On the right-hand side of your LinkedIn homepage is a very interesting button called “Who’s Viewed Your Profile”. Depending on how a person’s LinkedIn settings are configured you can see with some limited visibility who’s been looking at your LinkedIn profile. Huge door of opportunity alert. Many people spend a lot of mental power trying to think up clever back door ways of doing things and getting people’s attention when they could just walk up to the nine-hundred-pound elephant in the middle of the room and hug it. I check this LinkedIn feature everyday and send a message to the people who’ve viewed my profile. Here’s my standard message: “Hi Bob, I noticed that you viewed my LinkedIn Profile. I’m all about paying-it-forward and adding massive value and I’d like you to make me prove it. May I help or serve you in some way? To your massive success, Kev” …
You Don’t Need SMS (Social Media Stress)
If you think that you have to stay up on every new bell and whistle on every Social Media site, you’re asking for a headache. And lack of sleep. And frustration. And stress. Most people have enough stress in their lives. They don’t need SMS (Social Media Stress). It’s the nature of technology to change quickly and without notice. I tell my audiences that when I get in the morning, one of the first questions I ask is, “What did they change on Facebook while I was sleeping?” And the audience laughs and when they stop laughing I tell them that I was serious. So relax. This technology stuff is only going to accelerate. Get used to it. Kind of like the way you get used to weather. You observe it, maybe predict it a little, but basically realize there’s not a lot you can do about it, except to buy …
Organic Growth Is Natural In Social Media
We can learn a lot from nature. In nature, few things grow extremely quickly. Things have their own pace and rarely spike in terms of growth rate. As you are growing your LinkedIn Connections, Facebook Friends and Twitter Followers, remember nature. Remember that slow and steady wins the race. And then remember that Social Media isn’t a race. Be leery of the folks who tout offers to “Grow your followers by 50 bajillion in 5 minutes” and crap like that. Be very leery. How unnatural. Yes, Social Media enables us to communicate with more people and much more quickly. But remember that relationships aren’t rushed. And effective Social Media is all about relationships. I don’t know exactly what ‘organic’ means, although I heard the word used a lot in business over the last few years. It’s one of those buzz-words that’s in style right now. I’ll use the word ‘organic’ …
Be An Example
The best way to teach is by example. This applies to everything including Social Media. People tend to become like the people they associate with and that explains why so many people are negative. But you don’t have to be. Just as in real life, when you’re a downer, people don’t want to hang out with you. The same applies to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Post positive, uplifting things. This doesn’t mean that you’re some Pollyanna who denies that there’s a lot of crap out there. It means that you choose what to focus on. Be an example of someone who understands that people have enough crap in their lives and you’re not here to add to it. Be a ray of sunshine in people’s day. Regardless of the business you’re in. Because whatever business it appears that you’re in, we’re really all in the same business. The people business. …
Offer to Help Those Looking at Your LinkedIn Profile
One of the neat features of LinkedIn is the ability to see who’s looking at your profile. There are some limitations to this, but it can be a valuable tool if you use it correctly. It will serve you well to take a minute every morning to see who has been checking you out. How about sending them a message like, “Hi Mary, I noticed that you were looking at my profile. Thanks for taking a few minutes out of your busy day to check me out. How may I serve you in some way? I always seek to add value to all my personal and professional relationships. I’d love to help you in some way. Make me prove it. Kev :)” Now, you may be thinking, “Really? You would type something like that?” Word for friggin word, my friend. And “friggin” isn’t a cuss word, it’s a New Jersey …
People Skills Beat Computer Skills…Only Every Time
Some people still tell me, “I’ll get connected to everyone and their brother on Social Media sites and the clouds will part and the money will fall out of heaven.” They don’t say it in those exact words, but their intentions are clear. They think that the number of connections, friends and followers they have is an indication of their future income. Actually, it’s only a representation of the possibility of their future income. And if I may be so bold, let’s take the income equation off the table. Because if you add enough value to your connections, friends and followers then and only then will you be in a position to derive a steady income as a result of effective networking. If connecting to a ton of people guarantees riches, shouldn’t everyone with a phone book be a millionaire? Exactly. Study people skills. Break out your “How to Win …
Enjoy The Social Media New Car Smell, Then Drive Like A Pro
When you buy a new car, there’s just something about that new car smell. You just enjoy opening up the door and settling into your plush seat and breathing in that odor. After a few years, you don’t really want to take too many whiffs of your old “new” car. And at that point you’re more concerned about your car getting you from Point A to Point B and keeping the repair costs down. It’s about the driving, not the smelling. When you’re just starting to realize what you can do with Social Media, you enjoy turning on your computer, BlackBerry, iPhone, whatever, and checking into Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and whatever other Social Media sites you participate on. It’s the equivalent of the Social Media new car smell. After you’ve learned some about Social Media, the new car smell wears off a bit. Not completely, because they’re always creating …
