Archive for Networking
Many small business owners view social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter as an exciting new shortcut for marketing their business. They think social media magical solution; if they sign up customers will flock to their website or store front. It’s as if marketing no longer has to be work.
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 Read More→
If you are using Facebook as a business networking tool, you’re probably trying to build a broad online network. Many people on Facebook only connect with people they know in the real world. Business people who are using Facebook as a virtual networking meeting however, need to be more of an “open networker” rather than a “selective connector”.
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. Read More→
One of the reasons social media has become so pervasive is that we all prefer to do business with people we know, like and trust. We’ve become suspicious of marketing and advertising; too often people don’t deliver what they promise. We can’t afford to spend our money on the unknown. But if I know you, I can trust my money won’t be wasted.
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. Read More→
When setting up your LinkedIn profile, you have the option of keeping your connection list private or public. Having them set to public doesn’t mean everyone in the world can see them; only your LinkedIn connections can see your other connections.
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 Read More→
LinkedIn has a much more rigid set of rules regarding adding new people than other social media sites. If you break the rules you are much more likely to get a virtual hand-slap or get your account frozen than on any other site. It’s also not immediately clear how to converse with people you don’t already know.
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. Read More→
