We know that in general, people like to share.  It predates the now social media platforms of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.  Writing letters, taking pictures, telephone conversations and home movies were then the platforms of the day.  Sharing is sharing.

What is interesting to note is that everybody doesn’t like to share in the same way or at the same level.   Some people like to talk about the success or failure of others they know—without saying a word about themselves.  While others can’t stop telling about themselves and don’t care anything about what others are doing.  I think I might be somewhere in the middle.

So where is this leading?  I think that how we are personally might reflect how we are, in some ways, in business.  Recognizing this can help us decide how best to engage in social media.  If you like to share, it will more than likely be easy for you to tell others about your company, what it’s doing and where you see the future of the company going.  If you don’t like to share, it’s going to be harder to get information out about you and your organization.  If you like to share, you might want to consider doing some social media tasks yourself.  If you don’t like to share—you definitely need someone else to do it for you.

I am old enough to remember when sharing pictures used to be a lot harder than it is today.  After you took a picture, there was a process to actually develop it.  People either took the roll of film to a place to have it processed; or if they were a hobbyist, or professional, they took it home to their own Dark Room, to develop the film themselves.  Third Option- Polaroid.

Regardless of the method, the goal was to have pictures to share with others.  In business, that should be your social media goal— “to have something to share with others”.  If you know that you are not that keen on sharing, you should realize that it would be best for you to have someone do it for you.  That will allow you to continue to focus on and grow your business.

Whatever you do, consider that your social media engagement should be enjoyable and approachable.  Meaning, people should feel like they can connect with you.  That is the ultimate goal of sharing.