever. They know if mama promises something, I will do everything within my power to deliver upon the promise, no matter what it takes.
First of all if you are reading this I want to thank you. I am so very thankful for my loyal blog readers. It is you who has built me, who has helped form my writing, my blog and helped grow our business. You have helped put food on our table when you share our posts with your friends. You have helped put food on others tables as we do the same for them. You have helped inspire me and our community with your comments, laughs and deep debates.
I appreciate the fact you are here. I appreciate the fact you are honest, tell me what you think even when it hurts. I am thankful for your words, your teachings, your engagement, your time and your friendship. I believe the heartbeat of social media is people, real people just like you.
I have some words for you too. As I look deep within myself over the coming months as our business jets to the next level, I want to ensure we keep a solid grounding, that we remember where we started, that regardless of the size of account and clients we work with we are the same people. We must remain human, humble, giving and not let success change us. We must fly together, taking people with us as we are all stronger as a team than we are as one.
My promise to you social media friends:
1. You will always get me. There will never be another voice writing, tweeting, Facebooking or pretending to be me. No matter how busy I get, you get me.
2. I will never choose my friends by a number. I do not and will not ever choose to talk to you or not talk to you by the number of your influence score, period.
3. I will never spam you. If you subscribe to our email newsletter or other subscriptions I promise never to sell or rent your name or spam your inbox with junk.
4. I will be honest and tell you what I think, even when the truth hurts.
5. I will listen to and expect you to also be honest with me, even when the truth hurts as we grow better together doing such versus telling each other only what we think the other wants to hear. I want the truth, period.
6. I will never trade high readership numbers for good, quality content. I will always do my best to give you the best, most relevant content I can.
7. I will push you to be your best, even when it hurts.
8. I will never stop encouraging you to eliminate the Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs) and trade them for a real plan with real goals and objectives.
9. I will never trick or lie to you on my blog or any other online social network or platform to get you to take action such as sharing a post, subscribing to a newsletter etc.
10. I will not fake happiness if I am having a bad day. I will share my ups and downs with a goal that we grow together.
11. I will listen to you and your opinions. I will read your content, understand your perspective the best I can. When I ask you for your opinion on a decision I need to make, I will really consider it, not just let it go in one ear and out the other.
12. I will be open to your perspective and differing opinions. I will welcome a debate as long as it is professional and respectful.
13. I will not tolerate trolls or abuse of anyone on this blog or any other platform we own or use. I will not tolerate usage of bad language or over all negativity.
14. I will protect you, help you and be the best online and hopefully offline friend I can be.
15. I will not hold your comments of stating I tweet too much against you! I know I tweet a lot, you probably tweet a lot. We can help one another remember what matters in life.
16. I will remind you and encourage you to take time off to enjoy life. Check out #handsfreemama at www.handsfreemama.com. It changed my life in so many ways. Read her blog and I am sure it will do the same for you. I am proud to say we are a hands free home now. It is still a challenge but something I am willing to take on for life!
17. I will reply to you the best I can. We have much going on in both business and life. I will do my best to acknowledge and thank you for your tweets, retweets. I will read your comments and respond to them as appropriate. I will read your private messages and emails when I encourage you to take it offline.
18. I will listen to your needs. Please be bold in telling me what you need. How can we help you? What content do you need? What can I do to be a better friend to you? How can I help your business grow?
19. I will hold strong to my beliefs, even if they don't align with yours. I hope that we can find mutual respect.
20. I will not push my beliefs on you. Even if my morals or beliefs differ from yours, I will not push mine on you.
21. I will tweet, blog, post what I think, believe and feel. Please know that if I tweet something that doesn't align with you or your goals I am not judging you, criticizing you or wanting to hurt you in any way. I am simply sharing tips and advice for those who want to listen. I share what I know works, yet it doesn't obviously mean you have to do it. The only right way to do social media is the way that works for you and your business.
22. I will never quit tweeting about my faith. God has changed my life and brings me so much joy and peace daily. If you don't like it, I am sorry but my faith is a part of who I am and what I am. I hope that you can accept me for me and even if we don't see eye to eye on such we can respect one another.
