People usually like you, if you are interested in a topic that they like. As many geeks have natural curiosity and can be genuinely interested in many things, you can use this as a way to do smalltalk if you have hard time to enjoy the smalltalk: ask questions about topics the other person is interested in (be it their work, fashion, cars, music, tech, whatever) and let the other person do the talking: they enjoy their time, you learn about new topics, and you don't feel uncomfortable about social situations.