How relevant you are is determined by how influential you are to your followers

I wrote this April 2011:
Upon reflection, was this advice more relevant today?

Whether a gifted scientist in Saudi Arabia, a gadget manufacturer in the United States, a successful entrepreneur in Canada, a publisher in the UK, or an investor in China, here’s what all, if not most, share:

·       A network of personal, professional or corporate relationships

·       A stable of trusted advisors, mentors

·       Interest in continual learning

·       Pay attention to your industry, its changes, your world evolving

·       A distinguished bio that makes you unique. 

How you define who/what they are, prioritize, leverage, expand and individualize is for you to decide.  More often than not, they are linked with your personal then professional goals.

We all have customers.  Our customers may be personal relationships, our boss, our patients, our clients, our shareholders, our readers ….. we all sell something.  What you sell could be solely yourself. 

What new technology does is create new opportunities to do a job that customers want done.

 Tim O’Reilly

Using the internet to expand your personal, professional or corporate relationships is key to grasping the profound impact that can unfold.

Admittedly, many perceptions relating to the internet is more often negative than positive, definitely a world with conflicting messages:  i.e. wasting time; job searching; keeping in touch, engaging in activities that you wouldn’t want your mother to know about. 

So you tip your toe into the pool to see what the temperature is like.  The temperature could really be what your pre-conceived notion of thinking it would be like, thus the reason you hesitated to begin with.  You could possibly have the same outlook towards the internet and that new term that swirls around you:  social media.    Whether you’re the aforementioned scientist or investor,  you truly have to investigate what it could possibly mean to you.

Voila!  There it is … all those things that you usually do, you still control the when, how, with who and what you learn,  all in the cost-effective (you’re not spending money attending a conference), environmentally friendly (think gas, airline fuel), informative, safe, comfortable environment of your home or office.    What about all the cool people you meet at the conference, chat with on the airplane?  Well, here’s the thing … if you could extrapolate all those benefits and call it social media, would you at least give it a whirl?

Okay, so you think you already have because you have signed on for Linked In and even use Facebook …. but aren’t you a bit more curious about uncovering what all the the fuss is about with Twitter and Blogs and Sharing?    Are you sticking your toe out now or are you a daredevil and going to swish your hand in the water?  The cool part is you’re not alone -- many start out with apprehension then discover the vast power that unfolds.  

Twitter is a powerful conduit that fuels the magical potency of social media (@optioneerjm #quote).  Think of it as graduating from high school or university with a PhD … you have your bio, but that is basically it.  You sign on, read up a bit, follow and hopefully follow back a few friends, even try a few “Tweets”  and think ok, this is boring.  You’ve tweeted and maybe even retweeted and sit there … this is still pretty boring, I should go back to Linked In or Facebook because at least there I know what I’m doing.

Think back then to networking or attending a conference.  In all likelihood you didn’t know anyone, if only a few.  I would hope you didn’t sit in a corner or just engage with those you knew.  Few of us are celebrities or have the luxury of being so controversial (if you want to call it that) you have to just announce yourself and immediately have one million followers.    Unfortunately, you’re going to have to do some work yourself.  First of all, what were your goals when you thought you’d try Twitter?

·       Expand network

·       Curiosity

·       Learn

The first thing I would recommend is latch onto someone that appears to know what they’re doing.  If all else fails, they will help you, introduce you to their “followers” and answer all your questions.  One of your first questions will be, I’m sure, when you look at your pitifull followers list, how do you get more followers?  You, my friend, have just stuck out more than a toe!  Congratulations!

