1. Choose Your Sessions

Unlike some conferences, at Podcamp you didn’t have to register for individual sessions ahead of time. Even so, I spend a good bit of time looking over the sessions and the speakers. Before I got there I had a list I really wanted to attend.

However, I didn’t carve that list in stone. I know from past experience that sometimes the best sessions are not the ones I was expecting. So I kept my ears open. There were a couple of sessions I attended solely because some else said the speaker rocked. In each case, they were right. Being flexible about the sessions made for a better weekend.

2. Plan Who To Meet

Registration for Podcamp is public – you name goes on a wiki when you register. There was also a LinkedIn group and Twitter hash tags for the event. In spite of this, I didn’t see anyone who I really felt I needed to meet.

However, I didn’t just throw up my hands. I decided one of my goals for the weekend was to meet five interesting people who I would want to contact later and continue the conversations we had.

Setting this goal was very important for me. Although many people who know me personally may not realize this, I’m actually very shy. My natural inclination is to sit in the back of the room and not speak to anyone unless they speak first.

But setting this goal of people to meet forced me out of my shell. Whenever I sat next to someone, if they looked at all friendly, I started talking: about the speaker, about the weekend, about the weather. It didn’t really matter, it was just to start the connection.

The net result, I have eight people I want to keep in touch with. Not only that, one of those people has already contacted me.

3. Go with a Friend

While attending on your own is okay, going with a partner is even better. There were several times during the weekend when there were sessions occurring simultaneously that I wanted to attend. Going with my friend meant we could see more sessions and compare notes later.

I also got to meet more people than I would have on my own. My friend ran into a couple of women she knew from social media and introduced me. I was able to introduce her to others as well. Being a tag-team meant we could get more out of the weekend.

4. Be Social

Most conferences have some sort of social event – cocktail hour, drinks in the pub, a coffee corner. Go to them! This is usually where the best networking takes place. You can sit down and have a longer conversation than you can between sessions. And because these parts of the conference involve food and drink, everyone is more relaxed. There is something innately human about connecting over a meal.

Remember my comment about being shy? Social events are where having a buddy can really help. I might not (probably not) have attended on my own, but for us shy types, there is strength in numbers. It’s a lot easier to join a group having a conversation when you’re not on your own.

Additionally, because we each have different interests and met different people during the day, we were able to introduce each other to new people in the evening.

5. Implement

While there are many reasons to attend a conference, learning something is usually a main one. But sitting in a lecture or workshop doesn’t do you any good if all you do is take notes. When you get home you need to actually implement some of what you learned.

You don’t have to do it all at once. In fact, you may need a few days just to process what you learned. Reread your notes, debrief with your conference buddy, monitor the conference hash tags to see what others thought, write a blog post. It doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure you spend some time to absorb the material.

Once you’ve decompressed, pick the best and add them to your business. Even if it’s only one or two things, commit to implementing them. It could be adding a new plug-in for your web browser or it could be an entirely new marketing system. It doesn’t matter. Just pick one and vow to add it to what you do. You spent the time and money to attend the conference. Get some ROI on that investment.

6. Follow Up

If you collected some business cards from some interesting people, don’t let them gather dust in the corner of your office. Plan to spend some time in the first few days after you get home connecting. At the very minimum, follow everyone you met on Twitter. If they were interesting enough for you to grab their business card or write down their Twitter I.D., surely they’re worth following on Twitter.

Next, visit their website. Find out a little more about who they are and what they do. You don’t need to check out everyone, just the handful you know you want to stay in touch with.

Finally, in the first week after the conference, make that first real connection. Send them an email, invite them to connect on LinkedIn or pick up the phone. It doesn’t matter. If you had one real conversation with this person make the first move. Trust me, so few people do it, you’ll stand out from the crowd.

Of course, I shouldn’t have to say this, but I will just in case. Don’t send them a sales pitch. Just a brief “nice to meet you”, a reminder of what you talked about and maybe a link to a resource or blog post (by someone else) you think they might find helpful. You started a conversation at the conference. Now you’re trying to keep it going. Later, once they’ve had time to really get to know, like and trust you, is when you can move on to the sales conversation.