23. I will love you, respect you and be the best friend I can humanly be to those that earn such place in my heart. I don't expect you to do the same unless you genuinely want to.
Thoughts?
What is your foundation for social media? What are your beliefs? What promises are you living or do you need to make to your social media friends?
Heartbeat of Social Media Series
This blog post is part of a new series titled “The Heartbeat of Social Media“. It will include a deep look at how communities work, what people are doing within them and how businesses can better understand how they can fit in, provide value and derive benefit as both a business as well as individual people.
Subscribe to the series for updates and access to special videos, webinar training and more. Would love to hear your input and have you participate in discussions and debates as we challenge each other to be part of what makes the social network heartbeat healthy and alive in 2012!
Wow – blown away by your message. Thanks
Hi Pam, thanks for an inspirational and enjoyable read. Very to hear about your Granny.
Since I started behaving more like myself on line I have done better. I’m a very positive, friendly and happy guy but this never came across online.
I now focus more and more on being myself online and it works better.
My whole focus is on building relationships. If I’m not doing something to build a relationship then I question why I’m doing it. I know that building relationships takes time but once you build that relationship you have it for good as long as you keep committing to that person in the same way you did when the relationship started.
I love meeting new people and I love having fun with them and learning from them. I get plenty of opportunities to do this online and offline so I’m very grateful that my work matches what I love doing.
Thanks for your great post. You’ve had a few crackers recently!!!
Plenty of food for thought.
@ianmcleary Yes, being yourself so that you can build real relationships s key Ian. I am so happy to hear you are doing such. You are a great person and I have always loved connecting with you. Glad you like my “crackers.” ;)
Pam,
I always enjoy your writing and your thoughts. In my opinion, all of your promises boil down to a few simple ideas.
Always be honest with yourself and others
Treat others as you would have them treat you
Adhere to your principles and respect others for theirs
If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing
Keep up the good work.
Cheers,Marc
@MZazeela Good words. Nicely and simply said. Thanks so much for your loyal readership and always taking time to share your thoughts. It is people like you who inspire me to keep doing what I am doing! Thx!
So glad you liked it Rosanne Utt Miller. It obviously came from the heart :-)
I know of no better way to share and care about those you’ve grown to know and those you will with time than to promise to always be there.
Especially in a world that’s became far to cold and indifferent as many people spend most of their time trying to see how we are different rather than how we are the same.
So kudos for your stand to do and share your best and always be there for those who depend on you.
The world would be a much better place if more would only adopt your caring and dedication.
And you can put me down as one who’ll be here following along as you grow and prosper as I’m sure you will.
For honesty, fairness, and hard work will never fail to raise a person to the top of their field.
So I hope you always enjoy success and remember if you ever need a hand or a hand up let me know I’ll be right behind you and happy to help!
And I”m sure Granny is smiling as she thinks of how well she inspired you to carry on in her absence and as many say today… “You go girl!”
@kstaxman I agree, promises are few and far between these days. I have honestly never broke a promise to my kids. They know if I promise something it means everything. I am going to take that same approach to business and life overall with a serious commitment. I am looking fwd to this next chapter. Appreciate your support. Who knows we may need your help soon. Would love to learn more about what you do and how you think you could help us! Keep up the great work and never ever give up on your dreams and life goals.
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To begin with, Pam, I want to offer my condolences on the passing of your Granny. Having lost someone dear to me almost a year ago, I know how grief can send one’s heart and mind spinning. Please know that you’re in my prayers.
Secondly, I love your list. I can sense how heartfelt and genuine it is; something that’s in alignment with the image of you I’ve gleaned over the past couple of years of following you and our occasional interactions on Twitter.
Lastly, you asked what the foundation of my social media is. Like you, I own a business that’s focused in the social marketing arena, working primarily with authors and speakers. So, this principle is the foundation both of my social media and of my business. (It’s actually specified in my business plan.) It’s Ephesians 4:29. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” This applies equally at home, in business, online and in life.
Thanks for always building others up with what you’re willing to share of yourself, your time and your knowledge!
@eandtsmom I love it. Reminds me of one of my favorite verses which is “Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”
Me too, sometime we do need to take a step back or sleep on it, to get the right prespective.
