Relationships versus Contacts: Quality is the key

I’m a networking machine and I like to meet people, that’s just how I am built. I look for ways that I can help people and/or look for ways that we can help each other out. There are a variety of ways to do this, whether through learning and education, partnerships, or referrals. That said, I need to establish relationships with the people that I meet. Granted, I do meet a lot of people and I do have a contact list, but, I am not here to win a “popularity” contest, have a large amount of Twitter followers, or friends on Facebook. To me, that is not what this is all about, there is more to it than sheer numbers.

The real value is in the quality of the relationship and not the quantity of contacts.

Building up a lot of followers on Twitter or a huge friends list on Facebook is fine, do it if you have to, but realize that you are really just playing a popularity game and not creating opportunities or relationships, especially if your goal is solely in the numbers. I have added a ton of people in the past and then groomed/weeded people in/out of my friends list on Social Platforms and in life, but, the ones that I keep are great relationships and partnerships that have thrived.

The people that I have established relationships with have led to great career opportunities, partnerships, knowledge, and most importantly, long lasting friendships. This is not something that you will get by only going for the quantity of contacts and trying to win some sort of popularity contest or ego driven “grader” application.

Relationship & Perception Killers: Social Capital, Trading up & Burning Bridges

As I mentioned above, there is a group of people that are all about ego stroking and popularity contests, it is an inevitable fact of life. With that comes interesting attempts at leveraging “Social Capital” or “Trading up” without the care of burning a bridge. I’ve run into this many times in my career where I have either been used for access to the relationships I have created, to provide knowledge to the individual, or in a partnership to create opportunity.

I bring this up because I am starting to see more and more individuals like this sprouting up within the Internet Marketing, Social Media, and Technology communities. These people go to events, parties, and participate in Social Media sites for the sole purpose of using them for only personal gain, ego stroking, or popularity. The key takeaway is that the individual does not take value in the relationship built, thus trading up and burning a bridge.

People like this have no problem “trading up” for new contacts for friendships because they have not vested anything into the current ones they have. They saw a value that could be used or leveraged, took advantage of this, and now have no reason not to burn the bridge that they have created. I can’t and never will understand this form of deception and personally am appalled by it.

Also, as it related to being popular, there really doesn’t leave much time for actually achieving any goals and/or providing value within the industry you are in. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t have fun and enjoy life, but there is a time and place for everything. At the end of the day, in my opinion, it is about what you do and the relationships you’ve created and not how popular you are.

This isn’t only related to partying and the offline social scene as well. Think of the time you spend on Twitter and Facebook. If you are spending enormous amounts of time on Social Platforms like these without actually thinking of or caring about the actual value within it, you are wasting away your days. Social Media is about the conversation, but that doesn’t mean to over do it, think of it like parties and events, if you are over doing it, when are you actually going to get anything done.

Lets put this to the test in the case of a startup. I was having this conversation with someone I respect in the technology industry and it came up. If the owner/founders of a startup are spending ridiculous amounts of time on partying, drinking, only building social capital, and/or rotting away the days on Facebook, it is going to be very hard for your startup to prove value or change the perception of your worth. Imagine the stakeholders and/or people that are funding your business, won’t they be questioning the decision making? Assume you have done a “friends and family round” of raising capital, how do you think that bridge is going to hold up if you haven’t treated it with respect or as a relationship that you care about.

Remember, it is one thing to have fun and enjoy life, but, it’s another to be attempting to win a popularity contest. When it comes down to it, using your time wisely, being efficient, and getting shit done is the most important thing in life, bottom line. (Remember, these are my opinions, you can agree and/or disagree as you wish.)

Source

It’s been said many times, including by me, that one of the flaws of social media marketing is that the resulting traffic is short-lived. That short-term nature of social media traffic is one of the biggest reasons that social media marketing is often overlooked or disregarded by bloggers and website owners. However, an effective social media plan will result in significant and long-lasting growth, with effects that can be visible long after the rush of traffic has died down.

Long-Term Gains that are Possible with Social Media:

Subscriber Growth

All bloggers want to gain new subscribers. Although visitors from social media sites can be more difficult to convert than other types of visitors, the volume of traffic that can be achieved quickly with social media can more than make up for it. On my primary blog I’ve seen firsthand that gaining subscribers from social media is possible and that it can have a very significant impact on the future of your blog.

