I am amazed at how stupid I can be sometimes. I have been caught in the “do as I say, don’t do as I do” mentality without even realising it. It is only when I read the post by Stuart at Earnersblog on how to become a Digg Power User in 48 hours that it suddenly dawned on me what had been missing in my own practice so far.
Social media and social bookmarking is great, if you remember the one vital point about it – it is social. That may be stating the obvious, but you can’t expect to have any great success in the social media world unless you actively get out there and network.
This has been made truly evident in my MySpace Experiment – which is still going in case any of you have thought I had forgotten. The success has been minimal so far but it is pretty obvious why. My problem has been that I have been so caught up in the technicalities of it, I have forgotten to actually do the most important bit – networking with others. I don’t think saying “Doh!” even comes close…
The odd thing is, most of us know this offline already. Anyone who is in business knows that the best way to get customers, advocates, associates and supporters is to get out there and network. We sign up to all sorts of networking events – from the bleary-eyed-up-before-the-sparrows breakfasts through to the no-really-I’ll-only-have-one-more-glass evening events. Most of us find it relatively easy to approach people we haven’t met before at these events and start a conversation. We might exchange a business card. We might even arrange another meeting.
So, if it is so ingrained offline, and worse, I have been advocating it to all of my clients – why, so far haven’t I been following my own advice online as well?
Popularity, reputation and credibility – they are all about your network. Of course, it is also about the value you provide, the consistency and honesty you show and the reach you achieve on a site basis, but without a network of friends, you are just going to fade away into the gelatinous mass of single-posters and part-time users.
Because I am an advocate of doing things in a genuine way rather than a “get rich quick” spammy way, I would add that building this network is not necessarily something that can be achieved overnight. It takes time, just like anything else within the social media world. My advice would be:
- Focus on one or two social media sites at a time
- Take the time to build a network – don’t try and do it all in a day and then forget about it
- Don’t be afraid to approach people you don’t know – become their fan, stalk them, befriend them or do whatever the site asks to bring them into your network
- Actually take the time to read people’s submissions and comment on them. Try and avoid inane comments just for the sake of it…
- Be genuine. I can’t express this enough. Only add people because you really liked their submission or their blog posting.
Now, let’s see if I can actually take my own advice this time!
Thanks to Canicula1970 for the image
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