Sunday Social Networking Tip #2

Welcome to a new series on Social Networking Tips. The plan is to bring in folks to share their best ideas about social networking. The next person to write up a tip could be you!

Tip:

Cultivate the relationships. Twitter and Facebook don’t have to just be about folks to chat about the weather with. It can go beyond tagging each other with list writing or poking wars. Ultimately, networks are intended to be about relationships.

The first step in building a relationship isn’t about telling people things, it’s the listening. Listening is more than watching the idle chatter go by. Listening is an active behavior, not passive and curt replies.

How can you improve your listening habits? First step is read all of those replies and DMs and wall posts you get. What? Read them he says? Yep. Read them all. To someone, the sender, they felt it worth sharing. There are golden nuggets in there between the pokes and jabs.

Second best way to be an active listener is to follow someone’s stream individually. If you have an interest or burgeoning relationship with a contact, single out their stream and read back through it. Click the links, check out the pictures, and listen to the music they share. Is there a theme? A standout issue?

Finally, get active in this department. Actually engage that contact and ask them what’s going on. Prompt them by asking about how was the last week. The last day. See what comes back to you.

Trust me. If you think your social network is returning value based on what you share, it will multiply by how you listen.

What’s your tip? Write it up and send it in! Let’s keep them to more than a single sentence. Embellish it.

Your ran reach me at tojosan on gmail.com, and other places. Feel free to leave me a voice mail at 636-486-4723.

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meeting rooms

using twitter can prove to be a break through for small and medium size companies. I never knew about twitter until a couple of weeks ago and can tell you that the response has been great. Most people need that trust before buying any sort of ideas online. Those two platforms,blogging & twitting does it..!

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execbp

This is a thought provoking post, so much so that I am going to think about it, and come back here with my thoughts once I have collected them properly. For now, I just wanted to tell you that this is a very nice post.

tojosan

Your share about "interested is interesting" is a winner. Some of the best advice I've ever received and practiced on.

Your second tip is one I'd say most folks do not practice actively. Oh, folks brag about someone else on occasion, but usually more hero worship or in the vein of knowing someone cool.

Great suggestions!

CT Moore

I once saw a b-movie comedy where some kid is headed off to college, and his dad (Dan Aykroyd) is giving him some advice on how to make friends, and that advice is "interested is interesting." I always thought that that was a good way to frame the importance of listening to someone.

Another is cocktail party etiquette - i.e. if you want to impress, talk about how good someone else is at what they do rather than yourself. It shows that you're both in the know (someone who listens) and secure, which sends the message that you're probably pretty good at what you do too...

The going back and consciously choosing to interact is a winning strategy. Your quote is one I use all the time.

What a great recommendation Stephen. Not enough folks take an active part in their networking.

hdbbstephen on Twitter

I like to create do searches for topics that I am interested in on Twitter, to see what people are saying. Then I go look at their Tweets and reply when I have something to add to the conversation. I have found some cool folks this way, and been invited to write guest posts, etc.

Connie Reece

Twitter and Facebook status updates and notes move so fast that it's difficult to keep up with what friends/followers are doing. Periodically scan your list and look for people you haven't interacted with in a while. Send them a Facebook message or write on their Wall to say hello. Give them a shoutout on Twitter or send a DM to let them know you are thinking about them. The same principle works on other social networks as well because (as I always say), "It's not about the technology, it's about the people."