Social Networking
What is Social Networking & Why Should I Care?
Think of Social Networking as like owning your own electronic newspaper. Your own electronic niche ‘newspaper’. A paper where you do all the jobs.
As the Distribution Manager, you decide who you want to receive your newspaper. You also control which distribution media you choose to get your paper to it’s readers—but it’s all the same words, just on different media (with social networking the media is endless: LinkedIn, Twitter, blogging, YouTube, Delicious, Plaxo, and another page full of names!). As the Editor, you have the final say in what your audience gets to read, listen to or watch. As the Journalist, you do the research and decide what stories you will write. And the Editor can of course hire other journalists (writers).
And as the Finance Director you decide how much time and money you should spend to make your newspaper profitable. How much to spend to generate leads and raise the profile of your small business.
Now Lead Creation is about lead generation for small business, for SMEs. We don’t care about the social aspects of ‘Social’ Networking. Care zilch about getting more friends and spending hours ‘chatting’ online—if you need more friends, the bookshops are overloaded with books on how to find them!
Our whole approach to small business marketing is about first defining your niche. Your gold clients. The ones you want more of. It’s all about business networking.
Well, knowing your niche is absolutely fundamental to Social Networking. How else can you create a ‘newspaper’ of value? Can you write content for everybody? If you did, would they be interested? No! More importantly, how can you select who to send it to? How can you build a distribution list?
If you don’t have a niche, you might as well stand in 5th Avenue in New York or George St in Sydney with a loudspeaker, calling people to gather around you. And then try and collect all their business cards. Useless.
Our approach is simple and practical: Decide where you want more connections, where you want more clients for your small business. Then go out and connect to them following the strategies in this chapter.
Before we explore social (i.e. business) networking in more detail…
What Came Before Social Networking and Twits?
Before Twitter and LinkedIn, there was Networking—and it helps to refresh ourselves on the fundamental rules of networking offline. Why? Because people are people and the principles of networking haven’t changed just because you’re doing it on the internet. And the techniques are innate to humans and the communities they gather in, whether in Karachi or San Fran.
In a nutshell, networking is about making a connection and establishing a relationship.
Networking 101 – The Basics You Need to Know
When we talk about how to build connections and networks, there are three vital concepts to keep in mind:
- You have to give people a reason to want you in their network
There are billions of people in the world, and as individuals we all have control over who we let into our network. Unless you can find a way to help the people you want to network with—a way that makes sense and is valuable to them—quite simply, they won't want you in their network. The network that they have complete power over!
The aim is to give before you receive. As such, some networks have clichéd mottos like “Givers gain” but it is founded in truth. Now there are exceptions to this rule, primarily for the super rich, the very powerful or the very beautiful. But you could argue that they are ‘giving’ their beauty or sharing their power. However, this is for 1% of the world: you run a small business, you want to promote your small business and you’re not super rich (yet!)
This first step is absolutely vital. It is the foundation stone. Give Now. Receive later.
- People have to know you, and what you're good at
This is the second foundation stone of networking theory. It's not just about going to a conference or networking group and meeting and chatting with people. It's about making sure others know what you are good at. There are critical things you need your networking colleagues to know about your small business: What kind of clients can you really help? Why should they refer your services?
Remember the old cliché?
‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ – it’s rubbish!
It’s who knows you and what you’re good at
- Focus
Work out which types (or groups) of people would be the most valuable for you to network with. Think about who else directly or indirectly influences or sells to the people you want to influence. Where do they congregate? How can you help them?
If your networking colleagues in the industry have this information about you, the next time their boss says: “We need a new financial advisor for our business”, they’ll put you forward. Referrals from inside a company—magic!
The Power of People You Barely Know
Many people know how important friends are in helping you find a new clients or a new job. However, when asked which friends are the most valuable, nearly all answer 'close friends and family'. But this just isn’t the case. Your close friends are mostly not the best ambassadors for you anyway. They will be seen to be biased, and can also be too close to you to be objective.
Your close friends also tend to know the same people as you so they hear of the same marketing opportunities. Loose connections are the most beneficial—that is, those who by definition, move in different circles to you. There are also a lot more of them. When you are actively seeking new clients you should find ways to stay in touch with this broader circle—and ideally find ways to help them. To give.
Final comments on using friends to find new clients:
Your friends may never know what your ideal client looks like. It is human nature to assume our friends know: but they don't in nearly every case. Test this on ten friends—it would be highly unusual if you didn't get at least 5 different answers to this question.
Your ‘How-To’ Guide to Social Networking
Social networking is about bringing people together and it has many business applications. Particularly in generating leads for small business—it is just one more form of internet marketing, and increasingly becoming the most important.
By creating a profile on a major social networking site, adding people and having them add you, you can use this media as a way of staying in contact with existing clients and also to generate leads. It’s also great for optimizing your website so you rank more highly on Google and become more visible online.
Most importantly: SMEs and small businesses can build a high profile in this new media at a price they can afford. Particularly the early adopters as there is currently so little competition from other small businesses as nearly all see it as new and scary.
Old Media vs. New Media
Twenty-first century customers are a breed unlike any seen before. They are increasingly tech-savvy, willing to do their own research to compare competing businesses, and are better able to see through manipulative marketing strategies. They have opinions to voice, value two-way communication, and no longer passively accept information presented to them, least of all by marketers. The days of ‘Tell and Sell’ are over—or soon will be.
It is no longer economically feasible to rely solely on old media such as print, TV and radio, even for large corporations. To reach today’s consumers, marketers need to familiarise themselves with new media—blogging, ‘tweeting’ (aka microblogging), and social networks for professionals, such as LinkedIn. Advertising using old media such as newspapers, magazines, TV and radio is expensive and remains totally inappropriate for 99% of small businesses and SMEs (despite what the hard selling media salesmen say).
Today’s marketing strategies must focus on informing, educating and raising awareness among potential customers. Old media has become transparent to the point of being inappropriate for reaching intelligent, discriminating consumers. Customers distrust marketers, but are willing to trust people –you must engage and interact with potential customers on a personal level. What better way to achieve this than by leaving your mark on social networks to enhance your company’s image?
Why Use Social Media?—To Improve Your SEO!
Google’s search engine has an ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button which bypasses the search results page to take you directly to the first site on the list. This means Google can be used to take your potential customers directly to your company’s website. How? Through a combination of search engine optimization and social networking.
Creating links and backlinks from popular social sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter will direct traffic to your site, boosting your search engine ranking. Leaving your company or brand’s mark on a social networking site will complement your search-engine optimization strategy and enhance your overall web presence.