A Little Help From My Social Network

About 6 weeks ago I posted the following question on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn:

I'm trying to get set up with Google Voice but can't seem to get an invitation. Anybody have one they can send me?

I expected the invitations to come pouring in.  Instead I got nothing!  Well, one person did ask if I'd had any luck, but there was no offer to help.  Anyway, I was a little sad that I didn't get the Google Voice invitation I had asked for, but I was much more disappointed that nobody responded.

Since then I have made considerable effort to expand my network, not by adding random people but by making real connections (particularly through this blog).  I'm also constantly working to increase my understanding of these social media tools so I can use them more effectively.

Today I posted the same thing in Ask A Question on LinkedIn.  Within an hour of posting I had a Google Voice account up an running!  Thank you to Paul for hooking me up.

I know I still have much to learn about effective social networking, but it's nice to know I've made a little progress!

Sticks and Stones

Wednesday I wrote a post called Money Talks; Bullshit Walks.  In it I suggested that the measures that matter to small businesses most are financial, specifically cash flows and operating profit.  I received comments in LinkedIn group discussions and on this blog that strongly disagreed with me.  To clarify, I didn't mean to suggest that money is the only thing companies should ever be concerned with. I'm merely saying that startups and small businesses with limited resources should not worry about trying to measure intangibles like customer satisfaction until they have some financial stability. 

I enjoyed reading the comments from those that disagreed with me, even one that suggested my message is for "small minded, intellectually challenged people."  There's lots to debate here, and I look forward to bringing this topic up again in the future.  I also got a couple of comments from those that did not appreciate my use of "vile language."  Honestly, I gave the title of the post considerable thought.  I almost used "B.S." or "Bulls**t" or some variation thereof to try and avoid offending readers.  I also thought of changing the title to something else to avoid the issue all together, but in the end the title felt right to me.

I'm reminded of a post I read about a month ago on asalesguy.com, a great blog I subscribe to.  In it Jim Keenan says the following regarding swearing:

Professional speakers dropping F-bombs that enhance authentic, real, presentations where the swearing brings value is exactly what we need. Gratuitous swearing does none of this and therefore I’m not a fan.

I know my use of swearing turned away some potential readers, but I also know that the same post helped my expand my social network. So does that mean it was a good decision?  Did it make my post more authentic, or was it simply gratuitous?  I'd love to hear everyone's comments on this.  Just please, no swearing!

Links To Readers' Blog Posts

Without a doubt my favorite thing about this blog has been the great conversations I've had with intelligent, engaging readers in the comments section here and in the LinkedIn group discussions where I post each blog link.

Today I'm featuring recent blog posts from three readers whose comments have created fun discussions and have given me a great deal of valuable feedback on my own social media and planning strategies.

B2B Sales and Marketing Team Integration

The value of a great magalog copywriter

Maximize your LinkedIn Profile and Expand Your Web Traffic and Business

I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I did.  If any other readers have blogs feel free to post a link in the comments section.  I'm always looking for new insights!

How Do You Use Social Media?

Social media can be quite overwhelming.  There are many different ideas about which social networks are the best to use and how to use them most effectively.  These are the social media forums I use and how I use them:

LinkedIn- I signed up for a LinkedIn account a few years ago but only used it to connect to a few former coworkers.  In the past few months I've found it to be a fantastic resource for making new connections with business professionals, and the discussions in the various groups I've joined are what make social networking worth while.   

Twitter- I follow several professionals on Twitter that send out great content, and I love that the format forces us all to get right to the point!  While I do retweet things I find interesting or useful I don't create much original content on Twitter. 

Facebook- I mostly use Facebook to keep up with friends that I don't see very often.  I rarely post on Facebook, but I enjoy reading other peoples' updates.  I have a fan page for my consulting business, but frankly it sucks.  I may revisit the idea in a couple of months, but it's pretty low on my list of priorities.

BizSugar- The only niche social medium I use.  It's a great resource for professionals to link to their blog posts, and the rating system (similar to digg.com) makes it easy to fins something smart to read.

I'm still figuring some of this out, but I think what I have in place works for me, at least for the moment.  What about you?  How do you use social media?

Struggling With Social Networking

A post I wrote Friday about struggling with increasing my network got an incredible response!  I received a ton of great comments on this blog and in the LinkedIn discussions where I posted a link .  One comment in particular was so compelling that I asked the author if I could re-post it here for everyone to read. 

Below is the comment I received from Mike Klassen. I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did. 

I've been wrestling with this a bit myself... more-so with LinkedIn and Facebook. With Twitter, as long as there's some sort of possible common thread (usually in the realm of sales, marketing, consulting, etc.) I'm happy to connect with people there.

I do tend to stay away from the folks whose career seems to only be posting every passing thought on Twitter. I unfollowed one gal who seemed like a very nice person. (She was consultant.) But her tweets were constant. I couldn't figure out how she had any time to work with clients with the daily stream she sent out.

I saw Lewis on the Rise to the Top podcast, too. There's probably a comfortable spot between only connecting with people you know and connecting with everyone who has a pulse. :)

I think what I'm finding these days is that I'm willing to connect with more people I don't know well. The reason is that as my network grows, I may run into folks who need services I don't have direct, personal connections with.

It would be nice to tell those folks, "While I don't know _____ personally, I've been following him/her on _______ and they seem like they know what they're talking about. You might want to check him/her out."

I also appreciate it when people who want to connect with me on LinkedIn or Facebook take just a moment to explain why they want to connect.

It might be as simple as, "I'm in direct marketing and see that you are, too." Otherwise, it almost feels like they're wanting to connect just to boost their numbers which is something you can get a lot here on LinkedIn.

I don't know... am I not catching the true spirit of social media? Should I be connecting with everyone who passes by me on the Internet? Perhaps if I had clearer goals in this area, it would be easier to come up with an answer.

If you'd like to read more from Mike be sure to check out his blog at http://magalogguy.com/blog/.  I had a chance to read a few of his postings over the weekend and they're every bit as good as his great comment here.  Thanks to Mike for letting me re-post this, and thank you to everyone for all of the great comments.  I'd love to hear more of your concerns and suggestions!

Increasing My Network

As I mentioned in a recent post I have kept my social network very small.  Everyone in it was someone I knew personally, and therefore everything I sent and received felt more personal. A couple of things this week have made me rethink this strategy.

1)  I've been reading a few posts from Lewis Howes.  He is a very strong proponent of using LinkedIn to connect with other professionals, and he posts many helpful suggestions on how to use LinkedIn more effectively (as you can see in this post). 

2)  I saw a tweet suggesting to use TopFollowed to help increase my Twitter network.  I signed up for it, and my network is in fact bigger.  I did already have to unfollow a couple of accounts that weren't for me (I hate when people tweet every thought in their head!), but it's too early to tell whether this will help me make any positive connections.

In all I think it was definitely time for me to reach out and begin expanding my network.  I'm still going to look for quality connections rather than quantity. 

Does anyone have any helpful suggestions or similar experiences?  As always feel free to comment.