03.09.09
Social Networking and Consulting
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and I am sure there are a few more out there, but how does social networking help your business? First of all I am a big fan of online social networking and am active on a few of them On line networking certainly beats the alternative to making cold calls and not reaching your intended target or setting up appointments that no one keeps. I also believe that each network has its own niche and there should be minimal overlap: LinkedIn is good for professional connections; facebook, for family and reconnecting with long lost friends, and twitter, for news and special interest. I no longer use Myspace.
Linkedin happens to be a great tool for connecting and staying in touch with clients and colleagues; people with whom I already have established relationships, and then a few that I would like to further develop. I look at LinkedIn as a form of soft-marketing. My current and potential clients get reminder emails that I am here whenever I update my profile status or add another blog entry. As of this writing, I have 125 connections; mostly, in real estate or environmental areas. My question to those people with 500+ connections, is do you know all these people or expect to do work with them? or is it following the MLM mantra, “you have to shuck a lot of oysters to find a peral”? Because, in spite of the ability to connect “virtually” with thousands of people on line, real face time is still going to be what gets you in the door. Social networks, if used as intended, can be similar to internet dating, you can meet someone on line (ie, a potential client) behind a huge comfort zone, get to know a little bit about them, share information, and then meet for coffee. There are local network groups that have combined the virtual with real-time meetings. I belong to a couple of those.
Twitter is a new one for me and has become extreamly popular and is also referred to as microblogging in real time. I am still trying to learn the full functionality for tweeting, but I could see the potential that it is going to be more than just letting your followers know what you had for lunch or relaying (retweeting) what one of your other followers posted. Most of my followings are science and local food related, mixed with a few other interests. My followers are just a mixed bag of people looking for connections. At this point I am following 116 people/groups and have about 85 people following me. I tend to be picky on who I follow since there is still a lot of uncertainty of whether you are following a real person or a “bot”. Sometime it appears that ego drives this network where he who has the most followeres wins. I will eventually be tweeting company news and project status updates. If you want to follow me, twitter.com/geologist62.
Although Facebook has risen to the rank of No. 1 online social network, I still think it is more for friends and family, and as such, I try to keep all work related connections off that site. I would not want one of my clients to know that I spend time on that site and not working on their report.
