The rise of social media has been quite remarkable in the last 5 years. Sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, My Space and more recently Twitter have established their value to empower social networking and are here to stay. So much so that entrepreneurs have flocked in mass to use them as another way to market the products and services their business provides.
Shortly thereafter there was a flood of instructional social media “secrets” being marketed which has in turn trained many internet marketers how to unintentionally to tarnish the system. Unfortunately, many of those individuals are now jumping on the social media bandwagon with the desire to gain as many in their network as possible for the purpose of shoving their marketing down their throats. Although an increasing number are using social media but far less are using it effectively, which prompted the writing of this article.
The Cause & Affect
What originally made these sites so unique was that it allowed others to connect together and routinely share information that appealed to the common interest. Those connected were then compelled to comment and share often since the dialogue appealed to them. Instead of one-way communication, this enabled two way conversations. This is even more the case with the emergence of Twitter. These were intended to be considered “safe” places to interact on-line, away from spam emails and unsolicited pop-up windows.
Social Media is not intended to be the place where someone continuously hammers their network trying to hustle their products. The”I Made 45K in 30 days!” and “New Business Opportunity In Pre-Launch. Jump Aboard!”; do not bring value nor do they motivate the recipient want to do anything other than delete it upon viewing the headline. Making matters even worse is the rotating automation software, which automatically sends these messages out every 30 minutes everyday. The issue is that no one is behind the keyboard sending anything of value and as a result, no one is listening.
Be Effective: Brand Yourself As An Asset
The best way to use social media to grow your business is to provide value, which is to say; connect, listen and give. Social Media Guru Chris Brogan the author of “Trust Agents” verbalized it well when he said, “Give and provide value. Connect those that can help each other’s business. Be on the elbow of every deal being made. Give, give and give some more. It’ll always come back to you. If you don’t get that, then you’ll never be a trust agent”.
The point is that if you want to gain viable connections that will funnel traffic to your site or customers to your business you need to be seen as an asset in meeting their needs. That takes asking and listening. The beauty of social media is that you don’t necessarily have to be the smartest person in the room to do that. You just need to be connected with the expert and put them together to mutually meet their business need. You can also find purpose if you refer them to internet sources of information that can meet that need as well.
It Doesn’t Take A Large Network: Quality Over Quantity
Many talk about the tens-of-thousands of connections needed in order to get your message out and benefit your business. That is true if no one is listening and you’re only getting a response-rate equal to that of a mass mailer or telemarketing call. You see, it’s not necessarily about the number but rather about the quality of those potential internet business relationships that matter. It comes down to how well you’ve branded yourself and as a result, how much you can leverage that solid reputation to be able to help others and in turn help reach your goals as well.
It takes far fewer social media connections if they are people that know you well enough to refer others to you or recommend you to their tight knit group. It also takes far less if you are more discrete about those that you connect with. Find out before hand if they are a spammer, or if they fit your prospect/customer demographic or the profile of someone with a like mind.
When they see a message you’ve sent, you want them to sit forward and read through it because they know you’re a trusted source and have sent something that will help them. Remember, your goal is not to purely “get more people” but rather to forge an electronic business relationship that is solid enough for that person to recommend you to someone else.
Application
Now make no mistake, I’m not saying that you have to take a long time to cultivate your branding or reputation. Just a personal message every once in a while which can be something as basic as: “Since I know some key people in your industry, I would feel comfortable referring you to anyone if you let me know what you need. So I was wondering what challenges you’re facing this week? Is there any way I might help to make your business more successful?”. I’ve had people come back with “I just wrote a blog post and was wondering if you could read and comment on it”.
What’s incredible is that if you start, it tends to be contagious. When your connection hears of someone that has a need, you want that person to think of you and tell them, “hey, I know a person who might be able to help you out, let me put you two together”. Now you’ve empowered that connection to feel like they brought value to their network and helped someone too.
Conclusion
Always bear in mind that no one appreciates being regarded merely as a number and everyone places value on being asked questions and listened to. So take a slice of time out of your day to be more deliberate with whom you connect with and how you are developing your personal brand. Cultivate a network that you can leverage because, like any relationship it takes an investment before you can assume to ask for something in return. You’ll find that as soon as you do, they’ll welcome the chance to return the favor. It’s what social media was intended to be.
Patrick Daugherty
“The Biz Coach”
Owner of: http://Learn2Earnitnow.biz
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