Remember the saying, “You never get a second chance to make a good impression?” These words have never been more important, especially in Social Media. In my last post, I closed with a final thought about stretching our mind to create an unforgettable presence. Today I share with you one way to make that happen.

After many years of running a personal development school, a human capital recruitment and consulting firm, and working in television and radio broadcasting, I observed many areas that created success for individuals. I found that those who were most successful had specific ingredients that when put to use, could purposefully create an impact on an audience. In my next three posts, including this one here, I will reveal three areas (of many) that help create an unforgettable presence.

How to create an unforgettable presence: #1 …

Take Action – Participate: Creating an unforgettable presence in social media is really not any different than doing it in person. It’s really about showing up authentically manifesting all of your unique potential and using your best social behavior and communications skills. When trying to create an unforgettable social presence online, first register. Half that battle is deciding to participate by signing up for a social media forum, and later understanding the potential opportunities involved for you or your company. Remember, out of sight can be out of mind. In social media, if we do not participate, we may be missing some powerful information about our company and ways to reach our market, promote our events and connect with others.

Next, decide to become a student of learning. Get rid of any expectations you may have and make some time to observe and listen to others. A good exercise to do is to get a few Facebook friends, Twitter followers, or Linked-incontacts that interest you. Look for those who are at the top of your field and see if they are involved with social media by using the search boxes to find them. Determine what interests you about your followers, friends, or contacts – and observe how they write, what they write, how often they write, and how they go about touting their business, etc.

Perhaps you are looking to expand your product or service and want some feedback, maybe you are looking for a job, or at the very least want to increase you inner circle of business contacts. Social media platforms like Linked-in can help. For example, Linked-in offers the opportunity meet many business professionals that you may not meet at an event or trade show. Linked-in offers niche groups for participation, job listings, and even introduction requests if you have a connection who knows someone you want to meet. This information alone can be of tremendous value for any company or professional looking to expand globally.

When we participate, engage and relate on a social media platform, I found the most important thing to keep in mind is patience. Social media is a gradual, progressive, connection-building and branding process. It’s by no means a silver bullet or replacement of traditional media, it actually enhances it in an inexpensive, authentic way. If we want to understand our target market better, social media can offer valuable information by sheer participation. In Twitter, we can plug in our key word in TweetScan and receive an email if our company name is mentioned. How valuable is that to you and your brand? Zappos, a shoe and lifestyle company, does a good job in social media by using Twitter as their customer relationship management (CRM) tool. You can read more here: http://bit.ly/11HngK. They exemplify complete transparency and create trust with their customers, especially in a time where many of have lost trust in companies and leaders. One of Zappos Twitter policies states: “Be real and use your best judgment.” This is may be great advice for new participants diving into social media and a reminder for those who have been working the social media runways for quite some time.

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Are you on Twitter and wondering how to find more people to follow?  Twitter itself offers a few ways for you to find others: you can click on “Find people” at the top of your Twitter page and search 4 different ways.

Finding people through Twitter

The first is by searching for people by their Twitter username or by first or last name.  Second, you can find Twitter users through your other contact lists such as Gmail, AOL or Yahoo.  This is a quick way to find people because Twitter pairs the email addresses in your accounts with existing Twitter accounts.

The third option allows you to invite others by email.  The form automatically sends them a short message saying that you’d like to keep up with them on Twitter and to click a link below to find out more.

Fourth, Twitter provides a list of “suggested users” for you to follow and this includes bigger names that you don’t necessarily know personally such as JetBlue Airways, Shaquille O’Neal, the CEO of Twitter, CNN, John McCain, etc.  This is a good option if you are brand new, you aren’t sure who to follow, and want to start seeing how others use Twitter so you can get a good sense of the flow of it.

Follow who they follow

Another easy way to find people once you are following others is to check out who they follow—if anyone looks interesting, start following them.  Or, you could make a list of 20-25 people in your industry you admire and if they are on Twitter, begin following them.

A word of caution though–following too many people too fast (we’re talking by the thousands) may cause Twitter to look at you as a spammer and this could result in Twitter suspending your account.  So just be aware of that.

The actual limit appears to be that you can’t follow more than 2,000 people at first.  Once you have around 1,800 followers you can start following 10% followers more than are currently following you.  So, at 2,000 followers following you, you can follow a total of 2,200 people on Twitter.

Connect with your target market

So, how do you find and follow people in your target market so that they are able to hear your message?  Twellow.com and Wefollow.com are Twitter directories you can search by category. They’re essentially the Yellow Pages of Twitter.

If your business is local, a great way to find other local Twitter users is to use nearbytweets.com. You can use this site to search by both location and keyword.  A lot of people like to use tools like this to set up “tweetups” which are basically local meetups of Twitter users in your area.  These can be great for networking.

Another technique if you are already following some people in your target market is using whoshouldifollow.com or mrtweet.com.  Both of these sites recommend you new people to follow based on who you are following already.

Let me know if you use any other techniques to find people to connect with on Twitter.  What do you find works best for you?

Photo credit: arttwitt

Post from: communicate value

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The value of networking online will never replace face-to-face networking. Some things are better in-person and networking is definitely one of them. That said, online networking has its purpose and is a powerful tool that should be integrated into your overall strategy when it comes to expanding and nurturing your professional network.

Considering geographical boundaries, time constraints, and personal obligations, online networking tools can help you quickly build a network that may have taken you years to build, if ever, any other way.

