A Beginner's Guide To Social Networking

Perhaps you thought that social media's popularity would fade before you had to learn it? Given that Fortune 500 companies are hiring Directors of Social Media and Social Media Marketing managers, it is probably unlikely.

On a strictly business level, social media offers three key components: it allows you to connect with and engage current and potential customers directly; it allows you to connect with colleagues and business partners; and it allows you to leverage those connections to connect with others to meet needs you don't even know you have yet.

Social media is here to stay. Why? Social media allows businesses and small business owners to directly interact with their current and potential customers and collegues and to use these interactions to gain exposure and gather expert information from a variety of trusted sources.

Connecting with customers allows you to understand their needs, hear and address their concerns immediately, and involve them in the evolution of your company! With access to your colleagues and business partners, you can strengthen your existing networking opportunities to obtain new business or find (free) expert advice. Combining your prior contacts with new online contacts, you can easily expand your ability to get introductions to key players in any industry.

There are an ever-increasing number of social sites available to you and it would be impossible (and unnecessary) for you to be active on all of them. To start off with it is only necessary to be active on three: LinkedIn (professional), Facebook (social) and Twitter (immediate). If you still feel overwhelmed, just get involved on LinkedIn and Twitter for now. You can add Facebook later.

When you sign up for these, sites use your real name (or as close as possible). You want people to be able to find you. You may also want to sign up under the company name which you can do on LinkedIn and Twitter. Get a great head shot and use a small version of this as your thumbnail sized avatar. The sites will offer to look for contacts from your email address book. This is a great feature and you should do it. Deselect if you don't actually want to follow someone.

Writing a strong biography for your site is very important. This gives people just enough information to decide if they want to connect with or follow you. When you develop a biography, let people know what you do and also add your URL to your Website or blog so people can get additional details about your businss. On Twitter you can design a background. Use a free design site to do this yourself or hire a graphic designer for this small job. It makes a difference in the professionalism of your site.

Once you are signed up and have your profile built, it's time to get busy connecting! Finding people to follow is easy. You can join groups on LinkedIn and Facebook based on your own background (Christian Professionals, Consultants Network, CPA's, etc.) and on Twitter you can use the search feature for key words. Enter something like "entrepreneur" and you can watch conversations and find new people to follow. Send people to blogs you like, contribute to conversations, answer questions people ask. This can help build "expert" status for you.

Don't push too hard. You will recoginize site members who are there simply to sell. This is very transparent and very annoying. Remind yourself of the goal of social networking sites: to connect, engage and serve others. Others will serve you, but not if you hammer them with sales messages and automatic responses.

Sometimes you will get the opportunity to meet some of your contacts in persons. Facebook and LinkedIn list events in your area and Twitter has what are called "tweetups" which are live gatherings of Twitter members, generally around a topic or interest. Interacting in person builds a stronger connection than just online.

From Fortune 500 companies to freelance entrepreneurs, social networking offers a way to interact and contact people we didn't conceive of five years ago and allows for a broader reach to your target audience. Test the waters and go connect!

by Steven Schlagel - June 30, 2009

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