I was at the Utah Social Media Awards last week and had the chance to listen to David Bradford give the keynote address on his experience and expertise in making connections in social media marketplaces.
Here’s the Audio:
I have have first-hand experience working with David and can attest to his uncanny ability to connect with people; he reached the Facebook maximum limit of 5,000 friends within a few months of starting his account. The amazing thing about David and his many connections is that they are all personal; he can identify each of his friends and in most cases can describe where they work and how they met.
David is a remarkable networker. He is also a very successful businessman, and he credits his success to his connections. In fact, during his keynote he stated emphatically that it’s not ‘What’ you know, but ‘Who’ you know. David says this, too, from a position of authority; he was Sr. VP of General Counsel for Novell for over 15 years and is currently CEO of Fusion-io, an up and coming storage technology company that Wall Street thinks will be bigger than IBM.
So tonight I wanted to share a few tips I’ve learned from David and other successful online networkers.
1. Use Facebook and Twitter: The two most successful online networking environments are Facebook and Twitter by a long shot. There are other tools to use online, and it’s OK to use them, too. But if you are not on Facebook and Twitter, you are missing the boat. They are both free, and if you haven’t gotten on already; get started right now.
2. Be diligent: You’re going to have to work at it, so plan on spending at least 15 minutes a day in your online environment making connections, organizing, and expanding. Successful entrepreneurs I have spoken to spend anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours on social networking. Log in once during the morning hours, and once again later in the afternoon for maximum exposure without spending too much time all at once.
3. Concentrate on connections: Make it a goal to expand your connections. There are a number of ways to do this, but primarily you want to look for people you know and connect to them first, then start making connections with friends of your friends. David makes it a point to collect business cards at every event he attends, and he tries to connect with those people within a day or two. It is not only an impressive tactic, but very effective in creating an ever-expanding circle of valuable connections.
4. Share pertinent content. Let your circle of connections know what you are doing, but be sure to concentrate on what really matters; Let them know of your progress, success, announcements or experiences that are interesting and engaging. Ask your friends for help when it comes to hiring, making plans, or looking for information. Always share your blog posts.
5. Be careful about your opinions: If you are using your connections to build success, remember that when you pick a side you are probably offending about half of your audience at any given time. It’s a good idea to avoid discussions about politics or religion. No matter how neutral you are trying to be, someone will get ruffled.
Building a network of contacts is a rewarding and important facet of your ability to succeed. Some say ‘critical‘. It takes some work and effort, but I couldn’t agree more with David when he says “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know“.
Here’s the Audio:
Tags: David Bradford, Facebook, Networking, Online, Twitter