Search Engine Rankings and Amount of Search Traffic

The links that can result from a successful social media campaign are extremely significant for long-term results, thus the popularity of linkbait. For new blogs, strong search engine rankings won’t happen right away, but a consistent approach with linkbait and social media can result in a big difference in long-term, long-lasting search engine traffic.

Overall Traffic Growth

Success with social media can have an impact on your overall traffic in the future, not just for the next two days. Repeated success with social media will bring lasting visitors that click-through on inbound links, the search engine traffic that was just mentioned, more recognition from other bloggers, and increased direct traffic as more people become familiar with your blog.

Ad Prices

If social media is able to produce long-term traffic gains, it can also result in corresponding increases in prices for advertisements. While many advertisers will consider social media traffic to be less valuable than other sources, the resulting click-through traffic and improved search engine traffic will have significance to advertisers, and can ultimately justify a higher price tag for ad space.

Name Recognition and Branding

With more and more people using social media sites everyday, building your name recognition through social media is a major long-term benefit. Social media is an excellent tool for the blogger who wants to build a strong brand that’s seen as a niche leader by a targeted group of readers.

Using Social Media for Long-Term Results

In previous posts I’ve covered some of the long-term benefits of social media marketing, including improved search engine traffic, subscribers, and a stronger network. The biggest key to building long-term results is to have a solid, established plan for what you hope to accomplish with social media.

The plan is what leads your individual posts to help you reach your ultimate goals. It’s what keeps your efforts organized, efficient and on target. Without a plan you may be able to get a random post to the front page of Digg or get a rush of visitors for StumbleUpon, but your efforts will not be focused in a way that maximizes the potential of social media.

To start with, you need to know what it is that you want to accomplish with social media. Do you just want higher traffic numbers? More subscribers? Sales? Branding? Each post you publish (well, not necessarily all of them, but at least the ones that target social media) should help you take a step towards that goal. For example, if you want to brand yourself as the go-to source on a specific subject, concentrate your posts on proving your expertise to readers in one aspect at a time surrounding that subject. It’s a pretty simple concept, but many bloggers forget about their long-term purpose with social media and they post whatever they think can get a quick rush of visitors.

Long-term results will only come with repeat success and content that’s focused on a specific subject. As people continually see your posts covering various aspects of that subject at various social media sites, they’ll start to view you as an expert and the long-term results will be sure to follow.

Things to Consider for a Long-Term Focus:

Subject of the Post

As I mentioned already, always consider the subject of your posts that are targeting social media to determine how they will get you towards your long-term goals. If they have no impact on those goals, I would advise you to spend your time developing different content that will lead you to the goals. Why waste time with something that only has the potential to generate short-term results?

Tone of the Post

Many visitors that find your content via social media will not be familiar with you, your blog, or your writing. For this reason, be careful how you present the information, because your tone can impact their first impression, especially if one of your primary purposes with social media is to brand yourself.

Targeted Social Media Sites

One thing I harp on all the time is using the right social media sites, ones that have an audience that is well-suited for your content. Don’t just chase the front page of Digg when you could be getting much more targeted traffic with niche social media sites. There’s nothing wrong with Digg, but be sure that the sites you’re using are well-suited to your long-term goals. Although niche social media sites will not be able to send the same volume of traffic that major social news sites will send, there are huge benefits to repeatedly getting your content to the front page of niche sites.

Timing

The timing of your posts that target social media is especially important if they are news-related. Only the initial blogs that break the news will typically get the results with social media. Also, think about the timing of how frequently you are targeting social media. If your goal is to gain a large number of subscribers in a short period of time, you may want to increase the frequency and target social media more often.

Potential Impact

The long-term effects of social media on your blog will be a combination of the results of your individual posts. Before you write or publish a new post, think about the impact that it could have on the overall sum of your content and your social media marketing. Ideally, it will build on what you have already done and strengthen your place in the niche. If you feel that content has no potential to positively impact your blog, why post it?

The Needs that are Met by the Post

Posts that do well with social media all meet the needs or desires of social media users, whether it be an information, news, humor, entertainment, etc. The needs and desires that you meet will impact the long-term effect of social media on your blog. Try to provide some consistency in what you are giving readers so that they can clearly see your blog in the way that you want it to be seen.

What’s Your Experience with Social Media and Long-Term Results?

From my own personal experience I know that social media is more than just a short-term solution to a need for more traffic. What have you seen in your own blogging efforts?

