Archive for social networking
I’ve been seeing a disturbing trend on LinkedIn; a trend that is making me angry. People are starting their relationship with me by lying.
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 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→
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→
In the previous two blog posts I wrote about Facebook’s unwritten rules which, if broken, can get you banned from Facebook. In today’s post I’m wrapping up this series with some additional thoughts on the subject.
Getting Banned Isn’t the Only Issue
If you follow ethical networking strategies on Facebook and focus on quality rather than quantity you should be okay. However, I’ve heard too many stories from people who just don’t know what they did wrong to be able to guarantee it won’t happen to you.
But getting banned isn’t the only reason to worry. If you’re on Twitter, you might remember Black Tuesday.
In the spring of 2008, those on Twitter logged on one Tuesday morning to discover all their followers were gone, and so were the people they were following. Everyone was alone in Twitter.
What happened?
Twitter’s server crashed and deleted everyone’s followers.
To the best of my knowledge, this has never happened to Facebook. However, as we all know, technology isn’t perfect. You just never know.
But there’s more. While Facebook is selling advertising they are closed mouthed about how their revenue stream is going. Facebook is growing so quickly, I find it hard to believe they will ever go under, but people would have said this about the big three automakers two years ago.
The Real Question
So real the question is if Facebook were to ban you, crash or disappear altogether, what would that do to your marketing efforts? How would that impact your business?
And I think this is an important question for any marketing strategy, not just Facebook. You shouldn’t be dependant on only one marketing tool – you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. It’s just too risky to have all your marketing focused solely on one social media tool.
What’s the answer then?
You need to create an overall marketing plan for your business. Facebook can (and for many businesses, should) be a part of that plan. But it needs to be incorporated and connected to other marketing strategies.
Plan to use other social media sites (I’m regularly on Twitter and LinkedIn as well as Facebook). Attend live networking events. Use PR. Write a blog or newsletter. Advertise. The key is, not to depend on getting all your business from one place.
When it comes to Facebook, spend the time it takes to build relationships and your list in an ethical manner. Give people a chance to get to know, like and trust you.
And while you’re busy building those relationships on Facebook, you need to have a secondary goal in mind. And that goal is to get people off Facebook and onto your own site, onto your own mailing list.
You can’t force people onto your own sites. But if you give people time to get to know you, like you and trust you, eventually you can gently and carefully encourage them to visit your website and join your own email list.
Andrea J. Stenberg
In my business, often I see people go from Twitter, then Facebook, then my blog, then my newsletter. How does Facebook fit into your overall marketing strategy? Have any tips to share? Please leave a comment here.
