What my dog taught me about social media.

I got an important lesson about social media recently from my dog, or rather from his passing. I posted the following piece on Facebook without giving it much thought:

Decoy our Black Labrador Retriever died peacefully on Monday night 10-12-15 at the Animal Medical Center in NYC. 

Decoy

He came to NYC over eleven years ago as a rescue dog from Charlottesville, VA. Since then he enjoyed a full life with long walks, ocean swims, interesting smells in NYC, frolics in the snow, back rolls on the beach and dog treats at every port of call. 

Decoy made many friends throughout his life, including the staff at our apartment building, the owner of our dry cleaners and the guys at the local FDNY firehouse, in fact anyone with a biscuit in hand. 

He was a member of our church, where he often worked as an usher and appeared in the annual Christmas Pageant - as a black sheep. 

Despite his best efforts both in Central Park and on Eastern Long Island, Decoy never successfully caught any rabbits, squirrels, ducks, geese or deer, and he made hundreds of attempts at the chase. 

He was a family member and friend who will be missed, and never forgotten. RIP Decoy.

The response I got back was overwhelming. So what did I learn about social media? 

Write from the heart if you want to connect with people. I have to  put aside all the logic, process and strategy I learned in business school and practice professionally once in a while, and let my heart speak in my writing. Apparently it resonates with lots of people. 

Live in the moment. Decoy never worried about what happened yesterday. He lived for our early morning runs in Central Park and visits to the beach on Long Island. As far as I could tell he never worried about the future. I shared this in my Facebook post. Capturing the simple moments that make up our lives and sharing them is what social media is all about.

Trust the Data: I work with lots of clients on social media marketing programs, and tell them to closely observe what creates engagement with their audience; then use that data as a guide to creating content that matters to people. After my article on Decoy appeared, my Klout score (measuring my online social influence) went through the roof.

Of all the messages I got back from the Decoy Facebook post, my favorite was the following: 

Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love, they depart to teach us about loss. 

A new dog will never replace an old dog. It merely expands the heart. 

If you have loved many dogs, your heart is very big. 

Decoy expanded my heart in countless ways, and in turn opened my perspectives on how to share that gift, using social media.