Source

These very question were posed to a collection of some of the world’s top bloggers and social network marketers…and here’s what they revealed:

* Darren Rowse | ProBlogger.net – Guest Posting – I’d identify a handful of other blogs in my niche (or surrounding niches) to offer to write some guest posts for. Networking – I’d spend a lot of time interacting with other bloggers and their readers – commenting on their blogs, emailing them and exploring ways of working together in win-win ways. (When I read Darren’s original e-mail to me, I misread it and thought he said to write guest posts in exchange for advertising, not payment. Turns out, that’s not what he said, but I’ve used that very strategy to break into print magazines and wonder if it would work for blogs, too)

* Maki | doshdosh.com – Building relationships with influential people is my favorite off-blog marketing method because it gives the greatest amount of returns for all your efforts. Promote the content of other people, send emails, chat on IM, do favors, connect people together, help them achieve their goals. This is a great way to brand yourself or your site and makes it so much easier to get support or publicity in turn when you need it.

* Cyan Ta’eed | FreelanceSwitch.com – I would pick 5 top-100 blogs that I felt worked well with my target market, then I would read each of their articles and spend time coming up with interesting and constructive comments for any I felt I was qualified to write about. I would also scour the web for any gems I felt would relate to them, and send them over immediately. In that way I would position myself as a valuable resource and hopefully befriend them too (if we naturally clicked). When the time came for me to send them a special article I had written, I would have a far better chance of getting it profiled with them, and I would have valuable contacts for any future collaborations….OR…I would spend one hour a day reading every Digg top story that day, then spend the other hour finding and submitting great articles to Digg. In that way I would hopefully get a good eye for classic Digg stories, and move up the ranks as a popular Digger (for those that don’t know, Digg has unofficial “Star Diggers” who develop a following. If they post one of your stories, you can be guaranteed up to hundreds of Diggs from the get-go, and a very real shot of being on the Digg popular list that day). I’d also contact every blogger I know, and ask them to give me a heads-up when they had a special article coming out. That way I could Digg those articles before anyone else – which as I rose in popularity would benefit the traffic of the blogs in question also. Once I was a popular Digger (which is pretty hard from what I’ve heard – but probably possible in two hours a day for an extended period of time), I would be able to on occasion submit my own flagship articles, easily get them Dugg, and get thousands upon thousands of readers coming to my site on a regular basis.

* Penelope Trunk | Brazen Careerist – Here are two offline things that are great for promoting my blog: Being interesting at a party – if people like talking to you they’ll check out your blog. Doing public speaking. Sort of a like a party, right? But it’s a party where everyone is listening to you

* Leo Babuata | ZenHabits.net – Write guest posts. To me, there’s no better form of advertising, free or otherwise. If you can get a good blog with a medium to fairly large audience to run a guest post of yours, take that opportunity! It’s worth the time investment. Why? Not only is it free, but you’re exposing yourself to a new audience. And if you write your best stuff, there’s no better advertisement — how else can a reader know the kind of quality writing you’ll put out on your own blog except by reading it on another blog? Always do your best stuff when writing a guest post for another blog, and you’ll get lots of new readers.

* Anita Campbell | SmallBizTrends.com – I’d engage in social media marketing campaigns using a variety of content sharing sites, social networking and community based sites. So many sites, so little time…. With two hours a day, you could rock the house and make a huge difference.

* Liz Strauss | Successful-Blog.com – Two hours a day. I’d hang on StumbleUpon. I’d comment on blogs I’d read. I’d talk on the telephone with bloggers about what they were reading. I’d have a professional expert profile where the media looks for experts to interview. I’d speak at the local rotary and at every conference I could find. I’d know the editors and the editorial calendars of the op-ed and lifestyle press and be sure they knew when I was publishing something that correlated with their usual interests. I might even go as far a buying a weekly hour of live radio time and hosting a show in the suburbs of Chicago on the same topic as my blog.

* Muhammad Saleem | MuhammadSaleem.com – I would go socialize with other bloggers. This can entail guest writing on their blogs, commenting elsewhere and so on.

* Henrik Edberg | PositivityBlog.com – I´d probably use those two hours over time to build power user profiles for the biggest social media sites like Digg, Reddit and Stumbleupon. This would not only give me more connections, friends and opportunities out in the world. It would also enable me to increase my own readership pretty quickly by using those sites as a power user.

