Get Back To The Basics Of Social Media

I’ve been off the road for a little bit and I’ve been getting back to the basics of connecting with people. Even though I speak all over the USA and internationally on a weekly basis on the subjects of Social Media, Networking, Personal Development, and Relationship Building, it’s easy to fall out of the habit of connecting with people like we should.

What if every morning you got up a little earlier and checked in on your LinkedIn account to see who’s changed their photo, updated their profile, started a new job, joined a new group, received a recommendation or any of a ton of other updates that LinkedIn can provide you with. And then what if you sent them a brief personal message congratulating them or at least acknowledging that you’re interested in their success?

What if you also looked at your Facebook account and congratulated your friends on their birthdays, acknowledged their kids’ achievements, liked their pictures, and engaged in conversations with them?

And what if you looked at your Twitter account and took a few minutes to find some new interesting people to follow? What if you sent a few direct messages to the people you’re following letting them know that you appreciate them? What if you retweeted some of their tweets and gave them more visibility out in the Twittersphere?

These are very good practices to get into. And they’re profitable. Let me be very clear here: you don’t do these things so that people will owe you or because you have some ulterior motive like bugging the crap out of people so that hopefully they’ll buy from you or hire you. You do it because it’s the right thing to do. And ironically, the money and the opportunities show up. All things being equal, people do business with and refer business to people they know, like, and trust.

What are you doing to develop your “Know-Like-Trust Factor”? Get back to the basics. Invest a little time everyday in your relationships. You’ll be so glad that you did.