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Social Media vs "Real Networking"

Guest post by: Lonny Dunn

Article Overview: Networking and Social Media Professional Discusses How Social Media Enhances Your Business Growth

Social Media vs "Real Networking"

Social Media will never replace real networking events, attendance at speednetworking functions, meeting and introducing yourself to new prospects, the referral or the referral letter. But they all have to blend together in your overall approach to gaining new clients.

Many people make the assumption that they have a website, or become so called Internet Marketers only realizing too late that: 99 percent of Internet Marketers don't make any money on websites. Many Internet Marketers build websites and have to deal with how to "drive traffic" to those sites. They spend thousands of dollars to gain valuable experience that there is no substitute for building a real live "human network".

In my experience building networks over the years, Social Media and the Internet are but tools in the process. In particular, the Internet is very good at some things:

A. The Internet as search engine or information source is full of my competitors who may or may not be as good, better, worse or as integrity minded as myself.

B. Social Media is very good at building brand awareness, and "rounding out" what I am already doing.

C. There is no substitute for "pressing the flesh".

Some examples are Obama announcing his "human" choice for Vice Presidential Candidate, Joe Biden by sending out a Tweet.

Another example may be Charlie Sheen's skyrocketing Guiness Record of 1 million followers on Twitter but only after doing a show for 8 years on television.

The symbiotic relationship between the physical world and virtual world is strengthened through a comprehensive, well rounded strategy. Some tools I have written about on other articles here on Even Carmichael are Using the Marketing Plan for Social Media; Using Text Tagged Article', 'Click', 'Mobile']);"> Mobile to Enhance Your Internet Presence, and Using Twitter to Build your Social Media Platform.

What does Social Media do well, without implying you will become an Internet Millionaire?

A. Social Media is very good at driving traffic to your blogs. Research indicates, that the best time to post a blog link is between 4pm, and 5pm EST. Shorten your blog post link by using TinyURL a free link shortening tool.

B. Social Media is excellent for expanding your Internet Imprint, IE: increasing your own personal brand awareness. Over time, positive results can be achieved. Commenting on other blogs is an excellent way to increase your standing on gOOgle and other search engines like Bing or Yahoo! without costing you anything more than time.

C. Social Media can brand you as an expert in your field. You can start a blog, and write about your area of expertise. Twitter and to a lesser extent LinkedIn or Facebook are good ways to drive traffic to your blog. Research indicates that Twitter excells at this, with as much as all the other sources combined! That's right. On one of the blogs I manage 98% of all traffic is derived from Twitter, and only occasionally do I get any analytics from Facebook or LinkedIn.

D. Social Media as information gathering device: CRM assisted platforms that gather eMails, WebSite Information and other facts about readers can be as simple as your own data collected on your own "forms" which you create and manipulate yourself. GoDaddy for instance has it's own eMail forms you can set up for free through Website Tonight which allow you to keep and retain all of your clients eMail addresses as opposed to that information being kept and retained by the website owner.

I have found that none of the above is beneficial in and of itself, and we all need to start strengthening our Internet imprint immediately. It doesn't matter if you don't have your own blog, start one, or let me help you. If you don't tweet, start today, I have many articles on the subject. But none of this will matter if you do not have plans to attend networking functions, and get out there and meet people.

Major Publications like Money Magazine, Headhunting research, and Surveys of Personnel Directors have indicated that people are getting hired based upon some relationship with an existing employee. Meaning if I want to go to work for Acme, I am referred by someone who works there already. My chances of getting hired are better based upon real human connections.

Professionals like Doctors, Lawyers, Dentists, Title Companies, Loan Officers (all of which I currently work with, or have worked with for years) all use referral networks to survive.

Building human networks in a recession is smart business. For one thing networking is free, or nominally inexpensive. Attendance at conferences doesn't help as much, they are more geared toward moral boosting, and firing up the troops. But attendance at networking functions where you expand your own network to cross over into other networks is definitely beneficial.

Learning to build human networks to develop a referral base is the key to success and survivability. Remember the law of duplication. If you build a network of people who buy from you, you eat. If you build a network of people who send you business regularly, you eat, and they eat.

Helping others build their network, proposing network building as an ideal we should all strive for is paramount to your success. If you can teach others to build your network, while enlarging their own, then you will truly be a success.

Remember my axiom here: Networks that aren't growing, are dying.

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Article Tags: business growth, efficiency, facebook, linkedin, networking, referrals, social media, twitter



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Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - GT - thanks for the FYI - I'm not sure if we'll put a link back. Something to consider though! Trent - the new category is "Social Network and Media" which was put in to compliment the Online Businesses category that currently exists. Overall the new categories are: - Looking For, Networking and Events - Review My... - Social Network and Media - Brags and Rants These came as a result of Ringo doing research on other forums and thinking about what could be improved on ours to give a better experience for everyone. I hope you enjoy them! David, I'm looking forward to reading your Brag / Rant!
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: How can a social networking site make serious money? - Hi There, It is quite interesting, that some Social Networking do produce an income. I think testimonials are always a benefit to share. See one below: This Social Network has changed my life! Every night is a Friday night and everyday is a Saturday!! Because of it, I have been able to leave the workforce 10 years early.It has given me back my life. Many of us would like to retire early. I am sure there are many more. The point is of focusing with great determination. The ongoing challenge is to stay focussed and not be sidetracked into a newer scheme or so. Also I have read, during this financial turmoil, more people turn to Social Networking for various reasons.
Marketing 2012 - I am interested in what works for you in 2012, Social Networking, Search Engine traffic, Blogs, Articles, Forums, what? This is a quote from a 2009 Topic "Twitter, Social Networking, What is your Method? From my experience, social networking traffic (Twitter included) also converts at a far lower rate than search engine traffic. Evan Is this still true, or do you use something that gives us better returns and conversions
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g] Hi Jeff, Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?


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