* Cory Miller | CoryMiller.com – Study the great blogs and learn what makes them great. Then force myself to read great blogs outside of my niche, passion and even interest for the same reason. Start email conversations with other bloggers. Develop relationships with journalists in my niche. I’ve been quoted and featured in four stories published in our state newspaper simply because I was blogging in my niche. And then, simply, get some rest. Blogging takes a ton of energy. I think more bloggers could use more rest times of simply sitting on the couch.

* Donald Latumahina | LifeOptimizer.org – For me, I will get involved in social media sites. This way I will know what the social media audience likes while also building my network there.

* Chris Garrett | Chrisg.com – For me it is guest-posting. It’s great marketing for your blog plus you can get paid for it!

* Cameron Olthius | CameronOlthuis.com – I’d participate by leaving thoughtful comments that contribute to the conversation on other relevant blogs.

* Alister Cameron | AlisterCameron.com -
o Create the next killer Wordpress plugin or theme
o Build relationships with top stumblers (and diggers)
o Write guest posts for [big blogs in your niche]
o Plan/research for next link-baity post
o Comment like crazy on other key blogs and some lesser-known ones
o Design a theme for csszengarden.com (Gets you a PR9 link)

Amazing insights…

While there was a bit of crossover between our various experts, I was amazed at how many different ideas were offered. And, a number of people brought off-line initiatives into the mix, too.

As someone who’s entrepreneurial efforts have been largely off-line until recently, I learned the power of networking and mainstream media publicity very early on. So, I would add these off-line strategies to the mix as well:

* Attend blogging/tech conferences where you know a ton of other bloggers will congregate, stay at the hotel where the conference is even it’s a bit more expensive and spend every extra minute connecting with everyone. Don’t just focus on the superstars, welcome any conversation..and, most importantly, like Maki said, when you meet people get into the “what can I do for you” mindset, not the other way around.

* Attend non-blog/tech conferences, events and trade-shows that focus on the content area of your blog. Get out and talk to people who actually earn their living in the big, scary face-to-face world….you might even have fun!

* Write “print” guest columns in old-fashioned newsletters, magazine and newspapers or even the online analogue of print outlets that either share the targeted readership with an interest in what you blog about or have massive reach. In fact, a friend of mine, Marci Alboher, began freelancing for The New York Times a few years ago and that eventually led to a gig as a regular columnist and career blogger with them. The nice thing here is you get exposure and you actually get paid, either in cash or I’ve even negotiated ad-space in lieu of greenbacks, which can be a real win-win with the right publication.

* Hit the radio-waves – Terrestrial or satellite, shows of all sizes are constantly on the hunt for entertaining guests, provocative topics and informative spots. I’ve done a bunch of radio and actually, through connections developed over time in print media, ended up doing a regular radio spot on Sirius (click podcast link on right column to listen) that turned into a recurring 1-hour segment. And now that I blog, guess what gets promoted at the end of every segment?

I’ll detail a bunch of ways to get you and your blog on the radio, featured in magazines and newspapers and writing for them, too, in a future post, so stay tuned.

What was interesting to me, too, was the absence of some oft-touted strategies like blog carnivals, and article-directories. Food for thought.

…so, how do you choose what to do?

Fact is, each strategy has its own unique benefits and they are all highly-effective at growing traffic. But, clearly, to implement them all would take far more than two hours a day. So, you need to make some choices.

For me, it comes down to bang for your buck. These days, time is our most precious asset, even more treasured than money. And, time well spent can take the place of money well spent in launching and growing a blog.

So, rather than trying to do it all on a low level, hone your efforts, choose the strategies that resonate most with you, the ones you feel most comfortable pursuing, and invest your energy in those.

Do this for 30-days and then if you have the inclination and the time, begin to add more, one at a time. This will allow you to adapt to the workload and also be able to more effectively measure the additive affect of each strategy.

And, remember, too, this nugget:

* Jay White | DumbLittleMan.com – This is going to sound VERY generic but there is no better marketing than writing great articles. I would simply use that time to write.

No amount of off-blog effort can make up for poor content or design. So, step one is to make your blog rock. Once that’s taken care of, step two is to set the off-blog marketing wheels in motion.

If you’ve got more ideas, thoughts or questions, share them now in the Comment section below.

Source

These mistakes shouldn’t be taken lightly. How your business is perceived in the Web 2.0 world will affect your reputation and your ability to connect with customers, associates and potential customers. (Who wants to hire a company that can’t even manage an engaging, thought-provoking blog?)

