One of the best ways to continue building relationships with people you’ve met online is to meet them in person. However, if you don’t have your picture on your social media profiles, nor on your website (or you don’t have a website linked in your profile), you’re making it really hard for people to connect with you in person. Without knowing what you look like, people have to reach out specifically to set up a time and place to meet (which can be hard for people who are a little shy). Also, people may not know you’re at an event if they don’t know what you look like in person. [Read more…] about Who Are You?
Marketing
Paying It Forward
It happens to all of us: someone in your network who you hardly know asks you for something that’s a bit involved. It’s one thing to retweet someone’s blog post, it’s quite another to pass on a business referral or make a recommendation for someone you don’t really know. Most people are very happy to help people out when asked, but they’ll be more comfortable if you’ve built a relationship with them before you ask for help. Tapping into your network to ask for help is fine, but make sure you pay it forward before you need to ask. [Read more…] about Paying It Forward
The Necessity of Sharing with Your Competitors
“I don’t ever want to link to or talk about anything my competitor has written or posted.” “I don’t want to link to any websites where my competitor has any type of presence.” Are you so fearful that your competitor is better than you that you want to limit your own online presence and increase the amount of work you have to do for people to engage with you online? There are very few industries where the competition is so fierce that you have to fight your competitors tooth and nail — even those generally benefit if everyone at least has mutual respect. The same is definitely true online and with social media. Sharing with your competitors and having open discussions is not only necessary online, it also opens doors to a much wider audience (of potential customers). [Read more…] about The Necessity of Sharing with Your Competitors