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Social Networking Is All About Relationships Silly
June 23rd, 2009
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by Timothy Carter · Filed Under: Social Marketing · Social Networking For Business
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeSocial 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!
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!Related articles by Zemanta
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10 Responses to “Social Networking Is All About Relationships Silly”
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[...] See original here: Social Networking Is All About Relationships Silly [...]
I agree 100%. It is all about relationships. With the right people in your network you can gather any information or make any connection with a few short conversations. With social media, I tend to shy away from people with tons of followers or connections. I have found that the majority of them are the ones that are most often shouting from the top of the mountain, so to speak. That tells me that they are not interested in knowing me. It also says that I will not be missed when I am gone. This is probably because they never knew me.
Jody McPhearson
“Relationship Manager”
Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce
http://twitter.com/JodyMcPhearson
Jody, I think that’s a really key point about some of the mountaintop shouters
that they’re more about selling the latest $997 or $1497 system they’ve just come out with. They’re message is more about marketing than about relationship. I think they get lost in social media marketing and losing site of the true power of social networking…the connections.
Thank you for sharing your point of view! I loved it!
[...] networking in its purest form is about relationships. Read the original here: Social Networking Is All About Relationships Silly Share and [...]
Great post TC (I hope you don’t mind if I call you that).
I am pretty new to social networking because I just started taking my blogging seriously. However, I’ve found that I don’t what to do what I see a lot of other so called bloggers doing.
I see people following me that have absolutely nothing to do with anything that has anything to do with me! I seriously don’t understand it because following them back is the last thing I want to do.
When I log into my twitter, I want to see posts from you, Darren, and a few (literally) other people. As time goes on, I’ll add more as I see fit… not just for the hell of it.
Great advice here. It was my first instinct and I agree with everything you said.
Hey Sean,
Don’t mind at all man.
I’m really glad to see that you CAN see the serious errors that other bloggers and social media people are making! If you stick to learning from people like Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan…you’ll go really far with doing it the right way!
Unfortunately the trend has been over the last 6 months of Twitter has been all about collecting as many people as possible…which is why Twitter has been increasingly imposing limits per day on the amount of people can be followed or unfollowed at a time. Even limit people on the number of DM’s they can send.
Thanks for reading SD, commenting & I hope to see you back around here again!
Timothy Carter
http://socialnetworkinglifestyle.com
[...] The rest is here: Social Networking Is All Abo… [...]
Follow or don’t follow. My recommendation to businesses is follow everyone who follows you who is not a nut job.
They follow you because there’s something about you – it may be something small – one interesting tweet or large they want to invest in your success, but don’t dismiss their interest so casually.
Give yourself time to get to know them – perhaps you’ll be glad you did.
Julie
I’m way behind on my following – thanks for the reminder.
Julie…
You’re welcome on the reminder
but more importantly, thank you for sharing!
Timothy Carter
I love the clarification between COLLECTING and CONNECTING. It’s key to establishing a meaningful and genuine online persona. I’ve been thinking about that alot lately and what happens when/if we make a mistake within the close confines of online social relationships. I wrote about it today here: http://www.disaboom.com/Blogs/karaswims/archive/2009/06/30/online-reputation-rescue-how-to-recover.aspx. It’s slightly outside of my normal niche but I think it’s valuable to anyone who participates in social networking…and who doesn’t these days!?
Great post!