Our Parents Were Right
Remember the things we used to hear from our parents when we were kids, “Say please. Say thank you. If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all. If you keep making that face it’ll get stuck like that.” Well. maybe you didn’t hear that last one in your house. Our folks were right. Common courtesy ain’t so common any more. Matter of fact, it’s often as rare as a Kardashian sister using her library card. Common courtesy makes human interaction go so much more smoothly. It’s amazing to see what happens in conversations when we actually say please, thank you and apologize when we need to. I bring this up because on Social Media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter it’s very common to see people telling you that you should “Like” their Fan Page, or retweet their tweets on Twitter. Maybe it’s just me, …
Pick Up The Phone And Call Your Social Media Connections
When you’re new to learning about Social Media, the tendency is to focus on huge numbers of Connections, Friends and Followers. This is normal. We all like things that look impressive and big numbers look impressive. Prior to Facebook, where else could you have thousands of “friends”? It feeds our ego. Once the new car smell of Social Media wears off, we realize that building relationships is far more powerful than just adding more connections. Yes, adding connections is important. But you already have a phone book with tens of thousands of connections. If it was just about connections, you already have more than enough in your Yellow and White Pages. Are you “connecting” with your Social Media connections? Really connecting? For one week, schedule 20 minutes into your day to pick up the phone and call two of your new connections per day. If their phone number isn’t on …
Social Media Reveals Your Character
As I’ve spoken on stages all over for years on Social Media, there is something that I’ve observed countless times. Many people seem to think that if they can just gather a bajillion connections on Social Media sites, then the clouds will part and the money will fall out of the heavens. This thought actually reveals far more about these people than they probably even realize about themselves. It reveals that they think of people as commodities and they have a lottery mentality regarding wealth. How naive. However we are offline, we are probably the same way online, because we can’t outrun our character. No matter where we go, there we are. You can tell a heck of a lot about someone by looking at their Social Media profiles, just like you can tell a lot about them if you chat with them at a networking event. If all they …
Three Things We’ve Learned About Social Media From The Middle East
I was going to write this post two weeks ago, but decided to wait. As I am writing this, Gaddafi has fled Libya and his whereabouts are still unknown. These are amazing times we’re living in. For years, I have been telling my audiences that in a more and more interconnected world, Social Media is forcing transparency. This is being proven out right in front of our eyes. If you’re good at what you do and seek to add value to your employer, clients, co-workers or whoever, there have never been easier ways for that message to get out. If you’re a horrible manager, boss, team leader, dictator, or whatever, there have never been easier ways for that message to get out either. So here are three things we’ve learned from Social Media in the Middle East: 1. It’s Getting Harder To Hide From The Truth There was a time …
In Sales, Seek To Help And Earn The Relationship
As more and more people are trying to figure out how to leverage Social Media to help grow their sales, it serves us well to remember some of the basics of effective selling. The best salespeople seek to help. That may sound obvious, but it’s not. So many salespeople are trying to sell what they have to everyone instead of being targeted in their selling efforts. It makes more sense to find people who are interested in your product and service and help them. Social Media allows you to do this. You can observe discussion threads in LinkedIn Groups, you can follow conversations regarding Twitter hashtags, and you can see interactions on Facebook Fan Pages. These are all valuable sources of sales leads. Learn to skim information and identify places where you can help. And help doesn’t mean, “Buy my product, buy my product.” Just remember not to kiss on …
How to Politely Decline a LinkedIn Recommendation Request
Having a robust LinkedIn Profile which portrays you and your credentials in the most favorable light is a must-have in today’s competitive business world. Having a robust LinkedIn Profile which includes Recommendations from clients, co-workers, managers, former co-workers and employees, etc. differentiates you from others in your profession. As more and more people are realizing the power of LinkedIn, people are learning that they can and should be asking for endorsements to add to their Profiles. The key thing to remember is that it is not appropriate to ask for a Recommendation from a person who is not in a position to recommend you. Most people don’t fully understand how to use LinkedIn most effectively and they are sending out a blanket Recommendation Request message to all their 1st Degree Connections. When you are not in a position to recommend someone who has sent you a Recommendation Request give them …
Social Media Update
