The Key To Ruling Social Media: Be TRUHE

When we are TRUHE using Social Media, as well as in all areas of our lives, we create value and opportunities for ourselves and our connections. Related: Rules Of Intimacy For Social Media TRUHE is the acronym for Transparent, Relevant, Useful, Honest, and Engaging. Let me explain the importance of each component of TRUHE:

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Transparent

Transparent: Easy to perceive or detect, nothing to hide. Whether we are building our social media profiles, posting images, status updates, or discussions, we must do this work in such a way as to not leave our connections wondering what our intent is. Using a simple editorial statement when we post a status update or a discussion is one way to show transparency. Tell our connections why we are sharing the image, video, link to a compelling article. Being transparent in life and with our social media activity is important when we are trying to build real connections.

Relevant

Relevant: Closely connected or appropriate to the matter at hand, pertinent to the subject Always consider the relevance of our posts, videos, status updates, or discussions before we click that submit or post button. Is the article we just read something our friends on Facebook would be interested in? Is the TedX video about mental health issues appropriate for our LinkedIn Group about Project Management? If the content is not relevant to our network, we must not share it. Another important relevance issue is the threads of conversations we get into. If the original post is about resume writing, we should not jump into the middle of the thread with a question or statement about interviewing. We must stick to the relevance of the conversations we get into. When we stay relevant on social media, our connections are more likely to pay attention to what we share. This is important when we are trying to build relationships through social media as well as in all areas of our lives.

Useful

Useful: Able to be used for a practical purpose or in several ways. The more useful our content is, the more our network is going to pay attention to our social media activity. Useful content can come from many different sources. Our own ideas and knowledge as well as content we find online and through our networks are just a few great sources of potentially useful content. Beyond useful content, there are activities that can be useful to our networks. Making relevant introductions is one such useful activity we should participate in. As we make connections and build relationships on social media we will find being useful is considered a significant value to our networks.

Honest

Honest: To do or be with integrity, sincerity or candour, to be trustworthy As we are working to make connections and build relationships though social media, honesty will be assumed and expected. Our connections will be disappointed if we do something less than honest on social media. Once our connections discover our dishonesty, it will become a major task to repair the damage we have caused to our networks. It’s critical that we read every article we share, watch every video we post online and don’t engage with people who we feel are less than honest. Our reputation is directly related to how honest our network perceives us. And reputation is important when using social media and in our lives. An important rule when managing honesty online is Dale Carnegie’s principle # 12 - "If we are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.” Fix our mistakes online just as we should in all areas of our lives. Honesty is required in every relationship, including the relationships that we build on social media.

Engaging

Engaging: To be involved, exchanging of ideas and information in a positive and enjoyable manner Engaging our networks is a powerful way to build relationships through social media. When we can also be entertaining, or exciting, our network can find us even more engaging. A few basic engagement activities include; get into their conversations, recommend them, endorse them, praise them or just say hello to them. Where you can, invite them to meet in real life. This takes engagement to a greater level. Engaging our connections in discussion, inviting them to participate with us, and even sharing some good humor with them will help us to build relationships thru social media.

Summary

When we get involved on social media and strive to be TRUHE with everything we say, do or participate in, our network is more likely to get involved with us and help us to create value or find opportunities. To learn more about TRUHE and other social media principles read the book, Success using Social Media.

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