Thanks for the encouraging words and your wonderful email newsletter this morning referencing the Chick-fil-a event. I have been following you for a while via newsletter only and I did not catch your faith. I am now following on Twitter :-) Is your faith in Christ?
Thanks for all that you do for us out here!
@Geoff H Thanks Geoff. Yes, I am a Christian and my faith is in Christ :)
Hey Pam. Thanks for the intro/explanation for this post. Good decision most times to let some things rest, and not stir the pot. It’s tricky, isn’t it? It doesn’t sound at all like you’re afraid of controversy; just focusing on healing and light for yourself means you need put it out there for others. (You’re smart.) What I find crazy is when someone goes ballistic at nothing — no Chick-Fil-a, no big fat opinions current events, just a nice newsletter and article…whew. Those blow me away. Social media is like that. Some people swing from out of nowhere. Gotta be tough and keep smiling! : )
@JenMcGahan I agree with you 100%. It’s why we must not give those simply wanting attention, attention when they pick fights. I have learned to ignore them and focus on the people in life who want to use social for the right reasons, to build relationships. I am open to a healthy debate and always open to other opinions. Many have changed my thinking from such discussions but being out right rude simply isn’t tolerated on this blog or any of our social platforms for that matter. Thanks Jen for sharing your real thoughts and being bold to share your opinions. Glad to meet you!
This is a great list, Pam. Very thoughtful and authentic. I admit that #10 will stretch me…I tend to disappear online when I’m having a bad day in an effort to not complain on social media. I think there’s a way to share my ‘down moments’ without complaining though. So thank you for that encouragement!
@tceniccola Thank you girl! I agree with you on #10. It’s hard for me too. However, I have found that is when I turn to scripture. I then share thru my words my own faith. I’d love to talk this thru with you.
@PamMktgNut @tceniccola Absolutely! I’d love your insight on this. Especially now – with the start of the school year and sports and all the paperwork and adjusting of family schedules…that’s when I seem to disappear rather than connect:-)
Thank you Pam, for sharing this! You are such an encouragement to me, and I am sure to many others! You can truly see that God gave you these words. As a person trying to start my own social media management business, it helped me to see that I do not have to sacrifice my faith for the purpose of “saving face” in the world. What a fantastic, authentic, and personal idea to write about your promises to your friends, colleagues and followers.
On another note, I am so encouraged by your advice, tips and view of engagement marketing in social media from your blog and tweets. My goal is to not only offer just “services” but to nurture relationships with others, coach others on how to engage and be a friend. Thanks so much for being a leader and mentor to me and to others! Keep up the amazing work!
Thank you for being the light Pam.
Hi Pam! Thanks to a tweet from PegFitzpatrick I found this post. I am so encouraged by your bold statements of dedication to truly “social” media. I definitely want to continue to be involved in “doing it” with a similar set of principles and promises as you have outlined here.
When someone who has influenced you so positively has passed away, it is a most excellent legacy to share that precious brilliance with other people as you have. This post really honors your granny and I pray that it plants a seed of godliness with everyone who is blessed to read it.
@philip1 PegFitzpatrick I love your words Philip and am so glad you found me via Peg! She is an awesome lady. I love how you used the word “seed” as that word alone reminds me so much of my granny. She was always planting something. She could make a beautiful and delicious meal out of so little. I was always amazed at what she could do with so little to feed and nourish physically and spiritually all those around her!
This is why I love reading your blog PamMktgNut I felt the vibe even through twitter. You’re different than the others. You’re different because you’re sincere. I’m sorry about the passing of your Granny. I’m glad she left you with strong sense of self which you have chosen to use for good. Thank you for your beliefs. I make those same promises to you, myself and others in my life. May we continue in this amazing journey of life and leave a wonderful past behind like your Granny did with hers. Chocolate cake for everyone. :)
@audaciouslady Beautiful words! Amen sistah. So happy our tweet and life paths crossed. I will send you a DM soon w/our contact info. I saw your tweet but we have been slammed with the recent IBM event and still catching up after last week. Thanks for your patience. You can always submit a web form on one of our sites if it is urgent as well.