How To Use Social Networking Sites Effectively

How To Use Social Networking Sites Effectively
Copyright © Scott Bradley

With the creation of Facebook and Myspace, it has completely revolutionized the online world. Everywhere you see web 2.0 companies are springing up everywhere.

With these new companies, it has provided a place where you virtually have the entire network at your fingertips.

Marketers abroad are starting to use these social networking sites to help grow their business, and build their network of like minded people.

Unfortunately, even though these sites are very powerful places of influence, it is a shame that we all have to battle SPAM. I have to say that I get about 2-3 spam messages a week having someone pitching a product or trying to get me into their network marketing deal. I am sure we have all been there and done that.

With that being said, that is not what this post is about. What I want to reflect on today is..."How can you leverage sites like these to truly build your network one quality person at a time?"

From my personal experience I have met some amazing people on facebook. Actually, Our last 3 speakers for the Boston College Entrepreneur Society, that I am president of, came from networking on facebook.

The first speaker we had, that I met on facebook, was Benoit Brookens. Benoit is a 20 year old CEO that started his web server hosting company at the age of 14. We had him come and speak to share his story. It was truly inspiring and it was great to finally meet such an amazing man! His company is called Dataracks. If you want to learn more about his business, to see how he can help you, you can visit his website at http://www.Dataracks.net. Aside from web server hosting he provides help to internet marketers with campaigns and such. I am planning to use his services down the road to help me grow my business.

The second speaker we had that I met on facebook was Johnathan Soares. Jonathan is a 22 year old CEO of his own Barbecue Sauce company called "Q Products." His slogan is, "You can't have the BB without the Q" He came and spoke a couple weeks ago and it was truly inspiring. His stories he had to share were so beneficial for all who attended the meeting. He talked about the importance of networking, and how staying committed, and putting it in Gods hands is what led him to his success. He stressed that when networking you have to "always keep in mind that you want to create win/win situations between you and the other person." He started this business out of his dorm room senior year in college, and has grown it to a HUGE company. If you would like to see his website please visit http://www.QProductsInc.com

Our third speaker that I also met on facebook was Ben Casnocha. Ben is a 19 year old CEO that started his company at the age of 14. Ben's company specializes in providing local governments with Customer Relationship Management software to help them manage their organizational needs. He is just about to launch his new book "My Startup Life" on May 18th. When he came to speak he shared how there are two paths in life...Either the "Think Different" path or the "Users Guide To Life" path. He elaborated that the path of the entrepreneur or "Think Different" path was one in which you were the creator of your own life, having a blank canvas only to create something that is so you, that no one else could relate to it. He further went on to say that "Entrepreneurship doesn't just mean that you own a business, but rather is a way of thinking and living your life." He stated that Entrepreneur's, aside from some being business owners, are truly the CEO's of their own life...regardless whatever path they CHOOSE to go down. He is one awesome guy and is worth getting to know. If you would like to learn more about Ben feel free to visit his website http://www.BenCasnocha.com

When I step back to examine the last three speakers we brought to the Entrepreneur Society, I had to pinch myself to think that I met these individuals on the internet through a social networking site. It blows my mind the kind of people that are in this world, and how they are virtually all at our fingertips using the social networking sites that Myspace and Facebook have created.

So you are probably thinking...Ok Scott...How did you meet these amazing individuals?

Well I am going to do my best to share with you what I have found to be most effective in networking on facebook.

Before I tell you I would like to let you know that it takes a lot of time, but if you decide to commit to the daily activities, you will be thanking me later! :)

Ok...Here it is...

1. The first thing I typically do is search out the groups that are in the field of whatever demographic I am after...They could be "Entrepreneurship, Network Marketing, Business, Money, Stocks, Investing, or Real Estate." There are many more but for the sake of space I just want to give you the idea about how I do it.

2. I then go into the group, check it out, see if the mission statement and read the content on the group page. If I like what I see I join.

3. The next thing I do is open up the place where you can search the "members in the group" and start sending friend requests...

4. Now the key here is...most people just send a friend request, and more likely than not it is deleted because people know that people just add people to get them on their "friends" list so they can bombard them with mini-feed advertisements...I would like to make clear that, this is not the goal..and would like to HIGHLY discourage anyone who is attempting to do that. The KEY is when sending a friend request, you know how you can send a personalized message with the request on facebook, USE THAT! I can't stress enough about how powerful that is.

5. When sending the friend request put a message in there saying, "Hi _____(their name) I saw you in the _____________(name of the group) and wanted to add you as a friend. I am a (_______) (entrepreneur/business person...etc) who likes networking with other like minded individuals. If you would like to talk feel free to IM me on my screen name (CaliforniaEagle). I hope you have a great day!

This is so powerful you don't even know. The reason it is powerful is because
1. You are just sending this message personally to the person saying their NAME...not just some huge message that you generally send out.
2. You are edifying them that they are someone that is worth getting to know.
3. Are showing them that you have an interest in networking
4. Give them the freedom to contact you if they are interested in talking more.

I have to tell you...I have been at my computer at times and have received IM's like this "Hi Scott, my name is (John) I got your friend request and wanted to contact you...whats up?"

From there the conversation can morph into anything. It is an awesome thing when that happens and is so well worth it in the long run.

Now one thing that you have to be aware of...is that it takes a lot of requests for this to happen...but...those that do come to the surface are awesome people.

After sending a message like that to Benoit Brookens, he immediately called me and introduced himself. We had an awesome conversation and said we will stay in touch...Well funny story...He ended up SAVING me right before the Christmas break...What happened was my entire windows operating system went down and I could only log into safe mode...I called up Benoit and said..."Um Benoit, I have a problem...can you help me..." He is like whats up? "I said..I am going to have to wipe my computer and need a place to store my files...he said "Scott that is what friends are for...this is what you need to do..."

He helped me upload my files on his servers...and then I bought a MAC...LOL Everything was safe and sound...

So to sum up this post...
The quality people are out there...You just have to find them, and take the time to do the little activities each and every day...before you know it you will have a massive network, like I have built up, and be able to synergistically create things with your network that you never thought were possible...that gets into creating win/win situations but that is a whole other post.

More to come!

Have an AWESOME day!
Scott Bradley

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I Have Moved My Blog To Wordpress.
I will no longer be posting to this blog.
Click http://www.NetworkingEffectively.com to visit the new blog
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