If you follow my conference plan, you should get a lot of value out of the next event you attend.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Have you been to a conference lately? What did you take home from the event? How did you ensure to meet the right people? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Let me backtrack. LinkedIn has a much more rigid code of conduct than other social networking sites. On Twitter you can start following anyone you want: celebrities, politicians, brands, random strangers. It doesn’t matter how or if you know them. You can start following them and they don’t have to approve you.

Facebook is slightly more formal. While you can invite anyone to become Facebook “friends” they have to approve you before you can be connected. Slightly more formal than Twitter but less than LinkedIn.

However, on LinkedIn they’ve put up barriers that make it harder for you to connect with people. In order to send an invitation to connect, you must already have some sort of relationship with that person. You need to work together, belong to the same group, have worked at the same company at some point in your history. If you don’t have any commonalities in your profiles, you have the option of choosing “other” at which point LinkedIn will ask you for the person’s e-mail address. The idea is to cut down on SPAM and ensure your LinkedIn network is of true value to everyone.

That being said, it doesn’t mean you can’t connect with people you don’t are ready know on LinkedIn, it’s just a little harder to do.

On LinkedIn I’m what’s known as an Open Networker. I am happy to receive appropriate invitations from people I don’t already know. I like meeting other business professionals because I never know who will be my next great customer, a great referrer or who I might be able to help.

The problem is people have found a loophole in LinkedIn’s barriers to connecting. When sending an invitation, you have the option of indicating the person is a friend. When you do this, you don’t need to enter an e-mail address or have commonalities in your profile.

This is where people are ticking me off. I have received a bevy of invitations from people who I do not know, who have never sent me an e-mail, commented on my blog, or even @replied me on Twitter. We have had absolutely no previous contact what-so-ever.

So why are these fake friends sending me invitations? They have learned that they can build their network by sending random invitations and getting around the LinkedIn barriers by indicating people are friends.

But to me, this completely goes against the true purpose of networking on LinkedIn. The whole point of networking on LinkedIn, or any networking for that matter, is to get to know people and to give them a chance to get to know you. And over time you hope they will get to know, like, and trust you enough to become customers, send referrals, and otherwise help you in your business.

I don’t know about you, I don’t see how starting off a networking relationship with a lie will help you help me get to know, like and trust you.

For the record, if you send me an invitation on LinkedIn and have indicated we are friends when we have never had any contact whatsoever, I will archive your invitation. In fact, if this trend continues, I may do something I have never done before. I am actively considering clicking the “I don’t know this person” button on such invitations.

There is nothing wrong with trying to connect with new people on social media. In fact, I think that’s the main purpose. However, please don’t start this relationship with me with a lie.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Does this practice make you as angry as it does me? How do you handle it? Am I over reacting? Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m here to tell you that it’s just not true. Whether you are using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or some other social media site, the truth of the matter is the people who get true value out of social media are those who put in the hard work. If it were truly easy, everyone would be getting rich.

What hard work?

The truth of the matter is the best marketing – the most effective marketing – involves building relationships with real, live people. It’s about giving people the chance to get to know, like and trust you. And it doesn’t matter how fabulous your website is, how funky your Facebook fan page is, or how witty you are when you Tweet, if you aren’t building relationships you’re spinning your wheels.

Ultimately building relationships using social media means you can’t hide behind your computer to promote your business. At some point you have to get away from the keyboard and either pick up the phone or meet face-to-face with the people you’re connecting with. Yes, you can use social media to virtually meet people, and get on their radar, but that is only the beginning. The real power of social media comes from taking these initial connections and getting off line.

This is not a quick fix. There are no shortcuts. You need to find the time and the reason to follow up and connect with your social media contacts.

It’s exactly the same principles as networking in real life. Just showing up at a networking meeting isn’t going to get you business. You need to have a plan, meet new people, provide value, and follow up.

The people who go to networking meetings, sit with their friends and then go back to the office and behave as if nothing has happened get no results. However, people who go to networking meetings, get to know the people they meet, and find ways to help those people (whether by connecting them with other people, sending them resources, sending them appropriate websites) and only after they’ve taken the time to build a relationship do they sell, these are the people who get lasting results with networking.

So how do you get from following someone on Twitter to getting them on the phone? First, you need to take the time to get to know them. Visit their website, read their tweets, look at their profile, connect on other social media sites. Next, you need to start a conversation. Reply to comments they make, reTweet their messages, send them @replies with helpful links. Once you have proven yourself as a valuable resource, then you can approach them about having a conversation off line.

