Is Social Networking Paying Off For You?

By Jonathan Klein

Social networking is the buzz phrase of the day. Everyone is using it, some more effectively than others, many attempting to “dollarize” their efforts with little if any success. The reason for this lack of success is the same as if they were networking in the real world; too one way!

I glance at my Facebook home page and read the posts from those in my network and many of the posts are self serving; mortgage rates are down, it’s a good time to buy this or that, I’m having coffee, I’m on vacation and so on, all the no-nos of networking. In addition, these same users blast to their networks their pet causes and requests to join this group or that without having established real trust.  

Social networking has the same rules as networking in the terrestrial world: What’s in it for me? If you’re going to be accepted by others you must make a positive impact on their lives; you have to deliver value without the expectation of receiving anything in return for your efforts. Networking, social networking is about building trust by giving and giving some more!

What that value is depends on where your expertise lies, but don’t fear that giving that value away will diminish its significance or that somehow you’ll never get paid for your services.

You’ve heard the saying, content is king? Nowhere is this more important than in social networking. Deliver great content and people will follow you, ask you to assist them and become your lifelong friend.

But it doesn’t happen overnight, and that is the rub. Most people fail because they give up when they don’t experience immediate gratification. I’ve been plugged into Facebook for about 6 months and I’m only now beginning to get recognized for the content that I deliver. This is partly because I’ve had to make it up as I go along, and what I’m hoping to help you avoid, and secondly because I wasn’t committed to it as a daily exercise.

When these facts changed, I began to capture followers and my metric for success is the number of friend requests I receive in a week as well as the comments of support.

To succeed you must go beyond just being interested and get committed. Decide what you’ll do each day that would add value to others and get it done. Make sure that you also send personal messages to your network inquiring about their well being and offering your assistance.

Finally, and this is important, refrain from sending out mass messages to your network. I’ve made this rookie mistake and have found that each time I did I was “unfriended” by a number of people. You could argue that these people were not worth having in my network anyway, but I believe that I probably annoyed those that I really value, and I want to avoid doing that.

Until my next article consider joining my weekly coaching calls by registering with this link. https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/633060643

Jonathan Klein is a sales expert with 25 years experience in business-to-business and consumer driven sales along with management and training of sales forces. Reach Jonathan Klein at jk@cddppi.com or (561) 212-9226.