An online social network is a social structure made up of a broad group of individuals who are connected by a common denominator, such as friendship, common interest, belief, allegience, knowledge, profession… the list is endless.
The top 5 Online Social Networking sites vary slightly depending on source of information as well as the statistics used e.g. Total members versus monthly visitors.
Based on monthly visitors the top 5 are:
- Youtube
- Myspace
Ok – So you have your own social media accounts; how do you need to conduct yourself?
Tip 1: Give Value Give value whenever you can. What some term as meaningless drivel may be ok between friends but if as a business person you plan to attract people to what you offer, then give them a good reason to come and join you. Give them value e.g give tips; training and useful information that is niche specific.
Tip 2. Don’t Go For The Jugular Hey chill out! Don’t ram sales messages down people’s throats. Build relationships first. If you are out “socially” and you meet someone for the first time, would you say “hey great to meet you, take a look at this great product, you really ought to buy it”? I hope the answer is no! Well same applies online. Let them get to know; like and trust you first (it takes time). Build relationships and give value at all times. Nurture them and the rewards will come.
Tip 3: Lighten Up But Be Yourself Don’t be boring; use humour; smile a lot; be approachable. Be the sort of person that people want to be around. Attract don’t repel. Just a word about humour. No-one should go out to intentionally offend but “be yourself”. Nobody, who ever they are can possibly be all things to all people. Be yourself and you will attract like minded people.
Tip 4: Questions Are The Answer I heard a really good tip the other day. It was to do with promoting your business in a conversation with another person. The tip was simply this: Don’t talk for more than 10 seconds (regardless of how much you might like the sound of your own voice), without asking a question. So applying that to your social media activities – Don’t constantly bombard people with information; instead ask questions and find out what they like? What you could do specifically to help them? How you could provide a better service to them? Remember: Questions are the answer in online social networking
Tip 5: Answering Questions Builds The Love If questions are the answer then your friends and followers are going to love you when you take the time to answer their questions and show a genuine interest in them. It’s kind of obvious isn’t it? But it’s surprising how many people don’t afford other people the courtesy of answering their questions in a timely manner
Tip 6: Don’t Blow It By Being Right! If you are a strong character this might be a tough one. If you are used to dealing with the public in the offline world, I am sure you know how challenging that can get at times. But hey – If you are an independent business person, you haven’t got a boss to answer to. So, it doesn’t matter if you upset a few people along the way; or does it? You bet it does. Lose you posture; lose your cool and YOU are the loser. I have this sentence permanently on my desk where I can see it:
“The one that angers you… CONTROLS YOU! Don’t give anyone that power! Especially the one who does it intentionally!
Tip 7: Always Complete Your Profile It always amazes me when I see people online social networking and I can’t find anything about them because they haven’t bothered to complete their profile. In the world of online social networking letting people in on your life is a must. Fail to do the basics and you are not being sociable and you are destined to fail. Oh – The first thing I look for is the persons photograph. A nice photo with a big cheesy grin is always a winner!
Tip 8: Keep It Concise! Don’t ramble (one of my big challenges)! I love twitter! Why because it reels me in! Twitter will only let me use 140 characters. Brilliant! Now try rambling with 140 characters! You might like to follow my lead here? I use Facebook; Twitter; LinkedIn (+ Youtube). I now have my Twitter account linked to both Facebook and LinkedIn. Whenever I have something to say, I post it on Twitter (140 characters or less) and Twitter automatically posts to Facebook and LinkedIn. When you post videos to Youtube, try and keep them under a couple of minutes if you can.
So there we go. I encourage you to put these 8 online social networking tips into practice to start getting more out of your online social networking.
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