Hey friend,
The ultimate shortcut to a great life is great relationships.
Linking up with the right people in the right way can move your life forward faster, more easily, and more enjoyably than any other strategy in life.
The opposite is also true…
Opening your life up to anyone who walks in the door can lead to low-quality relationships that make forward progress slow, difficult, and full of drama.
I learned this the hard way…
After walking away from a nasty work relationship (and getting burned in the process), I was emotionally exhausted. For months, I avoided my closest relationships because they left me feeling even more defeated, at a time when I was already down.
What happened that caused me to end up here?
The reason was simple: years (and sometimes decades) of putting effort into the wrong relationships.
That’s when I decided, enough.
The awesome thing is, anyone (at any age) can build a great life by putting the right effort into the right relationships — and doing this over the course of years and decades.
And social media is a powerful tool for facilitating this whole process.
Now that I’m taking a more deliberate approach to building relationships, these are the ways I’m using social media to facilitate the process:
1. Being First, Being Generous
When I come across someone I’m curious about and want to get to know better…
They might be a future client, partner, mentor, someone a few steps ahead of me, or a peer…
Social media is a great way to learn about what they’re working on, what they’re passionate about, and what I can offer to help them on their journey.
With this in mind, comments and DMs are a perfect, low-pressure way to engage with the people that interest me and see whether a closer relationship makes sense to explore.
2. Building In Public
Next are the people I appreciate having in my life but don’t have the capacity to build a relationship with right now.
Here, social media is a great way to be generous in these relationships, but in a less personalized way…
By posting high-quality content that shows what I’m working on and what I’m learning — specifically around marketing, building an agency, and building a great life.
This helps me “stay in touch” with people and also meet new people that find me through my content.
3. Being An Imperfect Human
A relationship based only on sharing information can feel lecture-like and impersonal.
Besides, a lot of today’s social media content is idea-based, and it’s only intensified by AI. So content that’s personality-based can really stand out.
The complement to building in public is sharing what I’m doing, seeing, hearing, and thinking when it comes to daily life. And feeling OK about being spontaneous, imperfect, and more of myself.
Showing my imperfect human side gives people a chance to get to know me better. It attracts the people I vibe with and repels the people I don’t vibe with.
So that’s how I’m building relationships using social media in 2024.
Do you have any strategies around social media and building relationships? If so, let me know in the replies, I’d love to hear them.
Talk soon!
Lillian