By Agbolade Omowole

If you care to know, people are not interested in you or what you have to say or sell. They are only interested in what will benefit them. People will prefer to talk about their tooth ache with you, than talk to you about an earth quake in Japan that kills 300 people. Here, we will look at four social media strategies that work like magic

Be genuinely interested in others: Being self-centered is human. It is part of everyone’s default configuration. But how can you shift people’s focus from their own self interest to what you really want them to hear?

Show interest in people. Give people your hand and they will gladly give you their heart. The most important on Facebook is not the number of friends and fans you have. The most important thing is the degree of interaction and influence. Listen to others. Talk to friends on Facebook. Show concern.

Be Trustworthy. I recently did a survey of 1000 girls. I asked them what they value most in a relationship and about 72% of the respondents say that the most important thing to them in a relationship is trust. The reason you have to build trust with fans and friends is because people associate with people they like and trust.

Experts say you can build trust on social by communicating in a consistent, personal brand voice, making time for humor and entertainment, posting unique, original ideas, responding to as many comments and questions as you can, being transparent, holding yourself accountable, not advertising and committing to a greater good.

Become an Expert. If you want to influence people on social media there is one shortcut – become a renowned expert. Fans and friends have no problems trusting a well established brand like say MTN or an entertainment brand like Don Jazzy. That is why they get retweets easily on Twitter. They have loyal fans and friends.

If you are not a well established brand, then you have to start from the bottom up. To become a brand you can start with associating with brands. Try to build a relationship with experts in your field, and then invest in their platform. Attend their trainings, do something for them for free, retweet their tweets, and celebrate them.

Then the next thing you can do is to find a way to align your brand with their brand. If a brand is retweeting your tweets, their fans will notice and some of them will follow you. Measure your Outcome: Most times, to get a Return On Investment (ROI) on social media, you need a clear cut overall goal. You need a social media strategy. Most posts on social media that go viral were planned in advance.

Once your strategies are articulated, you have to implement them one at a time and monitor their efficacy. What is planned and monitored is usually achieved.