When we network in person, non-verbal cues help us interact with the other individual. We rely on all of our senses to engage in conversation and form opinions about moving the conversation to further stages. In the online world, we simply don’t have as many sensory cues to rely on and, as a result, the game changes.

I do my fair share of online networking: LinkedIN, Twitter, Facebook, and blog commenting are my main tools. I also participate in a number of online groups and forums.

Here are a few personal tips I’ve found work well for me when it comes to networking effectively online:

1. Write in a conversational tone. Especially online, people want to know you are a living, breathing person with a life and a sense of humor. Be yourself and let it come through in your online communication.

2. Fill out your online profiles fully so that the people know something about you. Take some time and keep your profiles regularly updated. When someone contacts me on Facebook or LinkedIN, I always check their profiles before responding to a request. People want to know who they are conversing with, and by giving the information upfront, your messages are more likely to get a response.

3. Give, give, give. “Give more than you get” is the general rule. People are much more willing to help someone who helps others. Answer LinkedIN Questions, retweet interesting information on Twitter, or post articles from others on Facebook. Give credit where credit is due.

4. Listen. Online networking isn’t just about spreading your message and pushing your personal agenda. Listen to what others are saying and participate in the conversation, even if it doesn’t align completely with your goals. Participation makes others remember you and value your opinion.

5. Show your face. Photos matter and make the experience more personal. Everybody wants to put a face with the name. A headshot works best. Your main profile photo should be just of you.

6. Be consistent. Regularly update your profiles with information – again, not just pitches about you, but also with information that will help and interest your network.

7. Meet your online connections in real world, whenever possible. Set a goal to meet at least X number of people from your online networks offline for lunch or coffee.

8. Connect with your offline connection in your online networks. As part of the follow-up process, make it a habit to connect in your online social networks to the people you meet offline.

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You must have a strategy if you want to communicate. That’s been a long standing rule of public relations. Along with our traditional media relations tools, we have a new set of tools, which fundamentally changes how public relations professionals do our job.

As social media tools evolve, I’d say we are in a renaissance of sorts. Social media tools allow us to communicate effectively with our stakeholders and other audiences – including media. But the more I think about social media, the more I’m convinced of two things:

• Social media is a community-building tool.
• Strategy must guide our use of social media.

Kyle Lacy, CEO of Brandswag, laments that communication professionals are using social media as a screaming platform. “Many marketers view social media as another way to scream at people with a message, albeit a more niche mass,” he writes on his blog.

Screaming is not a strategy. It’s no way to engage people. They don’t appreciate it. Think about these questions:

• Does screaming at your friends make them like you more?
• Does screaming at your significant other endear their heart to yours?

The answer to both of these questions is – NO. So why do communication professionals scream at stakeholders? There’s a better way.

When I began my short tenure at a Fortune 100 medical device manufacturing corporation, I learned quickly that effective social media is strategic and it builds community. Forrester Research has identified five strategies that lay the foundation and provides the framework for building amazing community with stakeholders:

Listening. Isn’t it ironic that listening is a strategy? It’s the opposite of screaming. When you’re screaming at the public, you can’t hear what they are saying. And they might be saying something very important. If you miss it, you miss an opportunity to develop community, which is the point of the next four strategies.

Talking. Any communication professional who thinks this strategy gives them a license to babble, think again. I think of this strategy from a different point of view. Let’s call it communing. It’s a dialog where you talk about solutions to the problems your costumers have. When it comes to addressing consumer problems, Forrester Analyst Josh Bernoff points out that Rubbermaid knows its containers are boring, but getting organized isn’t. Rubbermaid’s blog, “Adventures in Organization” shows us how to makes our life more manageable. The company is talking using a blog.

Energizing. People can get motivated about ideas. That’s why you would use the energizing strategy. I have a friend who is a scholar in justice issues. In the conversations we’ve had, I’m amazed at the opportunities her expertise offers to energize a community for change. Bernoff gives us Liberty Mutual as an example. Insurance is drier than dirt, but this insurance company is engaging its community through Responsibility Project. Liberty, according to Bernoff is energizing people to create user-generated content around moral decisions and responsibility.

Supporting. Everyone needs a little help. My same friend who’s a justice issues scholar also likes to help people. She said to me before, “I really, really like to help.” And that’s the attitude any organization should have toward its customers. Social media tools can facilitate this effort. When worked for a group of financial companies, I helped our customers by providing them with a newsroom on all things financial. Before I left, my hope was to start a forum. We had just hit the wave of the financial meltdown that engulfed the economy in the last quarters of 2008. I had tried to convince the CEO that our forum could help clients and prospects get the financial answers they needed. I did a similar thing for a community college program just two short years earlier. Though that was focused on helping students navigate the bureaucracy of higher education.

Embracing. Sometimes your customers can help you make the products and services you provide better. Macromedia did this when the programming engineers launched blogs to connect with their software users. The end result was amazing. Now we enjoy the fruits of those products because we helped make them. An embracing strategy gives your customers a vested interest in your organization. When you build that vested interest, you build brand evangelists.

Each one of these strategies builds on the other. When you know what’s on the mind your stakeholders, then you know what to address. People really do appreciate an organization that listens first, speaks second, and then builds solutions that solve problems. Those are the building blocks of good relationships and the foundation of good online communities. Stakeholders also enjoy and expect dialog. As the relationship deepens with each successive strategy, the investment of stakeholders strengthens. So stop screaming and start listen. Your costumers will appreciate it. And your bottom line with show it.

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