If you skip any steps along the way, you may be perceived as pushy or creepy.

Consider dating. If somebody were to ask you out, take you out to dinner, and you have a good time, you might consider it okay for them to kiss you at the end of the date. However, if a complete stranger came up to you on the street and planted a big juicy one in your lips you probably hit them.

So when you’re out in the virtual world networking on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, don’t be a virtual masher. And don’t be a virtual hermit either. Take the time to get to know people, give them a chance to get to know, like and trust you, and then take the relationship off line. If you can do this, you’ll be ahead of 90% of the social media marketers online today.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Do you have a success story of how you connected with someone you “met” online? Tell us what you did, how you did it and what results you got by leaving a comment.

If that’s the case, why would you ever “unfriend” someone?

I personally have only done it once. I received a very polite, and personalize friend request from a gentleman who seemed to be interested in business networking. After accepting his invitation I checked out his profile. He stated he’s looking for “sexually adventurous women”. I unfriended him immediately.

This got me to thinking. How many other people have “unfriended” someone? So I did what I always do when I have a business question. I got online, asked my Facebook friends, asked my Twitter friends and went to the ever trusty Google and “asked” it.

Liz Lynch wrote on her blog that she unfriended someone who “was trying to friend everyone and their brother by sending invitations to connect to people in my network (and who knows who else’s) without explaining how he knew them or why he wanted to be their friend.”

This harkens back to my number one advice when sending invitations on Facebook. Always include a personal note telling this person why you think you should connect. The is doubly true if you don’t know this person outside of Facebook

There are lots more stories of unfriending however. The following are quotes from a variety of sources. Since the stories involved include unfriending annoying, rude or just plain scary people I’ve kept the writers anonymous to protect the innocent.

One woman wrote about why she chose to conduct her first unfriending:

While it was partly because of her political opinions (our worldviews were very different) it had much more to do with the way she expressed them. Which wasn’t very politely.

This matches another person’s experience:

Yes I have unfriended! Mean, grumbling, whining, starting trouble where none should be.

Clearly people need to watch what they say in the social media arena. Some people really do forget that what they’re saying is being noticed by real, live people. It’s okay to be yourself and express your opinions but please do it in a polite, respectful manner. If you wouldn’t say it to their face, don’t say it in social media.

Some people’s experiences are a little more unsettling:

“I had to block one person because he went from being business professional to inappropriate declarations of love in about 24 hours. I’ve never even emailed this person – we were Facebook Friends with no other ties.”

Yikes! This story illustrates what is probably the biggest fear women have of going online and being open in social media sites – the online stalker. However, consider this. There are over 250 million active users on Facebook and I’ve heard of only a small handful of cases like this. So yes, we do need to be cautious about what we say and do online. However, I really don’t see this as being a common occurrence.

The final example is probably the most common reasons I’ve found for people being unfriend. This writer unfriended:

an old high school friend who, it turned out, wasn’t interested in catching up, but was using Facebook to get an audience for his multi-level marketing scheme.

The multi-level marketers are giving us all a bad name. And lets be clear here: I know several ethical and respectful multi-level marketers who would never engage in this type of social media spamming. But a few bad apples really do ruin the whole bunch.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a multi-level marketer, a solopreneur, a small business owner or CEO of a Fortune 100 company, the rule on social media should be relationships first, marketing second.

Spend 80 percent of your time building relationships: sharing your personal experiences, passing along valuable tips, sending links to other people’s sites when they offer something of value, commenting on your connections’ activities, being entertaining. Then spend 20 percent of your time marketing and promoting. But remember, on social media more than anywhere else, you need to use a soft sell.

And one final thought about unfriending someone. When you click that button at the bottom of their Facebook profile to sever your Facebook friendship, it doesn’t set off a flashing red light on the top of their computer. In fact, if the person you are unfriending is a social media spammer trying to build the biggest list possible without building a relationship, then in all likelihood they won’t even notice that you’re go.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Have you ever had to unfriend someone? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

But we can’t always be intimate acquaintances of everyone we need to do business with. That’s where networking comes in. I may not know you, but if my friend Mary knows you and vouches for you, then I’m willing to trust that you’ll do what you say.

