Only so many hours in a day, and if we are spending some of the precious time online, using social media to connect and build relationships, we should learn to getter better at it.
When I first joined Ryze, it was a very active network, I learned much. One discussion was about drive by networking. People who never say a word to you, never had a conversation with in any of the network forums, never even left a guestbook message, but you suddenly get an invitation to connect and be their friend. And many of these same people, when you reply, they spam you with their stuff.
YouTube had a hilarious video (sorry I can’t find it) about the same thing on FaceBook. Guy knocks on the door, “Will you be my friend?” Who are you? I was in your physics class many years ago and sat 3 rows behind you. “Will you be my friend” etc.
There are more effective ways to spend your time. I do like the general rule, would you do this in a real face to face sitting?
Always open to learning ways to network more effectively, I appreciated Dean Hua’s post on how he used LinkedIn as a follow up tool. Thanks Dean!
Now if I can just figure out how my blog went from a google PR 4 to gray in the last update and how to fix it.
There are rules of etiquette for online social networking — like there are for everything. Like most things in life, some don’t follow them. I like to think of them as unaware. I love our ning social network. The originator monitors closely and when someone takes advantage of the group with emails, etc., he writes them a nice note explaining why not. As for friends, I add them when I want to ask a question based on their profile via private mail in lieu of on the comment wall. Great subject, Heidi! I’ll watch for more from you on this timely subject.
Google did some odd stuff on their last update. My main business site and my blog both took a one point hit, and yet I get significant traffic at both of them. I’m not quite sure what happened either, but most people seem to have taken the same type of hit. Overall, as long as I still get traffic, I’m not going to worry about it.
And I’m not sure if you saw my Ryze post, but they’ve certainly gone from what they used to be, unfortunately.
Doing Happy Dance and my google page rank returneth.
You always offer great tips and insight, Heidi. I haven’t joined Ryze. I’m a member of linkedin, but don’t know how to use it. It’s frustrating to me, because I simply do not have the time to learn right now. I need to clone three of me, so if you know any tips on that, I would greatly appreciate them. LOL
I agree with you. Networking and social media are definitely worth whatever you put into them. Mass-collecting names will probably get you some sales, but it pays off to choose your network carefully, finding the people who are relevant to you. The collaborations, valuable customers, and friendships are more worthwhile to me in the end.
Pam, if only you were triplets. Time is always an issue, good news is that we don’t have to do everything, be everything. I look forward to Thursday’s show.
Blake, thanks for your wise input.
Great tips Heidi and I enjoyed reading your blogs today. I will look forward to the next one.