SOCIAL MEDIA–DON’T RUN AWAY YOUR FRIENDS

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Have you ever gone out on a Saturday night to a party to get away from work and all its pressures—only to be followed around by some insensitive jerk whose determined to discuss business whether you want to or not?  Does this make you like him?  Even more importantly, will this lead you to do business with him?

That is how some people act with social media.

I have a business and Facebook friend who was unemployed for some time.  When he finally landed a job, he invited me to join his company Facebook page.  I had no interest, so I ignored his request.  That didn’t stop him from posting all his business banter on his personal Facebook page.

Facebook is a social site.  Its primary purpose is not business. Now I didn’t say you couldn’t do business, but it must be kept to a minimum.   I went to my friend’s Facebook page & noted he had ten posts—eight of them were business related.  The other two were what he had for lunch & dinner.  Those percentages are backwards.

His message isn’t going to be read.  Many of his friends will hide his posts or pull him out of their networks.  They certainly aren’t going to want to do business with him.

Example number two.  There is a local business that discovered LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is primarily a business platform.  However, the owners of this business determined they want to use LinkedIn to send blast e-mails about what’s good about their company.

That is not how LinkedIn was intended.  In fact, LinkedIn designed its platform so it takes a great deal of work to send out mass messages.

As I was reviewing Twitter a few minutes ago, I noticed a tweet from an unhappy recipient that explained the risks of acting badly with social media.  It said, “FYI—if you choose to follow me 4 times & I don’t follow back, the 5^th try’s not going to do it.  You’re not interesting & I’m happy with my insurance.”

This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF LINKEDIN RECOMMENDATIONS

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Have you ever looked at your LinkedIn Status updates and seen anything like this?

“John Doe was recommended by Bill Smith.”  Then directly under that you see, “John Doe recommends Bill Smith.”

Now isn’t it clear John called Bill & said, “If you recommend me, then I will recommend you.”  Does this instill confidence in you that John & Bill do good work?

I call this a “circular” recommendation.  If the primary purpose of LinkedIn is to build credibility, I don’t think resorting to a “swap” to get people to say nice things about you is going to make you look good.

And I’ve always been puzzled why LinkedIn makes it so easy to do.  When someone recommends you, LinkedIn automatically asks if you would like to recommend them back.

In fact, I would say Recommendations are one of the most misused LinkedIn strategies.  I often get requests from people, who have never done work for me, ask that I recommend them.  Well, my credibility is at stake when I give a recommendation.  I may respond with “Joe is active in our community” or “Mary is well liked by her peers,” but it wouldn’t be appropriate or honest for me to praise his or her work…if I don’t really know how he or she performs.

If you are looking for a meaningful recommendation, I suggest you contact your most satisfied clients and ask them for a recommendation.  All of us have raving fans or we wouldn’t be in business.  These are the recommendations that actually mean something.

By the way, the best way to gain value from LinkedIn recommendations is to give “unsolicited” recommendations to others who have done good work for you.  Remember the goal of social media is to get people to like you.  If you’re struggling to get recommendations, maybe they are struggling also.  They will be thrilled that you took the initiative to praise them publicly.

This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR B2B IS POWERFUL

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The number one question I get asked is, “Does social media work for businesses selling to other businesses?

I have been a business owner for 40 years.  I with my brother, Martin, have operated a retail clothing store, a furniture store, a rent-to-own business, an outsourcing company, & a collection agency.  The one thing they all have in common is we spent a fortune on sales & marketing…TV, radio, newspaper, trade shows…big budgets. 

A few months ago, Phyllis Neill & I started WeMentor Social Media Marketing to help companies develop social media strategies.   Our business has taken off & we have spent virtually nothing promoting ourselves.

We’ve done it with social media, which shouldn’t be a surprise…since that is what we do. 

I’m going to share some numbers with you.  I have mixed emotions, since it might appear I’m bragging.  However, I don’t know how else to prove my point.

I personally have 900 direct connections & 150,000 second line connections on LinkedIn; 600 Facebook friends; & 300 Twitter followers; Phyllis has 500 direct connections & 50,000 second line connections on LinkedIn;  almost 500 Facebook friends, & close to 600 Twitter followers.

WeMentor has over 300 Facebook friends & we have close to 500 subscribers to our e-mail newsletter.  My whOOyouknow.com weekly podcast has attracted over 1,500 unique visitors, & our WeMentor Web Site, which includes Phyllis’ Birmingham Social Media Blog, attracts about 5,000 visitors a month.

Before social media, we never could have gotten a business off the ground so fast & with such a small budget.

Have you ever wished you could be the first to the market with an opportunity to overwhelm your competitors?  Well, social media gives you that chance.  Now you can “own your space” on the Internet.

This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

TREAT EVERYONE AS IF IT’S THE LAST TIME YOU’ll SEE THEM

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My Aunt Laney Royal taught me something that changed my life.  Okay, so she wasn’t my aunt–she was my Mom’s first cousin & her best friend.  Here was her advice, “Treat everyone as if this will be the last time you will see them.  I think about her words often and try to live by them. 

A number of years ago I went to a conference that was highly attended by care givers.  I had an opportunity to talk with a hospice nurse.  I told her I thought she had the most challenging job in the world since she had to deal with people who were dying.  She said her job, in deed, was difficult, but not because of the relationship with her patients, but because of the patient’s family.  She said much of the time, the family members were plagued by guilt for how they treated their late husband, wife, child, or parent.  It was her job to make them feel better.

On the date of my grandmother’s funeral, I asked my Mom if it would be okay for me to go for my daily jog.  She gave permission by saying, “It’s not important how you treat someone when they are dead…its important how you treat them when they are alive.”  Obviously, Aunt Laney’s wisdom rubbed off on her.

I know this seems like a strange topic for a podcast on how to build your social and business network.  But it really isn’t.  We sometimes think of our life as achieving goals, meeting the right people, getting where we want to go…forgetting people we touch are real people with real problems. 

If we are truly interested in others & try to help them, these relationships will send us in the right direction.

Maya Angelou summed it up best when she said, ”I’ve learned that people forget what you said; people forget what you do; but people always remember how you treat them.” 

This is David Sher your WeMentor Guy saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.