Tired of receiving generic, automated spam on Facebook and Twitter? It's time to start educating.

I admit when I first started my company's social media marketing campaign I didn't really know what I was doing. All I knew is that we needed to be on these new media platforms so I mainly just promoted our products and services with little community interaction. It did not take long for me to figure out I needed a new approach. It was a new venture and I was scared of infusing my personality with the company's visions. I soon found myself uncomfortable and on the outside looking in and it didn't feel good. I needed to educate myself. I did a lot of research, a lot of reflecting and came up with a new social approach which I implemented and have found much ROI success. If I was able to crossover from the dark side so can others!

Name Association: This association is two fold. First is company name. What is it that your company does? Grosh Scenic Rentals is a backdrop and drapery rental company. Would you have known that simply by the name? Probably not. If your product is not in your company name then make it. Grosh Scenic Rentals = Grosh Backdrops. Simple as that. 2^nd part of this association is who is speaking for your company online? Consumers are more apt to interact with a company online if they can associate an actual person with the company. This helps build rapport, which leads to trust, which leads to referrals. RTR, rapport + trust = referrals. An easy way unite a name with a company is by listing it in the info tab, about me section on Facebook and Twitter bio.

If you are creative enough, bios can include all 5 of the association principles.

Picture Association: Again there are two parts to this. Everyone knows the importance of a company logo or brand mascot to associate with their company online. For the most part people will already be familiar with your logo from your website. What is equally important is that you have a picture person association as well. People are visual and if they can associate a face with a company this will help them open up and start engaging with you. To them it also makes you appear more accessible because they know what you look like. Another great way you can combine all four aspects of name and picture association is by commenting or responding to a question on your company profile with your personal profile and occasionally retweeting yourself if you have a personal and company Twitter Account. This helps "humanize" you and your company and they see that much like them, you too, have a life outside of work and you are just not a walking billboard robot. I've used this technique numerous times with much success.

Personality Association: So now consumers know what you do just by your company name; know who is representing the company online and what that person looks like so what's next? Engage with them so they know you are not an automated virtual assistant. Let them know you care! Relationships, online AND offline should be mutually beneficial. We can all learn from each other. Also, when I say engage, I do not mean spam them.

Types of spam:

Auto DM's: They are very impersonal. Turn them off, you are not a robot.

Facebook messages you should not send:

Live event: Please do not send a mass email out to your entire network about an event, show, class etc; happening clear across the country. Chances are I will not be able to leave work early the next day and catch a flight to New York to attend.

I want money email: Please do not send a mass email out asking for money when we have never even exchanged dialogue. This is just another way you are yelling "BUY MY STUFF".

Your about me section reads:

Please suggest this page to your friends.

This is how you do it:

1) Click "Suggest to Friends" directly above
2) Individually click each of your friends. OR...
2) Click the "Send to All" Button"

That's All You Have To Do!

Create relationships BEFORE asking for favors. Your about me section should be about YOU not what you WANT us to do.

Converse with your online friends and followers as you would your offline friends (minus TMI posts/tweets and vulgar language). Wish them happy birthday, congratulate them, comment on their posts and pictures. When I am logged in as my company and I see someone's update about a topic that interests me like fitness and nutrition, I comment on it or if someone is having a hard day, I sympathize with them and am GENUINE. Every status update and tweet you post should not be about trying to get to X amount of friends or followers or "hey check out my link and while you are there, BUY MY STUFF! Trust me, you can be transparent online. Ask yourself, would you want to be a friend, fan or follower of yourself and company. Interface your personality in your company social media profiles.

I can not stress the importance of adding your personality to your company brand enough. When I am logged into my company Facebook account, it is not uncommon for friends to initiate FB chat with me AND get this...we chat about more than just our products and services! We talk about social media, fitness, current events, the city, movies...sometimes they ask if they can tag the company in pictures or ask me questions about our products or want to thank me and my company personally for our services but I never steer the conversation in that direction. Let the conversation unfold naturally.

Message Association: Just because your wrote a great blog about (insert topic here) that people read about on Twitter and Facebook does not necessarily equate to sales and at the same time yelling "BUY MY STUFF" is a sure way you can bet people will go to a competitor should they ever have a need for your service or product. Successful message association doesn't have to mean that you are constantly treading water and when the light turns yellow, it's probably not wise you step on the gas to reach your destination before the next person. The key is to incorporate your personality because personality is what gets your message across and not "in one ear and out the other". Post about topics that interest you, videos, current events and special events relative to your industry and share and retweet helpful points of interest from people in your network to your network. In between these posts it is okay to promote your company and products. I actually recommend you do this!

In social media, there is no such thing as a cold lead, like minded people with similar needs and interests have a way of finding each other. It is okay to post pictures of new inventory, testimonials, product reviews, promotional codes, coupons and contests. People are in your network for a reason. When I do post picture and information about my company we get comments and inquiries almost immediately. There is no 80/20 or 90/10 rule you need to follow just make sure that it is not one sided. You do not want to be known as a "hard sell" pusher AND at the same time you do not want your network to lose site of what it is you actually do because you are only posting about social media and current events.

#EIR: Engage with personality, Inform your network of great content and give thanks by a Retweet ~ Jenise Fryatt (@lyksumlikrish from @IconPresentsAV)

On Facebook you can use the "share" option like a "retweet" and tag people and companies in your posts to give shout outs. If you do not know someone really well I suggest that you ask permission to tag them first so that it does not come across as selfish SPAM promotion.

Brand Assocation: So let's recap: People know what your company does because your product is part of your name. They know and can relate to WHO they are engaging with and can put BOTH faces (person and company logo) with your company name. Social media is not a fad, so your plan should not be get in, make some quick cash, then get out. Actually you will find making money online is not as easy as you think. While there are various medium platforms in new media, social media, as a marketing medium in general, is here to stay. To find the yellow brick road towards social media success companies should focus on creating their brand personality to effectively get their content seen and heard.

If content is King and your medium is your message then personality is the reigning Queen...And we all know that it's the Queen that rules the household!