Archive for social media

LinkedIn Connections – should you connect with people you don’t know? #3

by Andrea J. Stenberg
May 2nd, 2013

In yesterday’s post I talked about Open Networkers and Selective Connectors. If someone is obviously an Open Networker, feel free to send them an invitation to connect, even if you don’t know each other.

But what if they’re a Selective Connector or you’re not sure? How do you get connected without offending them or getting in trouble with LinkedIn?

Get Introduced

LinkedIn introductionsWhen you look at someone’s profile on LinkedIn, lower down on the right-hand side, LinkedIn tells you exactly how you’re connected.

If you’re not 1st degree connections (directly connected to each other) LinkedIn will tell you who in your network is also connected to the person you want to know. Read More→

Categories LinkedIn, social media
Comments (6)

LinkedIn Connections – should you connect with people you don’t know? #2

by Andrea J. Stenberg
April 30th, 2013

The dangers of sending invitations to people you don’t know

Yesterday I told you why I think it’s a good idea to accept invitations on LinkedIn from people you don’t know. But you don’t want to be sitting around waiting for people to connect with you. You need to be proactive with your networking and start inviting people.

LinkedIn invitation to connectBefore you send out invitations to people you don’t already know, you must understand some important facets of LinkedIn culture.

Basically, there are two types of people on LinkedIn: Open Networkers and what I call “Selective Connectors”.

You need to be certain which camp a person fall into before sending an invitation to connect if you don’t know the person in the real world.

What is an Open Networker?

Open Networkers Read More→

Categories LinkedIn, social media
Comments (6)

LinkedIn Connections – should you connect with people you don’t know?

by Andrea J. Stenberg
April 29th, 2013

If you’ve been on LinkedIn for more than about 5 minutes you’ve probably started to receive invitations from people you don’t know. So the question is: should you accept those invitations?

Connect with people on LinkedInLinkedIn states you should only accept invitations from people you know well. But should you follow LinkedIn’s advice?

While this is a personal decision, I’d like to suggest that yes you should consider adding people you don’t know to your list of connections. Here’s why:

Maybe you do know them

When you get an invitation from someone you don’t know it could be that you’ve just forgotten how you know them.

Now ideally anyone who sends you an invitation to connect on LinkedIn will personalize the invitation and include a note about how you know each other. However, we know the ideal situation doesn’t always exist in real life. If someone is relatively new to LinkedIn they may not know that they can personalize the invitation. Or they may just be lazy and assume you remember who they are.

In either case, Read More→

Categories LinkedIn, Networking, social media
Comments (7)

What is social networking? A beginner’s guide

by Andrea J. Stenberg
March 13th, 2013

Social networking – aka social media – is a way to connect to people online. The people component is often overlooked when people talk about social networking – they focus on the technology rather than the people.

technology-vs-peopleFacebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are examples of social networking sites. It may surprise you to learn that YouTube and blogging are also considered to be social networking sites.

However, it doesn’t matter which site you’re on, the main purpose is making a connection with real people. Think back to the days before Alexander Graham Bell. When you wanted to do business with someone you had to get off your bum, go outside and walk down the street to find the person you wanted to talk with. But after the phone was invented we could talk to other people without leaving our homes or offices.

Jump forward to the 1970s and 80s when the fax machine became common. Suddenly you could send documents to people across town or across the world.

Social networking is a similar technological advance that allows you to communicate with people around the world. But unlike the telephone where you can only talk one-on-one (or one-on few in the case of conference calls) with social networking you can “talk” to many (even thousands) of people at once. I addition, these people don’t have to be listening live; you can post now and they may see your message later.

The key features of these sites are:

  1. You create a profile for yourself or your business
  2. You connect (Like, Follow, Friend) other people and vice versa
  3. You makes posts or comments for your followers to read
  4. You comment or share what others are posting

How does this help business?

Just like businesses quickly jumped on board with the telephone, social networking is a great tool for small businesses. It provides an opportunity for people to get to know, like and trust you in a non-threatening way.

You can showcase your expertise, let people know about new products or simply be entertaining. The choice is yours.

Like all effective marketing strategies, doing it right isn’t always easy. And it does take time. But an effective social media campaign can make a world of difference in your marketing.

Andrea Stenberg

Categories Like and Trust Factor, social media
Comments (1)

Networking is About Creating a Personal Connection

by Andrea J. Stenberg
March 6th, 2013

When you’re networking – either in person or online – if you’re doing it right you’re trying to find something in common with the other person. You need to make a connection. Why? Because everyone prefers to do business with people they know, like and trust. We prefer to buy from them. We prefer to send referrals to them. It’s human nature.

make-a-personal-connection

How does this work?

Recently I was at a networking event talking to an accountant. We couldn’t be more different. I’m good at math but hate accounting. If I ever have insomnia, an accounting textbook would put me right to sleep.

He was analytical, detail oriented and a planner while I’m more likely to go by the seat of my pants. There wasn’t a real connection there.

Until I mentioned that I’m a big Blue Jays fan. Suddenly his face lit up as he told me that he checks the Jays website first thing every morning. Suddenly we were in a lively discussion about spring training and prospects for the coming season.

We’d made a connection.

That’s why when talking at a networking event or posting on social media, you can’t be all business. You have to show your human side … what makes you tick. It’s those little personality quirks that make us unique and allow us to connect with other people.

How do you connect?

Andrea J. Stenberg

Categories Like and Trust Factor, Networking, social media
Comments (1)
Next Page »
Subscribe in a reader

Get your free eBook now!

Archives

Try these:

WP Shopping CartWP Affiliate Platform
Landing Page eBookWordPress Membership Plugin
The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur
Copyright © 2013 All Rights Reserved
iThemes Builder by iThemes
Powered by WordPress