Growing Your Social Networks Organically

Jonathon Fields has written a great post for social media “newbies” and one of the unwritten rules he lists is “Grow Organically”. This provoked a great deal of thought for me and I wondered what you all thought. We’ve all been on Twitter or Facebook and seen people who appear to be collectors of “friends”. They follow or add people for what seems like the sole purpose of increasing their numbers. They generally have far fewer followers than they are following…thus not increasing their exposure or business at all. Facebook will actually cut you off if they feel like you are adding people willy-nilly!

Jonathon recommends taking your time to build your online social network and I couldn’t agree more. To be authentic, you need to be following or adding people who’s values, business, writing or ideas really inspire you! Take some time to see who your friends (the ones you genuinely respect and follow for that reason) are reading and following. If you want to add to your network, get to know some of those folks first. Read their blogs and/or their books.

Once you add new people, for social networking to be effective, you need to interact with them! Comment on their blogs, respond directly to their Tweets, post questions on their Facebook wall, and email them directly if you want to start a real conversation. Pam Slim recently “tweeted” that she hates when people contact her the first time simply to promote their business! This isn’t effective networking and can cause the exact opposite effect of what you are seeking.

First build relationships, then allow the process of building relationships to strengthen your brand.

If you are trying to grow your practice, seek new clients or attorneys, build your knowledge base or are considering a new venture, we all know that online social networking is important. But just because you are enthusiastic about getting involved, be careful that you don’t take on more than you can actually manage.

Again, build relationships, then allow the process of building relationships to strengthen your brand.

Social media has become so enormous and complex that there are actually people you can hire to manage your networks for you! Joining sites and then being inactive doesn’t serve you or your potential clients. Pick key sites first, like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and really build a reputation and network on those first.

Once again … the most powerful aspect of social media is the ability to begin to develop relationships.   Relationships are the key to the door of accelerated business success.   If you are not focused on relationship building strategies in addition to building brand awareness, you are pretty much wasting your time.

If you need help developing a social media strategy, let me know!

I’d also love to know how you manage your networks and which ones you are most active on.

Take GREAT Care!

Coach T.C.

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