Tips on How to Build your Social Media Network
Once you have embarked on social media networking one of the hardest things in the beginning is building your network because at the start you don’t know anyone. Networking to your existing clients and colleagues is gets you going but what you really want is to find new people, who you may have something in common with, be able to give or share information and ultimately who may help you find new business.
You have probably already acquired a Linked In, Facebook, mySpace or Twitter account established your profile and put up a photo of yourself or your business logo so that people who find you will get an idea of who you are and what you do. You may also have fed your email address list into the social media software application to see if anyone you have emailed has a profile; and signed up for some groups that you feel are relevant to your business. All of these techniques will build your network and set you on your way but in some instances can be very time consuming.
Here is a method that you may not have considered which involves querying Google with some structured search requests aimed at the specific networking software you use. The idea is that every profile page contained on the web will have key interests listed. Say for instance you run a small business selling rare formula 1 posters and catalogues, by searching for ‘Formula 1′ you will pick up anyone who lists Formula 1 in their profile. You can locate people who may have an interest in your business that you would not easily be able to find in any other way.
Of course having found this information you will need to consider how you might introduce yourself. You need to avoid being regarded just as a spammer and rejected, and of course in many applications there are penalties for this. LinkedIn for instance will terminate your account of you persistently have people returning ‘I Don’t Know This Person’ in response to your introductions. Perhaps in this example offer some free historical information or a list of rare posters you have to offer – just use your imagination to come up with an approach that will attract the person you want to connect with. At the end of the day everyone registered with a networking facility is looking to expand their network, gain new information and connect with people. Provided your approach is honest, respectful and does not amount to 500 words of ‘buy from me buy from me’ people will respond to you.
Here is a list of search terms you can google.
Linkedin: site:linkedin.com inurl:in ‘formula 1′
Facebook site:facebook.com/people ‘silverstone’
Twitter site:twitter.com inurl:status ‘grand prix’
MySpace site:profile.myspace.com inurl:myspace inurl:fuseaction ‘cosworth’
Bebo site:.bebo.com inurl:profile inurl:bebo ‘vanwall’
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Fantastic article. Great suggestion in using the Googel search terms to find people who might be interested in your business.
Social Media is still very much in it’s infancy. You need to start by getting involved in conversations and taking an interest in people whom you may be interested in.
The tricky part is finding them; this article shows you how you can.