I remember when chat rooms first became popular. I never joined one because that just didn’t seem to be my thing. However, once I joined MySpace, I slowly migrated over to Facebook then LinkedIn and once I hit Twitter, I was a social networking junkie. No, I don’t have thousands of friends because I hand pick the people that I add to each of my networks. However, I have seen some interesting behavior displayed on social networking sites, which seems contrary to building a successful network. The following ten tips should help maximize your time online.
1. Create the person you want to be. Because some of us may never meet in person, you have a unique opportunity, through online networking, to create the business professional that you want to be. This doesn’t mean that you should lie about your resume in hopes that no one will ever find out, but it does mean that if your 9-5 is a greeter at Wal-Mart but your passion is becoming a make-up artist; no one has to know how you pay the bills. You can focus your online networking activities on turning your passion (make-up artistry) into a profession. Focus your energy on photos of looks you have created rather than ranting about how much you hate your job.
2. Keep it classy. It really disturbs me to see people using profanity or discussing inappropriate topics on line. I think there is a time and a place for everything. I use online networking to build my professional network. If I see someone acting out of order online, I am not very likely to seek out their professional assistance in real life. You never get a second chance to make a first impression and you can very easily be deleted online and never know about the business opportunities that you may have missed.
3. Be safe. Don’t reveal too much personal information about yourself because there are some nuts in the world and many of them are disguised as normal people. Be careful what type of information you post about yourself because there are millions of eyes online and you never know who is watching. If you feel the need to share personal information with someone, do so in a direct message or email unless it is something that you don’t mind the world knowing.
4. Want to connect? Start with email. I rarely give anyone my cell phone number, BlackBerry messenger PIN or other personal contact information until I have had a chance to feel them out through email or interactions in discussion groups. Providing this type of information can open the door to a world of terror. The probability may be minuscule but why take the chance.
5. Don’t be a voyeur. It’s great to read what other people are saying but you have to join the conversation, otherwise no one will ever know that you are there. This isn’t like the party where you are standing on the wall and someone feels sorry for you and comes over to strike up a conversation. You can be online with the cutest photograph and banging-est (yes, I made that up…lol) bio but if you don’t ever participate then no one will know who you are.
6. Only join networking sites and groups that you have a strong interest in. There are some people that will sign up for any and every site because their friend suggested it, because it has some people they want to know in it or just because it looks cool. Don’t be one of those people. If you are not interested in the target of the site/group then you are not very likely to participate in what’s going on. So what’s the point? Most site administrators what an active community. They prefer quality over quantity and those just wanting to build their numbers probability won’t live up to your expectations anyway.
7. Become a regular. To become successful at online networking, you should visit the site about once a day, at least once every other day. You don’t have to post something everytime you log in but stay up to date on what’s happening, otherwise you may return and feel out of the loop which could discourage you from participating in the future. I have my favorite site bookmarked so that when I feel like taking a break from working, I just click on the sites and browse around for a minute and then get back to work.
8. Quality over quantity. This is true with almost everything in life. It is better to have a quality group of friends/followers than to amass a group of a 1,000 people that you know nothing about. Before you add someone as a friend, check their profile and see if there is a mutual interest. If you can’t think of something personal and unique to say to them once you’ve read their profile, you may want to think twice about requesting their friendship. It doesn’t mean you will never be friends but feel them out first.
9. Don’t be a webmarketer (yeah, I made that one up too). This person is related to the telemarketer. Don’t you hate it when someone calls you trying to sell you something that you don’t need or that doesn’t fit who you are? When you just randomly post your business information on people’s personal pages, you become the web version of a telemarketer. Not cool.
10. Finally, respect yourself and those in your online community. Don’t be the person that gets blocked because of poor judgment. I ALWAYS reread and take a second to think about my post before I hit ‘submit.’ I know that once I press that button, my message has been sent into cyberspace and beyond. Who knows if I will ever be able to retrieve it. I’ve had some moments where I felt like venting or ragging on someone but I thought about it and realized that that isn’t me, so I kept it to myself and posted something positive instead. This conscious posting has gotten me many more friends than being a negative, bitter poster would have. This tip should be carried into your real life as well.
Happy Social Networking! We are all trying to grow our social networks and build our brands, personally and professionally. Let’s use our powers to encourage positive interactions.
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