WAS MY SOCIAL MEDIA RESPONSE APPROPRIATE?

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I give a lot of speeches about social media and how it helps people build relationships.  I gave a social media talk a couple of weeks ago emphasizing how many people are in my LinkedIn network, my number of Facebook friends, how many followers I have on Twitter and so forth….emphasizing that social media has given me the opportunity meet a lot of new people.

A couple of days after that presentation I received an e-mail from one of the participants.  She said she’s on the board of a nonprofit organization and “since I have everyone in Birmingham on my social media list, would I send out a solicitation letter to them?”

Wow, that’s a tough one.  One of my primary reasons for being immersed in social media and one of the main cornerstones of social media is to try to help as many people as possible.  This created an awkward response for me.  It was with mixed emotions, I wrote the following:

 “The old way of selling was to send unsolicited requests to people or force your advertising on them.

Social media demands that your target audience ask for that information.

My partner, Phyllis, and I currently choose not to send unsolicited requests to our “own” clients or prospects.  We do have an e-mail distribution list, but everyone who we send it to request it and they can “opt out” at any time.

Soliciting your social media friends is counter to social media.

I hope you understand…and I apologize for this social media lesson.  A lot of people make it worse for themselves, their organizations, or their businesses by using social media inappropriately.

Thanks for your efforts for a very worthwhile cause.”

Do you think my response was appropriate?  Your feedback would be appreciated.  This is David Sher your WeMentor Guy saying it’s not what you know, but whoo you know.

IT TAKES A BIG MAN TO ADMIT HE MADE A MISTAKE

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My meeting wasn’t going well.  I was making a presentation to a company about creating and executing a social media strategy.  In the meeting were two young men.  One was the “Internet Manager” and the other was the “Web Master.”  They were responsible for social media in addition to the twenty other jobs they had at the firm.

Actually they were doing fairly well, but their efforts were not consistent and were not necessarily producing much in the way of results.

I was in a somewhat awkward position.  I felt that my partner, Phyllis Neill, and I could add significantly to their efforts.  But I didn’t want to sound as if they were doing a bad job for fear I would hurt their feelings.

Well, I obviously, came off a bit negative because the Internet Manager became defensive and started pointing out their successes. He said they were perfectly confident they could get the job done without any outside help.  Oh well, I messed that one up.

I walked out of the room a bit disappointed in myself.  I tried to be sensitive to their needs, but I must have overdone it.

But then something happened I never expected.  I received an e-mail from the Internet Manager saying, “Thanks for the opportunity to discuss social media and its role in business.  I made notes during your presentation and in looking back over them, I realize that we see eye to eye about the majority of this new media. I apologize if I came across as gruff, disinterested or put-off in anyway.  I assure you that is not the case. I look forward to further discussions.”

I’m not sure I have ever received an apology like this before.  Most people when they act badly or make a mistake try to cover it up or pretend like it never happened.

I don’t know if I stepped over the line or not, but it takes a big man to apologize. I certainly learned from this young man and he earned my respect.  This is your WeMentor guy saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

A LINKEDIN DILEMMA

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I usually have a strong opinion about the proper etiquette on LinkedIn, but I’m stumped on this one.

I feel I’m generally right, but feel badly about my choice. 

I received an invitation request from someone in my LinkedIn network.  His note said, “Would you mind passing this along to Mr. Doe?  I would really appreciate it.”  He included a sales pitch for himself & his service.

However I had only met the sender once at a meeting & really didn’t know him.  After that meeting, he sent me an invitation to join his LinkedIn network & I accepted.  I generally make an effort to know everyone in my LinkedIn network, but I’m pretty loose with this rule.

I didn’t really know how to respond.  I could have forwarded the request, but I felt that by forwarding I was giving my implicit endorsement of the sender, who as I stated earlier I barely knew.  I could have archived the introduction request but I don’t think that’s appropriate either.

So I felt compelled to respond which I did with the following e-mail.  “Thanks for thinking of me to help you with your introductions.  I feel it’s important to help as many people as I can.”