What a year it’s been for Social Media. The nature of Social Media is that it’s changing very quickly – actually day to day. Even if you work in Social Media it’s difficult to stay up with all the changes that are happening. Let’s take a look at some of the things happening on “The Big Three”, commonly referred to as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter as we approach the end of 2010. LinkedIn LinkedIn has really been upping their game lately. There are now over 85,000,000 people with LinkedIn profiles worldwide. The average LinkedIn user is 41 years old and earns $107,000 a year. This is THE Social Networking site for professionals. Recently, LinkedIn has turned on some new bells and whistles on a number of places on the site. On the Company Pages, you now have the ability to add marketing materials, descriptions of products and services and client …
Everything is a “Tell”
Some rights reserved by I Feel Toast Being originally from Jersey, I have some Jerseyisms in my speech that will probably never go away. One of those Jerseyisms is the word “tell.” This is also a Vegas expression. There are few things I enjoy more than watching and listening to people. When I speak in Vegas, I love spending time in the casinos. I don’t spend money in the casinos but I do spend time there. You’ll often see people at the gambling tables wearing dark sunglasses and hats. They’re not doing this because they’re trying to be fashion icons. They’re doing this to hide their “tells.” Tells are things that give us away. They’re clues. And we’re giving them away all the time. Women tend to pick up on tells quicker than men. Not trying to be sexist here, but let’s face it…women just tend to see things coming …
Don’t Forget the Social in Social Media
Social Media is sweeping around the world extremely quickly. You can't go anywhere without hearing about Facebook or seeing a LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter logo on something. It's an amazing time to be alive. Our kids who are growing up with this don't know any different. This is just the way it is. And it's not going away. Some people are using Social Media in stealth mode, meaning they're observing and not engaging in online conversations. Actually, stealth mode is a very powerful tool in your bag when you're keeping tabs on your competition and watching what people are talking about. This information can be very valuable to you if you're thinking about launching a business or introducing a new product or service. But don't forget the social in Social Media. Many people are hiding behind their computers. I've heard it said that this is a very lonely …
LinkedIn Ups Its Game
For a long time LinkedIn has been quietly working on the sidelines of the Social Networking scene. Actually, it hasn't been, it's just seemed that way to many people. I was fortunate to start using LinkedIn in the summer of 2003 shortly after its launch, and it's been very interesting to see LinkedIn change and morph over the last 7 years. I've seen an increase in the adoption of LinkedIn by business people especially over the last 24 months. For a number of years I felt like I was the lone voice in the wilderness telling people that they should have a LinkedIn profile for job searching and many other business purposes. Many people looked at me kind of oddly and thought I was making a big deal out of this LinkedIn thing. They're not thinking that now. I wrote a blog post in June announcing that LinkedIn had just …
A Very Effective Appreciation Marketing Strategy
In this fast paced Web 3.0 world, there are some time proven strategies that are even easier to implement now than they were back when an eight-track player was state of the art technology. People who take the time to learn about their prospects, clients, referral sources and networking partners win over the people who don’t. Only every time. For years I’ve been telling my audiences to learn about The Mackay 66. Harvey Mackay is the owner of an envelope company and he’s always taught his salespeople to use what he calls “The Mackay 66”. It’s a simple questionnaire that you populate over time as you learn more about your prospects and clients. Everything from where they went to school to what status symbols are in their office to their favorite drink. Here’s a downloadable PDF of The Mackay 66: http://www.harveymackay.com/pdfs/mackay66.pdf Gathering this information is doing your due diligence. You …
How to Make People Feel Appreciated on 10 Minutes A Day
People who succeed know that “all things being equal, people do business with and refer business to people they know, like, and trust.” So how do we grow our “Know, Like, Trust Factor” or what I call our “Like-Ability”? One way to do this is to compliment people. And to do it sincerely. For most people, the only recognition they receive is when they screw something up. And ironically, most of the time they already know they screwed it up and don’t appreciate other people reminding them. Any mediocre manager can point out what people have done wrong. As Dale Carnegie said,”Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain. And most fools do.” There’s a huge difference between a manager and a leader but we’ll save that for another post. In order to make people feel appreciated….ready….wait for it….appreciate them. Rocket science, huh? I’m not smart enough to learn Harvard Business …
Keep Your LinkedIn Status Updated by Adding Value
On LinkedIn you have an opportunity to communicate with your Connections called a Status Update. This is a box on your LinkedIn Profile where you can post things. When you log into your LinkedIn account you automatically see your Connections’ most recent Status Updates with the most current one at the top of the page. This is a great opportunity to keep your name in front of people in a non-stalker, non-spammer like fashion. In my opinion, many people are using Social Media in a way that’s not producing the results they desire. This is how many of them are using Social Media: “Buy my product, buy my product, buy my product, buy my product, the competition sucks, buy my product.” And then they wonder why no one buys their product. Who wants a non-stop sales pitch? I know that I don’t. These folks aren’t engaging in Social Media – …