SOCIAL MEDIA–YOUR ONLY CHANCE TO BE FOUND

Play this 2 minute podcast 

Whenever I present to a group, I ask, “If you were to meet a person you didn’t know, how would you check her out?”  The response is always the same, “I would Google them.”

It’s said, you only have one chance to make a first impression.  The first information anyone sees about you are the first few entries on Google.

This really got my attention when I was training a successful CEO on social media.  He said, “I’m kind of a private person & I really don’t want everyone to know my business.”  However, when I Googled his name & company, the first headline was a newspaper article about his company filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy many years ago.

With the Internet, there is no such thing as privacy.  Your only option is to try to control some of the content.  And you can do that through social media. 

Google sucks up your social media entries and thrusts it to the top of the page.

To prove my point, I Googled three important names:  David Sher (me); Phyllis Neill (my partner), & WeMentor Social Media Marketing (our business).

“WeMentor” showed up in every Google entry on page one.  You would think our Web Site would be first.  It actually was fourth.  Ahead of it was Phyllis’ blog (number one & two), & one of my tweets…then SlideShare, Facebook, & few others.

When I Googled “Phyllis Neill,” her name dominated every slot on page one.  Her profiles on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, & Google topped the list.

My “David Sher” search took up five slots on page one.  A tweet of mine was first & my LinkedIn profile was second.  My podcast followed soon there after.  I thought that was pretty good since there are twenty “David Sher’s” on LinkedIn alone. 

It is said the Internet is the biggest haystack in the world.  The only way little needles like you & me can be found is through social media.

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