The internet changes networking – a little

However, the world has grown. As the internet makes Marshall McLuhan’s global village a reality, we want and need to do business with people who are further afield. We can’t meet everyone we do business with if sometimes they are in different cities, time zones, countries or even continents.

That’s where social media (also known as social networking) filled the gap. Now we can “meet” and get to know virtual acquaintances from anywhere in the world. The same level of trust can be created by virtual recommendations.

This network of meeting and vouching for people virtually has been referred to as the “reputation economy”. It’s not just what you do and how your market yourself that matters. It’s your professional reputation that really counts in the long run.

LinkedIn is one site where this is particularly true. A social networking site for business professionals, LinkedIn allows you to build relationships, network and do business. You are judged by what you’ve done, what you say, how you conduct yourself and who you know.

Recommendations Strengthen Your Reputation

One feature of LinkedIn that really allows you to showcase your reputation is recommendations. People who are connected to you can give you a recommendation. This can be from the point of view of a customer, a business partner, a co-worker or employer.

A LinkedIn recommendation really aids your reputation in a number of ways. First, it’s like when our mutual friend Mary vouches for you. However, on LinkedIn, I don’t have to know Mary for you to benefit from her recommendation. Anyone looking at my profile can also see my recommendations.

Second, a LinkedIn recommendation means that not only has someone taken the time to say this person is good at what they do, but everyone knows the recommendation has not been altered. It is a true and accurate representation of what the recommender said. No editing or fabrications are even possible.

Third, the process is entirely transparent. It is dead easy for everyone to look at the source of the recommendation. If the person writing the glowing recommendation has written virtually the same one for each of his contacts, you know the recommendation is likely meaningless. However, if the person writing the recommendation has written a detailed and specific comment and has been sparing in her praise to others, you know that words likely have value.

Finally, giving recommendations has an impact on the reputation of the recommender. In the reputation economy, honesty is necessary in all areas of business. If you give a falsely glowing recommendation to someone just so you can get one back, eventually this is going to harm your own reputation. If you can’t be trusted to accurately report on the quality of another’s work, where else are you untrustworthy?

Getting Recommendations

In an ideal world, everyone would take the time to give a written recommendation for excellent service. But we all live in the real world. We get busy. We forget the niceties. We may even mean to send a letter but we forget.

That is why in LinkedIn, it is perfectly acceptable and professional to request recommendations. Look through your list of contacts. Are there happy current or former customers? Past co-workers? Former employers? Joint venture partners? Anyone who knows your work and has a good opinion of it (and you) can be asked. This is not being pushy. It’s not tooting your own horn. It’s not rude. It is a smart and professional way of building your reputation.

Are mutual recommendations okay?

Often times if you check out a recommendation on LinkedIn, you’ll that the receiver has made a reciprocal recommendation. Does this weaken the recommendation? No.

Consider this. I have a graphic design who does work for me. I’ve brought her in on projects where a client of mine needs design work. I’ve known her for years. I can easily comment on her abilities from the perspective of a customer and as a business partner.

At the same time, over the years I’ve done considerable work for her. I’ve written and edited copy for both her and some of her clients. She can just as easily comment about my abilities as I can hers. That’s fairly normal in business. If someone is a good customer, don’t you want to give them a shot when you need products or services they offer? It solidifies the business relationship.

If you don’t have any recommendations on LinkedIn, take a look through your connections and make some requests. And of course, as you are searching for people who might recommend you, if you come across someone whose work is exemplary, take a moment to give them an unsolicited recommendation. They’ll appreciate it.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Have you ever requested a recommendation on LinkedIn? Have you ever been asked to give one? Share your experiences or thoughts by leaving a comment below. And as always, if you send me an invitation to connect on LinkedIn, and mention you’re a reader of this blog, I promise to accept your invitation.

What are the pros and cons of keeping your LinkedIn list public?

If you keep your list public, it allows your other connections to browse your list. For those who favor the public setting, this is the major pro.

Why?

Say you and I are connected on LinkedIn and you are looking to meet John Smith. John Smith is an important person in your industry and you’d like to meet him. You could go to his website, find his contact information and call him cold.

But you’d rather have an introduction to warm up the call. So you do a search on LinkedIn and discover I’m connected to John Smith (because my connections are public). You can then send me a message asking me to introduce you.

