It’s been a long time coming. I hear that classic LL Cool J song, “I’m goin’ back to Cali” in my head…but instead of Cali, I hear:

“I’m goin’ back to Seattle, Seattle, Seattle…I’m goin’ back to Seattle”

After nearly a year and a half out of the networking scene, you know…meeting people face-to-face, because of the car wreck, I’m really excited to travel back to Seattle later today for the latest Social Media Club Seattle (SMC Seattle) event for the month of June at the Pyramid Alehouse.

Now, for those of you who are wondering, “What is a social media club?” what better description can I give you than the one given on the national Social Media Club site:

Social Media Club brings together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, tool makers, and other interested collaboraters. Essentially the people who create and consume media who have an interest in seeing the ‘media industry’ evolve for everyone’s benefit. We are more than just USERS, we are the reason the tools exist – we are the people who communicate our thoughts and ideas near and far. . .

SMC is now a handful of people managing the global organization on a part time basis, and actively working towards hiring full time staff as SMC files the 501c3 and push the organization further into the global space. Thanks to the efforts of our local leaders, we have grown to over 55 active chapters (40+ in the works) with 10’s of 1000’s of people gathering around the world.

Seattle has been a hotbed of social media of late. It seems that every week, I see a new social media event popping up on the calendar all around the Seattle-metro area. So hot in fact, that Mashable took notice and wrote a great article about Seattle’s social media scene stating:

To learn more about the Seattle chapter of the Social Media Club, you can visit the blog: http://smcseattle.com even learn more about the Seattle chapter’s organizers and/or follow their tweets @SMCSeattle

An AWESOME Seattle Social Media site is called, Seattle Social Media Profiles. It’s a blog dedicated to introducing  and connecting some of the movers and shakers in Seattle’s social media community. There are some great videos interviews on there of which I am not a part of…yet! lol @SeaSMProfiles

There’s also the Seattle Social Media Club page on Facebook.

Another great list of active Seattle social media networkers on Twitter can be found on Twitter Grader. After being ranked #7, I’m surprisingly ranked #2 in Seattle as I’m currently writing this behind who I consider to be the King of Seattle Social Media, Chris Pirillo (@ChrisPirillo) the mind behind Gnomedex. That’s pretty cool for what it’s worth.

Well, I better stop typing and get busy. Must make it up to my favorite lunch spot in Seattle. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends, meeting new ones, a few pictures taken and deepening connections I’ve built through my social network.

I’m out!

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There are thousands of people, no, hundreds of thousands of people leaping into social media marketing and social networks without a detailed method they are going to utilize to build their business. With the exponential multiplication of ways to reach people, it’s even MORE important to understand the process of social media marketing that produces money!

Social media marketing is something that I learned through trial and error as I’ve been recovering from the car accident last year and have had a background in social networking since the original social network, AOL was king. Being unable to work a normal job gave me the chance to develop a new career path. But for the hard workin’ 8-5′er with kids, a mortgage and everything else we have to contend with as adults, learning a new way to do business, or start a business, it has to be incredibly time efficient and full of knowledge that you can turn around and put into action. That’s why I direct the majority of people who are new to social media marketing, to the Social Marketing Method.

A fellow Carter, Brian Carter (we’re not related, but he’s a real cool cat too. Funny guy. you can follow him on Twitter. He’s @BrianCarter) “is Director of SEO, PPC, and Social Media at Fuel Interactive, a full-service interactive agency in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.”

Brian recently posted over at Search Engine People, one of the finest breakdowns of the “method to the madness” that IS social media marketing I’ve seen recently. Here’s just one image of many that are available via PDF:

You can see the methods to each sphere of the process and how the development of connection, trust & relationship correspond with every stage of the internet marketing process.

What’s the Point of The 6 Spheres Diagram?

The point is for you to see how it’s a process, with different
actions and tactics depending on how close your prospect is to your
ultimate goal.

The assumption is that you want prospects to buy something, or if
you’re a charity or non-profit, you might want them to donate or sign a
petition.

(Yes, maybe now your goal is to get emails or build your twitter
account or whatever- but those are ends that become means to the real
end… if you’re ultimately not making money, you’re going to have to get
another job.)

Surviving and thriving means keeping the end in mind, which is the small green sphere at the bottom.

What Brian is able to show you through the rest of that post is that no matter where you are in the relationship, branding, or sales process, you can be empowered knowing where the person is at and what your next steps should be. It’s a great map for social media marketing. The Six Spheres of Social Media Marketing.

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Wow…I can’t believe June is practically over as I’m writing this post on my five fave social media posts of the week. And what a week it has been. There were so many great blogs in my Google Reader this week, but I really liked the following for one reason or another.

Social Media is Rife with Experts but Starved of Authorities by Brian Solis

Fourteen Types of Tweets by Joel Comm

Cultivate An Active Network by Chris Brogan

This Week In Seattle Social Media at Seattle Social Media Profiles

Is Blogging Evolving Into Life Streaming by Jeremiah Owyang

Any blog posts really struck a chord with you? Or a post that get you moving in a certain direction or have one of those “ah-ha” lightbulb going off above your head moments? Share away!

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In the mad frenzied rush in social media this past year, there has been an insidious and infectious virus running rampant…far worse than swine flu…it’s “guru-titis”!

A dastardly thing indeed.

You’ve seen them racing through social networking sites in a vortex of hype and a trail of graffiti tweets like “Increase your Twitter followers by eleventy-billion in seconds a day”! Some people have even nicknamed them as “social media ***bags“! (warning, site is a little off-color) Ouch. LOL But unfortunately, it’s an apt description of inept marketers who haven’t been taught the basics of social media networking online.

