It’s not too often that social media bloggers post something that really catches my eye – something obvious, simple, but rarely done correctly. Today, Chris Brogan posted about creating goals for the new year and creating a small network, specifically via Twitter, in order to help those goals become reality.
You can find his post here, but I’d like to take a moment to break it down how I see it:
ESTABLISHING YOURSELF
If you’re starting from scratch in the social media space, the best thing you can do is create a space to explain who you are. People do this in different ways, but essentially when you’re “meeting” someone online – you may not even be aware you’re meeting someone. They find you linked from somewhere and now have a basic need to know who you are. If this need is not filled, they will move on – if it IS filled, they can then make a decision to engage you or not.
The key here is to be able to show someone who you are quickly, and then give them more options to get to know you further - a blog for instance. In my case, I have a summary page at ElliottKosmicki.com which leads to this blog, my personal blog (which isn’t kept up as often), and many other social networks I’m on. This gives someone who is interested in learning more about me the opportunity to do just that.
If the person who has now met me has a basic platform developed where I can reciprocate and meet them as well – we have a chance to become “friends.” I quote that because we’ve only just met, online, which is just the beginning.
Without having a good, basic source of information about yourself – and linking to that from everywhere – you’re automatically in the hole when trying to create connections online. It’s like going to a face-to-face networking event and never opening your mouth to introduce yourself!
CONNECTING THE NETWORK
So we’ve met a few people, have an idea of what they do, but do we really know what their goals are? Is that even important to you? If you’re looking to create deep connections with people, what their goals are should be the most important thing in the world. Here’s where the law of attraction comes in… if you’re making a connection to get something out of it, you’ll attract the exact same people — looking to take but not give.
Make a point to spend time each week reaching out to various contacts you’ve made and simply ask them what their goals for the new year are. In Chris’s article, he talks about creating a shared Google Document to keep track of these goals. This document can be shared around the network, and slowly but surely it grows into a full-on repository of ways you can spend your day helping people. Simply keep an eye on what people need to accomplish, and where you see ways you can help – reach out to them and let them know you’d like to lend a hand.
PLUGGING IN
If you’ve gone about this the right way, for the right reasons, you’ll have build a small, but extremely powerful network of motivated people who have you’re back. You’ve brought them together, you’ve helped them achieve their goals, and in return – they’ve done the same for you. Now, whenever you meet someone else, you’re instinct will drive you toward knowing what they want from life and looking at not how you can benefit, but how you can help. Chances are, you now know someone off the top of your head who you’ll be able to refer them to – and probably who they can help as well.
Once this small network is built, maintain it and you’ll have the most powerful resource you could ever need in life – a personal network.
What experiences do you have in networking online? How have you overcome the challenges of being monitor-to-monitor instead of face-to-face?
Filed under: Networking,Social Media and tagged with: branding, law of attraction, marketing-old, Networking, Social Media, twitter.
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