People who favor keeping their connections private, feel letting their connections see their list as a major con. First, they feel strongly that they should respect the privacy of those who have agreed to connect. It’s a matter of professional courtesy. Second, they are worried about connection sluts – people who try to amass a large number of connections with out truly connecting or getting to know anyone.

What are the pros and cons of keeping your list private?

Keeping your connect list private limits your ability to help your network. In a recent discussion on LinkedIn about this topic, one responder commented that a number of his connections received job offers they never would have gotten without his connection list being public.

A private list prevents you – and your connections – from being inundated with introduction requests and unwanted emails. It ensures you are only getting messages from people you know and want to hear from.

How do you decide?

Making the decision to keep your LinkedIn connections public or private really depends on why you’re on LinkedIn and who your connections are. If your connections are all celebrities and CEOs of Fortune 100 companies – people who don’t have time for the general riff raff – then you should keep your connections private.

On the other hand, if you are the general riff raff, and want to connect with others and help others make connections then keep your list public.

I personally feel that if someone is genuinely interested in true networking, then they are a valuable connection to me, regardless of who they are or what they do. I never know who will be able to help me or who I might be able to help. If keeping my connection list public helps one person in my network land a new job, get a new client or hire a better supplier then it’s worth it.

Andrea J. Stenberg

What do you think? Should you keep your connection list public or private? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

As a result, many LinkedIn newbies are at a loss and therefore don’t build a large LinkedIn network. They only add people they already know outside of LinkedIn. Many eventually give up on the entire process.

Others learn the “secrets” for adding new people and build a large list with abandon. But they never develop relationships with most of the hundreds or even thousands of connections they make.

In both of these scenarios the user is missing out on the real power of LinkedIn; the ability to get to know a lot about someone and build a business relationship. Here are the six simple steps for building relationships, not just a network, on LinkedIn.

1. Finding new people to “meet”

There are several ways to find people to meet. One of the best is by answering and asking questions. Spend some time browsing the Answers section to look for people in the industry you are looking for.

Joining groups is another way to meet people in LinkedIn. There are internal discussions within groups. Participate in those and read what others have to say. Once you are a member of a group, LinkedIn will allow you to invite other members of the group to become connections.

Use the search tool to locate people you have some other connection to, even if you don’t actually know them. If you follow them on Twitter, read their blog or subscribe to their ezine, that can be a first step in a connection.

2. Start a conversation

LinkedIn allows you to send invitations to anyone who has common features in their profile. If you both worked for the same company (even at different times), went to the same university, or belong to the same LinkedIn group, you can send an invitation.

However, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Whenever you receive an invitation, you have three options: to accept, archive or “I don’t know this user”. If your invitations get an “I don’t know this user” too many times, LinkedIn will freeze your account.

This is why you need to start a conversation first. When asking or answering questions in the Answers if someone looks like a good fit send them a private note. Comment on their response, ask them to elaborate or clarify a point, check out their profile and ask them a question about what they do.

The same goes for members of groups. Always start an intelligent conversation with someone before sending an invitation.

3. Send the invitation

After you’ve been communicating for a while, you’re ready to send an invitation. Don’t just go on autopilot and send the generic LinkedIn-generated invitation. Add a personal note to remind them who you are and how they know you.

Refer back to the conversation you had. Mention why you would like to become connected or how you think a connection would benefit them.

Try something like: “I really liked your response to my question about due diligence on a potential investor. I’d like to ensure our conversation can continue so I’m inviting you to connect.”

4. Check out their profile

Once they have accepted your invitation, spend some time perusing their profile. Visit any websites listed. Get to know them. Figure out who their customers are, what interests they may have and what information they might need. You want to know them well enough that you will recognize and remember when you locate a person, article or tool that might benefit them.

If they have a blog or ezine, subscribe. If they’re also on Twitter, follow them. The key is to do what you can to get to know them better.

5. Keep in touch

Monitor the Network Updates on your LinkedIn home page. This will allow you to see at a glance what your connections are up to. When appropriate send a message. Congratulate them if they announce a new client, answer a question, offer some useful information or send a referral.

6. Get off LinkedIn

This is the most important step to building relationships with your LinkedIn connections. At some point you need to connect outside of LinkedIn. If you connection is in your city, invite them to a networking meeting or to meet for coffee. Face to face is still the most powerful way to get to know someone.

