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.

OH NO! THEY’RE NOT FOLLOWING ME ON TWITTER OR FACEBOOK

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I always make a point to thank friends when they do a favor for me.  It takes a few extra seconds, but my mother taught me the importance of a heartfelt “thank you” & I feel guilty if I don’t.

So when a friend of mine tweeted a link to one of my podcasts, I sent her a direct message to thank her.  Wow, I was surprised to discover she wasn’t following me so the direct message bounced back.  For a moment I got my feelings hurt.  But then after a moment of reflection, I determined that wasn’t fair to her or to me.  Did this mean she didn’t like me?  That doesn’t make sense.  She was kind & supportive enough to recommend others listen to my podcast.

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HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND NOT INFLUENCE PEOPLE

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It happened to me yesterday.  It happened to me last week.  In fact, it happens all the time.

I get an e-mail from someone that says, “Call me.”  Now what is that all about?  Basically what they are saying is my time is more important than your time, so I’ll make you go through the effort of trying to reach me rather than me go through the effort of trying to reach you.

My father had a good friend, Harold Shevin.  He owned Standard Furniture & he was probably the best business person I ever me.  Up until his death a number of years ago, if I had a business question or problem he was the man I would call on.

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IF YOU WANT TO BE FOUND–TRY LINKEDIN

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I received the e-mail while I was attending the National Speakers Association meeting in Phoenix & I had to rub my eyes to believe it.  I have a very dear friend who is a retired doctor.  One day she told me she wanted to go back to work part time, but wasn’t about ready to go out & look for a job.  She said, “I’m a highly qualified professional.  I’ve never prepared a resume in my life and I’m not going to go out & beg for employment.” I convinced her to set up a profile on LinkedIn and add some connections, but told her she needed to make some kind of effort. (more…)

LINKEDIN–HIDE YOUR CONNECTIONS OR NOT?

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I received a call on my voice mail from the marketing director of a large professional firm where I had trained their managers on LinkedIn.

She said the firm is making serious progress on developing their LinkedIn program, but one of the partners was recommending everyone in the firm be required to hide their connections.  She wanted to know what I thought before they made their decision. (more…)

DON’T BE SHY

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I have to admit my first instinct was to go hide in a corner where no one could see me. The social media club meeting had just ended and I was looking for some help with a computer problem.

I looked around the room to see if there was anyone who could answer my question. I spotted a friend who knows about technology and so I asked him what to do.

Unfortunately he had no idea how to fix my problem.  So what did he do? He turned around and shouted out a description of my problem to everyone in the room. The room went quiet for a second, and then someone came over and made some very good suggestions. (more…)

SOCIAL MEDIA MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD

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The How of Happiness, a book written by Sonja Lyubomirsky, has changed my life.

Sonja is a scientist and she’s studied & measured all the things that make people happy.   She says most people mistakenly think that wealth, beauty, & fame are the keys to happiness.  But she says it’s actually the little things we do every day that make the difference.

She’s identified twelve techniques that increase happiness & asks her readers to select two or three they think might work for them.

One of the techniques I chose is to practice acts of kindness—doing good things for others whether friends or strangers– & social media gives me those opportunities.

My friends know I have lots of connections and I receive requests regularly to help people find jobs, connect with potential clients, or to network with others to help them in their career or social life. 

I get a great deal of satisfaction & happiness from these little acts of kindness.

Here’s a hand written note I recently received. 

“Thank you so much for your help in my efforts to obtain a position at blank company.  It is so incredible to have friends like you at this difficult time in my life.  This type of friendship is what will help me make it to better days.  Thank you so much.”

People often jump on social media with a selfish plan to help themselves, but to be successful; your plan should be to help others.  You will feel better about yourself, gain pleasure, and your success will come.  This is David Sher, your WeMentor guy, saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.