Social Media and Social Networking in a Nut Shell

This entry was posted on October 16, 2012, in Marketing, Social Media and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 18 Comments

Utilize social media. If you want to build visibility for your company, you must go where the people are. In days gone by, people gathered in the marketplace at the center of the city. Today, they gather online in places like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+. Which platform is best? The one you will use regularly. Use social media to share information, network, build relationships, and announce new products and services.

OK, but what has really happened?

The internet today is this giant cocktail party with all these people connecting and keeping track of how many connections they have. Unfortunately, one day when you need them to help authorize a $3,000 project, all the sudden it doesn’t matter to them. So, what does matter?  What matters is “where are the real relationships?” The relationships where worthwhile ideas have been exchanged, where things have been done for each other, where there is a real thing connecting you with them not just bits and pieces. Networking is always important when it’s real and a useless distraction when it’s fake. And the internet has caused for a lot of fake networking, so with all of this, there’s only one thing that translates and that is, “Are there people who I would go out of my way for and would go out of their way for me?”  That’s what you need to keep track of and the way you get there is by going out of your way for them and by earning the privilege of one day having that connection be worthwhile.

The networking that matters is helping people achieve their goals, doing it reliably and repeatedly, so that over time people have an interest in helping you achieve your goals.

Social Media are relational tools not transactional tools. Regardless of what many think, social media rewards handsomely the one who is :

  1. Generous;
  2. Other-centered; and
  3. Helpful

It is a vehicle that appeals to people’s deep, desire to connect. It works when there is trust. When it becomes just another form of spam (violating people’s trust), it fails to be effective.

18 thoughts on “Social Media and Social Networking in a Nut Shell”

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  3. You make some great points! Social networking isn’t just random people… it’s a meeting of lives. When you have an official Facebook page to use for networking, it’s an invitation for people to join your journey. That doesn’t happen without some sort of influence, which is done by building a relationship. I addressed a little bit of this here- http://littlesteppingstones.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/business-in-social-media-what-to-post/

    Have a great day, and thanks for visiting my site, and for your comments! 🙂

    Reply

  4. The reasons you state are definitely the reasons why I’m in social media. I enjoy doing it, and using to help other people, especially my friends, to help them expand their business. Although, sure, it’s nice to get paid for it…as someone who is establishing myself, I don’t mind doing pro bono work for a friend in need. Great post.

    Reply

  6. Another great post! I have been on the receiving end of some bad use of social media and I can say frm experience that all it does is make me want to avoid that particular compay. This is good advice!

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  8. Thanks Patrick for sharing. In my country, social media is still in the middle ages so to speak. CEOs etc know about it but don’t know how to implement it, don’t know the the ROI and are still scared of the ramifications. I am making it my goal to change this thinking, but as you might appreciate, new thinking is hard to swallow. Points in your post will be added onto my presentation ideas.

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  9. Great post Patrick.

    Not so long ago, I was a “naysayer” about the value of social media and the value of internal social collaboration amongst work colleagues; http://intranetmania.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/ok-i-was-wrong/

    But my views have changed and the power of this approach has already been demonstrated in my previous role at GroupM implementing Jive. As previous respondents have outlined, it’s a challenge to get senior managers to understand just how powerful this “new” approach can be.

    It’s down to the likes of us to convince them otherwise.

    Reply

    • Thanks Phil for your comment and sharing your experience with social media with us. Usually when I speak about social media I encourage the founders, the CEOs, or the leadership of the company, the ministry, or the organization to Twitter and Facebook under their own names and to do it as an organization too, but try to get as many ambassadors out there into the marketplace to try to bring people into your business. It’s all good. The benefit of the company will accrue to the individuals, and conversely the brand equity in the individuals will accrue to the company.

      Everybody is an ambassador for the company or the organization, and the organization ought to be serving the individuals into it.

      Reply

      • Patrick, thank you for the words well spoken on how to build a business through social media. I have a stores online business going on my 2nd year and it was a lot of work in the beginning, because there was a lot I had to learn and still learning, but now it’s not as stressful. Your words educated me and encouraged me more on how to build my online business and what I need to do. “Everybody is an Ambassador” I love that!

        Thank you.
        TryAngela

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