Do You Need a Strategy to Say “Hello”?

Streamers and balloons are all gone after last week’s opening ceremony so here goes the real deal now.  There are a lot of overusedexpressions out there and sometimes I wonder if strategy can be thrown into the pile along with social media guru, put it on the back burner, just sayin, cutting edge and many others.

Not there is anything wrong with the word itself but when it applies to how you use social media to me its overused especially when it comes to conversation.  There are certain things in life that need a strategy.  When it comes to social media there are some definite points that need a strategy otherwise you will crash and burn.  You have to go through the how, why, where, who and what scenarios.  I am not a proponent of just setting up social media accounts and then trying to trip along and figure out what to do along the way.  Here is where definitely a “strategy” does not apply.

Don’t overthink the conversation.  When you see someone you know, do you stop and ask yourself: “Should I say hi, howdy, hello, what’s up?”  Do you form a committee or start an initiative to ascertain the first opening word when you greet someone?  Absolutely not!  You just say what comes natural and appropriate.  It was a bit of a head scratcher for me at a couple of classes I taught that his was a real problem for some.  After setting up what they felt were necessary platforms in social media for their business, they were at a loss for words on what to do next.  What in the world did you do before social media came along?  So I will say again: Don’t overthink the conversation.  This is not a first date folks.  The art of being human is just being social.  If you are an antisocial person or company then social media is not where you need to be.

What was amazingly ironic is that while I was working on the content for this post, I posed a simple question on my Facebook page:

Within an hour I had over 20 comments.  I highlight them in my video below with first names only for privacy purposes.  They were on my personal page, but it’s all part of my overall network of wonderful people.  Did I have a strategy behind that question? Nope.  It was a thought that was on my mind and I thought I would throw it out there and hope for one or two expressions.  No strategy, just conversation.  What’s ironic is that I posed the same question through my personal twitter account @JonathanSaar and received 0 responses.  What did that teach me?  Do I need to analyze my ROI on that tweet? Nope.  Conversation is spontaneous and random.  Sometimes you can hit the right audience at the right time and sometimes you just don’t.  This is not something to worry about.  I compare it to the times when I would say to someone: “How are you doing today?”  And they don’t respond.  They weren’t being a snob, they just did not hear me or they had too much on their mind.  I can always ask the question another time.

So that’s it socius folks.  Keep strategy in its place.  Be natural, be spontaneous….just say hello.

If you have any personal tips on how to be conversational or if you think I am out of my mind on this post please feel free to comment below.  Subscribe options are up above on the right hand side via RSS or email.  The video below contains some honorable mentions of what truly are overused expressions.  Thanks again for all that participated.  I am “just sayin” that you all are “awesome” and “cutting edge” 🙂