Using Social Media to Improve Your Networking – Going Beyond the Basics

It’s 2012, and social media networking is more important than ever. With so many social media platforms available today, where do you begin? And, if you’ve already started, how do you stand out?

Here are some social networking tips that I’ve shared with my clients.

LinkedIn
Yes, it’s still a great resource to find people and companies you want to network with. Here’s how:

• Use the Advanced Search feature to find companies and people you want to meet. You can also use this feature to connect with people of a certain title, industry, physical location, etc.
• Once connected, call – yes, with a telephone. Contact the mutual connection and ask if they can schedule a meeting with the person you’d like to meet. Once the connection takes place, thank the mutual contact for their help.
• Take the opening and make the meeting a success. Avoid hard selling; but, be clear about why you’d like to meet the new contact.
• You can also download your LinkedIn connections list and then use that list to invite others to “Like” your Facebook business page.

Twitter
Too often businesses are too formal on Twitter. If you find this is your situation, establish a personality for the brand. For example, M&M’s uses each colored candy as a personality. When using Twitter, keep things conversational. Also:

• Attend Webinars & Talk About It: When you attend a webinar, be sure to notice their event hashtag. Use that in a Tweet to announce you’re attending. Then, during the event, keep the conversation going by using it and connecting to people who are also using it.
• Who to Follow: Twitter offers a link to whom they feel will be people or companies that you should follow. Look at that each week to find new connections. Rather than just clicking “Follow” on their profile, send your new Tweep a message saying “Hi, I’m looking forward to your Tweets.” Or, “Hi. I can hardly wait to learn more about you.” Avoid hard selling.
• Attend TweetUps: You can attend TweetUps online or in person. They are quite fun, because after all, social media people are…well…social. There are some really great TweetUps in New York City and New Jersey that you might want to get involved with. To find a TweetUp in your area, simply use a search engine to locate one, then follow them on Twitter.

Facebook
This is probably the hardest platform for people to be most social in the professional sense. If you have concerns about sharing your personal-personal stuff with clients or customers, create a second profile using a business email address. That profile may then be focused on sharing news related to your industry, demonstrating your knowledge about a topic, or finding new people to connect with other than intimate friends.

What social networks do you have questions about?