Here is advice on how to magnify your experience:

·       Read what others are saying: follow their links, websites = pay attention

·       Interact with others = engage

·       Be yourself = authentic

·       Be positive, use the 140 characters to inspire

·       Value your followers

·       Be patient

·       Learn, learn, learn

·       Thank every new follower, treat them as though they’re your first one

·       Retweet articles, quotes, statements that you find interesting = helps to define who you are

·       Thank those who Retweet your quotes, statements or articles you post

·       Don’t be shy:  this is the world of equal playing field, everyone is anyone yet often someone

·       Be open minded:  the best discoveries are when you least expect them

·       Look for the like-minded:  those that share your interests, philosophy or goals

·       Be relevant:  your followers will depend on whether they share the same ideas

·       Be valuable:  Tweeting interesting thoughts, ideas, articles, sharing blogs

·       You don’t have to Tweet every hour or  day, but consistent presence helps promote engagement

·       Be helpful, solve a problem or question,

·       Click on #hastags on topics or interests = conversations on Twitter – you will meet likeminded

·       One of the biggest mis-conceptions is the amount of followers you have determines your success

·       The quality of your followers is what determines your social media influence

·       Be open to new ideas

In a nutshell, this is what you should focus on with Twitter or Social Media: 

·       Relevancy

·       Objectives

·       Engagement

·       Influence

·       Network

You may want to avoid tactics to keep your followers engaged:

·       Self-promotion (aka “spam”):  only Tweet about yourself – people eventually get bored

·       False pretense:  engage only to turn around it around towards yourself

·       Don’t focus on followers count, but on the quality of your followers

There are some no-brainers on who I would not follow or unFollow:

·       Tweet volume:  haven’t tweeted in more than a week or a month or more

·       Unfollow users who haven’t followed you back (unless they’re Donald Trump, etc.)

·       I’m leary of those with the default egg avatar instead of a profile image

·       No profile or bio information (unless you’re a celebrity you don’t have to)

·       Suggestive images or names

·       Exception:  Some applications require that you access via Twitter.

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.  

Elbert Hubbard

If your using Twitter corporately, Weber Shandwick prescribed five essential steps as a starting point for Fortune 100 companies to create true engagement and market interaction on Twitter http://www.webershandwick.com/resources/ws/flash/Twittervention_Study.pdf

·       Listen to conversations

·       Participate in conversations

·       Update frequently with valuable information

·       Reply to people who talk about issues that are important to your company

·       Retweet relevant content

A poll on MSN April 23, 2011 .... When did you get on Twitter?

Thanks for being one of the first people to vote. Results will be available soon. Check for results

1. Over 2 years ago
   2 %

   Over 2 years ago
   84 votes
2. About 1-2 years ago
   4 %

   About 1-2 years ago
   202 votes
3. In the past year
   6 %

   In the past year
   305 votes
4. I am not on Twitter
   88 %

   I am not on Twitter4,363 votes
5. Skip to results
   Back to voting

Total Responses: 4,954
Not scientifically valid. Results are updated every minute.

How does Social Media help the selling process?

"Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant."

Mitchell Kapor

There are primarily two ways to use SMO otherwise known as social media marketing  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_marketing 

1.      To increase click through rate, i.e. get people to do something once they get to your site

2.      To increase brand or create awareness.

In B2B sales, having a strong brand can translate into a positive reputation, quality product/service or value that can pave the way for attracting revenue by attracting customers.

Social media can promote the "brand" (organization)  in various ways.  Here are a some examples:

1.      Present "case studies" from products or services that have made an impact

2.      Communicate by expert blogs:  how do you solve problems using the product or service?

3.      Showcase  awards – connect your organization or individuals as successful

4.      Public Relations:  events, community involvement – you are making a difference

5.      Testimonials:  Your best customers are your best advertisers

Promotions, coupons, or specials  --  can be emphasized for  higher turnover sales model that can be handled by customer service to drive revenue. 

It all boils down to what are your goals, who are you trying to reach, how long is a sales cycle, what analysis you've done to determine your strengths/weakness to help determine what path you take.

Leave the footwork for prospecting, cold calling, targeting major accounts to your sales team.  Yet, what you do to promote your organization virally, online, can help influence your credibility before anyone says “Hello”.

Yes, you can pay someone to optimize your site or pay Google’s Adworks to speed things up.  However, not everyone can afford that and even those that do, have to prove that it is worth the investment (or ROI:  Return on Investment).