Sta.rtup.biz, a small-business social-networking site, recently had some thoughts on how small businesses are botching their forays into the social-media world. Here’s a look at some of the most common mistakes from them and other social-media experts:

– Bare Profile: Signing up for a Facebook account is the easy part. Before you blast emails to 1,000 of your customers and friends, a business should spend some time thoughtfully building a profile with an attractive photo, background and contact information.

– Too Little Personality: Lighten up. The social-media world is about engaging customers on a more personal level. Your “About Me” shouldn’t just be dry facts about your business. Make sure you add some personal touches. Humor often helps.

– Too Much Hype: Using social media shouldn’t be about blatantly selling a business. It’s about making connections and creating credibility so that people will like you and trust you and eventually want to buy from you. Use it to interact and meet new people – don’t get overly promotional.

– Not Enough Fresh Content: Engaging others through social media needs to be an ongoing, frequent process. You can’t just build a profile and let it sit idle. Preferably you want to be refreshing your content regularly (daily, if possible) so people come back for more.

What do you think of this advice? Anything else to add?

Source

Below I attempted to make sense of it all in the easiest lineage I could—the alphabet. For those just getting started, I suggest taking a peak and making sure you are hitting the majority of these in some capacity—and for those online networking leaders I suggest taking a peak and making sure your ego didn’t accidentally blind you from the basics. (hey, its been known to happen ) This list includes sites, people, engines, applications, and tips on how to best research, establish and network yourself online.

A-    All the engines. Ask.com, Alltheweb.com, About.com, AltaVista.com-make sure you research your presence in as many places as you can before beginning to network.
B-    Brand. What words do you want to be associated with your name? Decide on your personal brand before pushing it.
C-    Classmates.com. Although it may not be dancing in the spotlight with newer social networks, it’s a great way of rekindling old friendships that can become new colleagues & confidents.
D-    Digg.com. For networking? Yes. Used best for establishing content-driven relationships with like-minded industry types. Starting dialogs & discussions.
E-    Endorsements. Erase any doubts by requesting endorsements from past colleagues, mentors, and friends on LinkedIn.com, personal sites, etc.
F-    Facebook.com. Get on it. Use it. Keep it professional. Flourish.
G-    Goals. Make sure you have established goals for your efforts. Know the people you want to interact with & the industry trends you want to be associated with.
H-    “How to Change the World” blog. Read it. Guy Kawasaki’s blog—“A practical blog for impractical people” covers everything anyone may need to stay motivated and get ahead. Just trust me.
I-     Identity Management Sites. Check out Naymz.com & Ziggs.com. Great sites to help evolve and manage your brand.
J-     Joking & Jesting. Keep it to a minimum initially. Be sure to establish a presence before taking to informal interactions with other industry professionals.
K-    Keywords. Set up the relevant ones to come to you via Google alerts, RSS feeds, e-mail newsletters, etc. Know your valuable Keywords.
L-    LinkedIn.com. Get on it. Use it. Keep it Professional. Link up.
M-    Market Yourself. Treat your name as a client. Build up your skills, and strengthen your weakness. Make sure you are meeting your audience’s expectations.
N-    Netiquette. Be sure to follow the appropriate guidelines when interacting online. Wade in—don’t jump, never spam, be patient, etc.
O-    Online Reputation Management. Follow @andybeal or read MarketingPilgrim for more on this. Know what is being said about you (and your company) and react accordingly.
P-    Persistency. Get a top-notch coffee maker, subscribe to motivational quotes, and understand—Online Networking is NOT a part-time job.
Q-    Questions. Ask them. Don’t shy from embracing your newbie status with online platforms and communities. Ask questions and reap the benefits of the knowledge available to you.
R-    Read everything. No really–read blogs, reviews, summaries, critiques. Be sure you have the full picture of the network you want to infiltrate.
S-    Support Others. There are a lot of words to go under “S” but this one can’t be ignored. Be sure to return the favor when receiving industry support.
T-    Twitter. Get on it. Use it. Don’t always keep it professional. Tweet yourself a brand.
U-    Use Multiple Tools. Never count on just one platform. Diversify yourself across multiple boards, platforms, networks, etc.
V-    Vlogs. Video Blogs. Anytime you can incorporate your face with your words/knowledge, it’s a win-win.
W-    Webinars. Attend as many as you can, host them on your favorite topics, and reap the rewards of this viral interaction.
X-    XING.com. Get on it. Use it. Keep it professional. Go global.
Y-    You. It all starts with you. What are you waiting for?
Z-     ZOMG. See below.

Source