Building a efficient and productive social campaign takes a lot of work, but sometimes we get carried away and lose focus, so today we are bringing it back down to scale.

Why are you putting so much effort into social in the first place? Social is a great place to connect with people, and we all have big dreams of our brands going viral and having the whole world know about us in a very short amount of time without doing much heavy lifting. This is possible, but the reason you got on the social train in the first place was to talk to people in a more personal and casual way than you do in your traditional efforts. Keep this in mind.

I’ve said before that your social efforts are like a dinner party – full of different conversations that are relatively short, consist of many different topics, and have an ever-changing dynamic. It’s important to go to the party well dressed and smelling nice, but don’t wear a tuxedo and don’t be so formal. This is an environment where you can really get to know people and talk about something other than work.

Social efforts need to be interesting. It doesn’t matter if it’s a blog, a Facebook profile, or a YouTube channel, your content needs to be interesting. These sites aren’t the place for you to put on the game face and make a million sales. This is a place where you make people smile laugh for a moment, or make them think for a minute or two, not a place where you try to tell them everything you can on their first visit.

It’s a two-way street, don’t forget. It’s hard to not do all the talking, but people want to talk also, so listen. Here, you can learn about what’s really important to your target, so let them speak, let them engage, and let them know that those are important things to you. If people feel valuable, they’ll want to keep in touch and they’ll defend you when you make a mistake.

Don’t try to be all things to all people. Social efforts can defiantly have a more broad impact than other mediums, but that doesn’t mean you should be trying to get everyone to fall in love with you. Get connected to the groups, discussions, blogs, and profiles where your targets are congregating. Don’t try to take control either, just be a contributor to the community and join in on the ongoing conversations. With a little time and a good strategy, you’ll become a trusted expert in those spaces and users will start to look to you more often for solutions.

Keeping your efforts simple and focused is the lesson for the day. Be friendly, be discreet, and have fun!