If your connection is not near by, use the phone. Long distance is cheap. Send a message through LinkedIn saying you would like to talk on the phone. Ask when would be a good time to call and set up an appointment. Hearing someone’s voice and being able to have a live conversation is so much easier than trying to have the same conversation via email.

If you are connecting with a wide array of new people on LinkedIn, you won’t necessarily reach step six with everyone. As I write this post I have 506 connections. I assure you I have not had 506 phone conversations or coffee meetings.

On the other hand, I have spoken to a sizeable number of my connection, people I did not know prior to “meeting” them on LinkedIn. These phone conversations have led to joint venture projects, referrals, sales, purchases and occasionally nothing more than a pleasant five minutes on the phone.

Take a look at your list of connections. If the majority of your connections are only at step 3 or step 4, it’s time to start working on the other steps. It’s when you take the time to deepen your relationships with these virtual connections that you really start getting value out of your LinkedIn network.

Andrea J. Stenberg

How do you use your LinkedIn network to help your business? Please leave a comment and share your experiences.

But for too many entrepreneurs, attending networking meetings never really pays off. They attend regularly, talk to people, but never see any business as a result.

The reason for this is that too many networking meetings become social events; a chance for people to share a drink and chat with friends rather than a marketing activity. And while it is important to chat and even socialize with other business people – particularly if you are a solopreneur working from home – that is not the purpose of a networking meeting.

If you will be attending a networking meeting, here are my tips for getting great results:

1.     Highlight one aspect of your business

Don’t make the mistake of trying to tell people everything you do. You’re just trying to pique their interest and start a conversation. What is the one thing you want people learn about your business today? Promote a new product, tell them about an award, highlight a business milestone. You can’t tell everyone everything about your business, so pick one aspect you will focus on today.

2.     Sit with new people.

Don’t make the mistake of only talking to people you already know. More importantly, if you go with people from your business, don’t sit together. The point of networking is to network. Make sure to meet and have a conversation with at least one new person each time.

3.     Have a goal

Go into each meeting with a goal or target. Perhaps it’s to meet a specific person or talk to someone at a particular company. I usually have a goal of having one good conversation with two or three new people. If I learn about their business and they learn a little about mine, I consider that meeting to be a success.

4.     Practice your elevator speech

Many networking meetings have a section where you stand up and give your elevator speech to the group. If you’ve only got 30 seconds to make an impression, make the most of it. Don’t stammer through your introduction – be polished and professional.

The best way to do this is practice ahead of time. And don’t just give a laundry list of what you do. Make a statement that is provocative, lets the audience know who your target market is and makes them want to speak with you. If you’re not sure how to do this, read my blog post about the Three Foot Rule and crafting an elevator speech.

5.     Bring your business cards

If you are lucky enough to meet someone who might want to buy from you, you need to be able to give them a way to get in touch. Always have your business cards with you. Forgetting is no excuse. I keep a stash in my wallet, every purse I own, my briefcase, my binder and in the glove compartment of the car. The only way I will ever be without business cards is if I show up on foot and naked!

And please don’t use the do-it-yourself cards you print on your home printer and tear apart at the perorations. Business cards are one of the cheapest forms of promotion out there. At the very least, get them professionally printed. Better yet, hire a graphic designer and get some nice looking ones. Compare prices. You’ll find that the do-it-yourself ones don’t really save money and they look cheap.

6.     Follow up

You almost never hear of someone handing over a cheque after a first meeting at a networking event. The meeting is just the first step in the process. If you meet someone who is a good prospect for you, follow up outside of the meeting. If they are extremely interested you may be able to get them set up a time to meet right away.

It is more likely however, that you’ll meet someone who is a potential customer, but not really interested yet. By following up you can build on your first impression and keep your name in front of them.

7.     Keep coming back

Networking is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Don’t expect to make a sale the first time you show up. Networking is about building relationships. As members of the group get to know, like and trust you, they will become more likely to do business with you, or send referrals your way. The best way to build that “know, like and trust” factor is by showing up. The more you show up, the more people will get to know you.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Do you have a particular tip or strategy you use to get great results at networking events? Have you ever landed a new client after meeting at a networking meeting? Please tell us your secret by leaving a comment.

How do they do this? By using a service like TweetLater to automatically follow anyone who follows them. They then create a message that TweetLater sends to all new followers.

