[Stephanie Ward is a fellow Oklahoman, who happens to now reside in The Netherlands. She’s been a good friend and coach, and I’m proud to offer this guest post from her. – Becky]<\/i><\/p>\n
By\u00a0Stephanie Ward<\/p>\n
Everyone has an opinion about social networking and you\u2019ll find\u00a0a great disparity among people on what you should do, and should\u00a0not do.<\/p>\n
The thing is, you are connecting with real people so why not\u00a0treat them that way? It just takes a bit of attention and\u00a0hardly any extra time.<\/p>\n
Before we get into the \u20185 don\u2019ts\u2019 when connecting on social\u00a0networks I want to give you a general overview of how three\u00a0social networking platforms work.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n TWITTER<\/b> FACEBOOK<\/b> LINKEDIN<\/b> Now, with that in mind here are 5 things to avoid when\u00a0connecting on social networks:<\/b><\/p>\n 1. Don\u2019t invite someone to connect with you on Facebook or\u00a0LinkedIn without including a personal note.<\/b> Maybe you didn\u2019t\u00a0know that was possible, but now since you do \u2013 include one. On\u00a0Facebook if you don\u2019t know the person, share the reason why you\u00a0want to connect in your personal note. On LinkedIn, remind the\u00a0person how you know each other or where you met.<\/p>\n 2. Don\u2019t send an invitation to someone you don\u2019t know on\u00a0LinkedIn.<\/b> There is an option that allows you to send an\u00a0invitation if you don\u2019t have someone\u2019s e-mail address by saying\u00a0you worked with them in the past. But if you haven\u2019t, that\u2019s not\u00a0cool.<\/p>\n 3. Don\u2019t set up an automatic Direct Message (DM) to be sent to\u00a0people who follow you on Twitter<\/b> (a lot of people disagree with\u00a0me about this). [Note: Stephanie is right: auto DMs are impersonal and can be annoying. For example, when I follow several people in one sitting, I get bombarded by these automated messages. You don’t want to be annoying. -Becky]<\/i><\/p>\n 4. Don\u2019t forget to actively promote your social network profiles\u00a0so that people can connect with you. <\/b>Promote your profiles: on\u00a0your business card, on your website, in your ezines, in your\u00a0e-mail signature, etc.<\/p>\n 5. Don\u2019t forget to thank people who connect with you. <\/b> On\u00a0Facebook and LinkedIn you can send a private message via the\u00a0platforms. On Facebook you can write thank you on someone\u2019s\u00a0wall. Or you can reply to the \u2018request to connect e-mail\u2019 and\u00a0say thank you that way. On Twitter you can send a personalized\u00a0DM to say thanks for the follow. If you do choose to use an\u00a0automatic DM, please just say thanks for the follow and don\u2019t\u00a0promote your business or include links to things.<\/p>\n So why bother, what\u2019s the big deal about making your invitations\u00a0personal and saying thank you in a meaningful way? Building\u00a0relationships on any platform takes time<\/b> and by interacting\u00a0personally you will be able to develop deeper ties with the\u00a0people you\u2019re connected with.<\/p>\n Just because social platforms are virtual doesn\u2019t mean you\u00a0shouldn’t\u00a0be human in the way you interact with people. People\u00a0tend to remember personal encounters and forget the anonymous\u00a0ones. And, if you make it personal, people are more likely to\u00a0accept your invitations.<\/p>\n With a tiny bit of time and effort you can make connecting with\u00a0people online a more personal experience. It\u2019s the little\u00a0things that matter and make a big difference. So start making a\u00a0difference today by relating to your new connections on social\u00a0networks in a personal way.<\/p>\n Stephanie Ward is the Marketing Coach for Entrepreneurs who want to set their profits on fire! Grab your FREE copy of the special report ‘7 Steps to Attract More Clients in Less Time\u2019 plus business building tips, at: http:\/\/www.fireflycoaching.com<\/a>.<\/i> New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour<\/a>. Like what you see? Get our updates<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [Stephanie Ward is a fellow Oklahoman, who happens to now reside in The Netherlands. She’s been a good friend and coach, and I’m proud to offer this guest post from her. – Becky] By\u00a0Stephanie Ward Everyone has an opinion about social networking and you\u2019ll find\u00a0a great disparity among people on what you should do, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,11],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7279,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441\/revisions\/7279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
You can follow anyone you want on Twitter, whether you know them\u00a0or not. People don\u2019t have to give you permission to follow\u00a0them. If they want to follow you back that\u2019s up to them.<\/p>\n
You can ask people you don\u2019t know to be friends on Facebook,\u00a0from complete strangers to friends of your friends. But in\u00a0order to be connected, the person has to accept your request.<\/p>\n
LinkedIn is based on connecting with people you actually know.\u00a0You can request to be introduced to people you don\u2019t know from\u00a0people who are in your network who know the person you want to\u00a0connect with. More about this here: http:\/\/bit.ly\/hoQoU0<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Stephanie Ward, 2011<\/p>\n