They’ve blown all credibility. They’ve built no trust.

Their blogs sites are weak on content but off the scale excessive on shiny, blinking things all over in the hopes you’ll buy something and they’ll make some money.

Fortunately…they fade with time…

So I wanted to share a few of the social media marketing blogs/authors (Twitter ID) that DEFINITELY don’t suck and I follow on my Google Reader feed and on Twitter…in no particular order:

Social Media Explorer
@jasonfalls

Social Marketing
@michellem

Copyblogger
@copyblogger

Successfool
@Successfool

ProBlogger
@problogger

PR 2.0
@briansolis

[chrisbrogan.com]
@chrisbrogan

The Social Media Marketing Blog
@scottmonty

The Business of Blogging & New Media
@ChrisGarrett

I could continue with more and more of them but I purposely left a bunch out (hint hint, wink wink ***add your faves***), but this post is for those of you who are new to social media. These sites and thought leaders in social media are a good start. A wealth of HIGH quality information and education to really lay a solid foundation of the RIGHT things to do in your pursuit of the social networking lifestyle.

Leave a comment and include one of your favorites if I didn’t list your favorite here. I’d love to see what everyone is reading. Bring us some value!

Thanks for reading the latest Social Networking Lifestyle post. Don’t forget to be social and tell a friend, tweet about or bookmark this if you enjoyed it.

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Building relationships are ESSENTIAL in truly developing a lifestyle that you can earn a full time living from home. If you don’t connect with people and they don’t connect with you, there is no chance you will earn their trust to do business with or become your customer. They often “buy” the product, but they don’t “buy” you, if you haven’t connected with them. And you end up not making the sale.

So many people buy into the hype of being an internet “guru” or claim to be some kind of “expert” and are all about talking about they use “attraction marketing” to claim they gained 247,398 new subscribers in the last 48 hours blah, blah, blah…but they forget the most important part of networking…it’s the connection…the relationship. The depth of your relationships are the foundation of social media networking income.

Harvey Mackay, author of “How to Swim with the Sharks without Getting Eaten Alive” has all his salespeople fill out a questionaire about their clients. It’s 66 things he feels is essential to know, in order to service the needs of his clients. They don’t ask their clients all sixty-six questions at once. It’s part of the relationship building process over time. The opportunity to ask those questions arise as each time they get to speak with their client. They establish a relationship, they get to know their client. They speak with their clients. More than once! Did you catch that?

What are you doing to establish a relationship with the people you meet in person or online through social media channels?

Do you talk to them via Skype? Instant message them on Facebook? Do you spend time on the phone with
them? Or do you hide behind your computer and just send emails? Are you getting to know people? Do you know their spouses name? What they do for a living? What their dreams are? What kind of vacations do they
like to take? Or are you just making the mistake of waiting for them to contact you? And ask you all the questions.

You may not have a detailed list like Mackay suggests, but if you don’t have a list of things you want to learn about your prospect, your customer, your business…you may not have a business!

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Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Social networking in its purest form is about relationships. Some social networks are built around music, like MySpace, others around business like LinkedIn, even other still are into fitness like Team Beachbody. They’re all connected around a specific interest. But then you have micro social networks which are the people in your circle of influence…your “friends or followers”.

When you are using tools like Twitter and Skype, places like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn or wherever you are socializing online…YOU MUST remember it’s about connecting with people…not collecting people.

So many internet marketers and social media newbies are spending far too much time on buying software and buying into the hype of finding thousands of people to add them to their social network in order to establish themselves as “experts or gurus” as well as to mass market their products. Of course, the numbers of eyes seeing what you’re sharing about IS important and the more of them the better your odds of making sales…BUT…it is the QUALITY of people that are following you that truly results in long term success using social media networking for business!

Go for quality of relationships…not quantity of relationships.

Spend time getting to know people, not spending hours trying to find hundreds of people to add.

Your best friend didn’t become your best friend overnight? Your closest co-worker didn’t become that way magically.

You asked questions. You got to know them.

What have you learned about the people in your social network? About their family? Their job? Their hopes and dreams? Don’t be afraid to ask questions! That’s how we all learned to get to know our friends and co-workers. As situations arose, we were able to ask questions to get to know the person better. It’s no different online…you just have to use different tools. Typing tweets, sending instant messages back and forth on Facebook, even emails. In order to connect with someone, you’ve got to be proactive!

Something to think about…and remember!

Remember, social networking is a relationship business…not a collecting people business!

Thanks for reading the latest post! Please make sure to vote on the poll below and any bookmarking or tweeting is greatly appreciated! Comments with links to your blog rock too! Have a fantastic day!

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A little late in the Sunday getting my Top 5 Social Media posts of the week up. Father-in-law is in town and it’s Father’s day! So of course family takes priority. Hope all you Dad’s out there really got to spend time celebrating your special day with your family!

It’s getting late, been a long weekend…so let me not continue to type any longer…but give you the goods from what I read this week. Value, value, valuable information to be gleaned from these posts. As Arsenio Hall used to say, “Things that make you go, Hmmm….”

10 Networking Tips for Tweeters by Emma Merkas

The Difference Between Hard and Hard Work by Amber Naslund

Reputation Management with Your Name, the ultimate keyword by Barry Hurd

Why Start a Blog and 25 Tips to Make it Work by Valeria Maltoni

A Brief Guide to Personal Branding using Social Media by Hasan Shirazi

So there they are…my personal faves of the week. What about you?

I’d love to read a comment with a link to your favorite social media networking story/post of the week. Until next week, keep learning and keep having fun social networking!

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