<strong>Social media is easy -- </strong><strong>all you need is quotes</strong>

Last week, I attended a networking event where a speaker shared her insights about social media, specifically for business (you'd think that by 2016, everyone has learned all about social media, but I digress).

The speaker, a self-proclaimed social media expert who works primarily with small, local businesses, wanted to share with us that "doing" social media is not hard. All  you have to do is to provide content. She gave suggestions for the types of "content" your business could share--articles you find "around," pictures you take, and her absolute favorite, quotes. Basically, she told us, find a "cute" quote and then put together an image featuring said quote and a picture or a background, like this:

<a href="http://deborahbrody.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/sign-1570201-1279x863.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3246" src="http://deborahbrody.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/sign-1570201-1279x863-300x202.jpg" alt="sign-1570201-1279x863" width="300" height="202" /></a>She told us quotes do gangbusters on Facebook. People just love them, and then they "like" them and even share them.

OK, I don't have anything against quotes. Sometimes a nice inspirational quote will motivate you or a funny one will make you laugh. We all need quick breaks and reading and sharing a quote is a harmless use of 10 seconds.

<strong>It's not about liking or sharing. It's about goals.</strong>

But, here's the thing: why are you on social media? If you are on social media as a business, you are not there simply to get likes or shares. Getting likes or shares is great, but you really are using social media <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to achieve certain business or communications goals</span>, such as:
<ul>
	<li>Getting people to visit your website</li>
	<li>Establishing your "thought leadership"</li>
	<li>Creating a network</li>
	<li>"Engaging" with your customers and potential customers</li>
</ul>
<strong>Start with why</strong>

To quote Simon Sinek, "start with why."

<em>(See what I did there?)</em>

<strong>What are you trying to accomplish?</strong>

If all you are trying to accomplish is being social or having fun, then go ahead, share all the quotes and funny pictures you want. Get all sorts of likes and shares, and feel good about yourself.

However, if you are trying to accomplish business goals, then be clear on what those are and figure out how to get there. Perhaps sharing an article from your CEO about the issue your service solves, and which links back to your website, gets you both website visits and thought leadership.

<strong>Do you know why you are social media? Do you have specific goals for your social media?</strong>

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