When people first started doing this, it was kind of cool. You’d start following someone and suddenly you’d get a DM thanking you for following. If you didn’t have a lot of followers, it was nice to actually have something in your DM box.

But after a while it began to lose its cool factor. After all, if Twitter is really about building relationships, how are you getting to know someone by having an automated reply? In fact, now that I’ve reached a critical mass of followers I’m getting so many DMs I’ve started to delete them without really paying attention.

And yet, there was one guy I started following who did this really well. His Twitter bio says he has a free gift to all new Twitter followers. After following him, he sent a DM containing a link to get a whole lot of free tools.

So, should we be sending the DMs?

I attended a Twitter workshop at Podcamp Toronto last weekend when this topic came up. It sparked a heated debate about automatic DMs. One woman was extremely vocal about the subject. In particular, she hated DMs that contain links: links to your blog, website, podcast, free download, whatever. She commented, “I don’t even know you yet. We don’t have a relationship and you’re already asking me to take some action?!?”

That particular comment struck home. I’ve been telling people that Twitter – and all social media – is about building relationships one person at a time. You shouldn’t do anything online that you wouldn’t do in person. Sending an automated DM with a link is like trying to sell at a networking meeting before you’ve even had a single conversation with someone.

And I’ve been guilty of it too.

And not only is it annoying, several people in the session stated they unfollow anyone who sends them one of these automated DMs.

As soon as the session was over I logged into TweetLater and cancelled the automatic DM. I’m still automatically following anyone who follows me. After all, how better to get to know someone than by reading what they have to say.

So how do you build relationships with people on Twitter without the automated DM? I’m sorry to say, you do it the old fashioned way. Sending messages one person at a time. Read people’s Tweets and send @replies or DMs that comment on what they wrote. Start an actual conversation. Once you’re talking, once you have a relationship, then you can send  that link.

Andrea J. Stenberg

What’s your opinion about automated DMs in Twitter? Love ‘em, hate ‘em, didn’t know you could do them? Leave a comment and tell us what you think.

PS: You might also enjoy reading Using Twitter: Another Look at Sending Automated Direct Messages

Not knowing quite what to expect, I send a message via LinkedIn to Krishna De who is involved in Podcamp Ireland. She told me to go, have a good time and bring a recording device in case I wanted to interview anyone.

I arrived at Ryerson University (site of Toronto Podcamp 09) and realized I’ve been living in a small town too long. It never occurred to me to check which building was housing the event. I was standing on the street with my cell phone trying to get my sister to find out where I should be going when I saw two people approaching. One was carrying a stack of books with titles about podcasting. Hmmm, other Podcamp attendees.

Sure enough, they were going to Podcamp too so I walked along with them and we started talking. I introduced myself and talked about the Baby Boomer Entrepreneur. I asked what he did. “I’m a typist,” was the reply.

Typist, my ass! It was Chris Brogan, one of the world’s biggest bloggers. Of course, stupid me, I didn’t realize who he was until I walked into the event and people started asking “was that Chris Brogan you were with?”

After that auspicious start to my day, I ran into some people I know from local networking events. Getting even better.

I got hold a list of the speakers for the day. There were usually three to five events going simultaneously. Each seminar was about 30 minutes with 15 minutes in between to allow chatting and time to get to the next room. I had trouble narrowing it down but finally created a plan for my day.

I managed to fill a notebook with tips, strategies and tools from each of the sessions I attended, plus Twitter handles of all the speakers. I can’t wait to start using more of the strategies I picked up. I’ll be sharing them over the next few weeks as I find time to put them down on my blog.

But even better than the information I picked up was the people I met. I was a little worried that with a name like Podcamp I’d be the oldest person there. But no, the event wasn’t filled with teenagers. There was a wide range of people. At each session I met at least one very interesting person.

Over the course of the day I chatted with countless people, exchanged business cards and learned so much. By 5 pm on Saturday I’m certain you could see information leaking out of my ears I was so wiped. I was so exhausted I didn’t even go to the pub that night, although I should have in order to meet more people.

If you have any interest in using technology to connect with people online, I urge you to attend a Podcamp near you. You’ll not only learn about tools and techniques but you’ll make some lasting personal connections. I know I did.

In fact, I enjoyed this one so much, I’ve already made plans to attend Podcamp London (Ontario) on April 25^th.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Have you ever attended a Podcamp? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought of the day.