“However, the purpose of LinkedIn is to have your introductions forwarded by someone who knows and believes in you.  Since I only met you briefly, I don’t know you well enough to forward your request.”

“My credibility & reputation is very important to me.   If you asked me about someone who I really didn’t know & I told you they were someone special, I would be doing you a disservice.”

“Please don’t take this personally & please don’t be upset with me, I certainly appreciate your efforts to grow your business.”

I felt I had done the right thing, but somehow I felt like a jerk.  After all, we’re participating in social media because we want to be liked & expand our influence.  I’m sure I damaged my relationship with the requester.  What do you think?  This is David Sher your WeMentor guy saying it’s not what you know, but whoo you know.

IT’S WHOO YOU KNOW ON STEROIDS

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I’ve lived in Birmingham all of my adult life and I promised I would never leave because I would give up the biggest competitive advantage I have in life & business.  I know a lot of people.  And as you’ve heard me say, “It’s whoo you know.”  If I were to move some place else, I would have to start all over again…something that seems inconceivable.

Then I received an e-mail through LinkedIn from Warren Smedley a good business friend of mine.  He said, “We have a new PhD researcher in the Cancer Center at UAB and when I met her husband, Gene Wahnefried, I thought of you.  Gene is a great entrepreneur & business strategist who is well networked at some pretty high levels.  I suggested he contact you and wanted to forward his profile.  I think you will really like Gene and thought you might be able to collaborate on things. “ 

I enjoy meeting & helping others so I e-mailed Warren to please have Gene contact me.  Gene sent me an e-mail & we scheduled coffee.

Gene was in the process of moving to Birmingham & was looking to meet as many successful business people as possible.  He asked if I was willing to make some introductions.   Since I didn’t know who he had talked to already, I didn’t know where to begin.

Then he pulled out a piece of paper with twenty-five or thirty names on it.  Next to each name was the name of a business person, his or her position, & if he had met with them or not.  It was easy for me to take that list & make some additional suggestions.

He asked if it was okay for him to make contact & use my name as a reference.  I told him I would be glad to make the initial contact as I thought it would increase his success rate.

I sent out my e-mail introductions and got a 100% positive responses.  Gene is going through the process of setting up meetings & by the end of next week should be up to forty or fifty connections.

Gene is doing what I thought was impossible.  He’s building a powerful network in a new city over night.  This is David Sher your WeMentor guy saying what Gene already knows, it’s not what you know, but whoo you know.

CAN YOUR BUSINESS MAKE MONEY WITH SOCIAL MEDIA?

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Todd Snapp, the Digital Media Manager at TekSouth, could hardly contain his enthusiasm.  He was telling me & Phyllis Neill, my partner at WeMentor, how social media had caused his business to take off.

Of course Phyllis & I enjoyed hearing his story since the number one question we are asked is, “Can my business make money with social media?” or stated another way, “How do you get a return on investment with social media?”

Here are Todd’s comments in his own words:

“We have a web-based training system which for a few years had moderate success in a very competitive market.  But we found some niche markets & had some very loyal customers.  We never really could find consistent success even with sales and web marketing.  We did a LOT of cold-calling and a LOT of Google Adwords, but sales were inconsistent & the sales cycle was long.”

“Then one day, one of our clients, a large university, posted a response on a forum which serves educator and college administrators. All she said was that our product, ResultReady, had done well & was very reasonably priced.  We got emails & calls out of the woodwork & consequently closed some very valuable deals including a couple of the largest universities in the country.  It was a real turning point for our product & it made us a legitimate player in any size college or university.”

Social Media changes the model for business building.  The only model in the past was you pay money to some media company to tell prospective clients how great you are.  That model is not very effective.  Your audience knows you paid for that ad.

Social media, however, gives your customers the opportunity to tell the world how great you are.  Since they have first hand experience with you & have nothing to gain by their endorsement, their positive comments are much more powerful.

Of course it’s now mandatory you run an excellent company or you won’t have loyal advocates to brag about you.  This is David Sher, your WeMentor guy saying it’s now what you know, but whoo you know.