Roughly 75% of jobs are gotten through networking. Unless you plan on staying in your city forever… you should be making friends online.
(That doesn’t mean creating a Facebook profile.)
Traditional social networks (Facebook/LinkedIn/MySpace) are used for maintaining relationships you’ve already built. You meet in person… then you connect online. That’s how they work.
But Twitter and blogs are different. They facilitate building relationships because they connect you with people who share your interests. Following a random stranger on Twitter is like saying, “Hi – It’s nice to meet you. What you’re doing interests me.”
But follow a random stranger on Facebook? Then you’re labeled a stalker. See the difference?
To build relationships online, you need a blog and you need a Twitter account. A blog is like your home. It’s where you talk about things that interest you. It’s where people can learn more about you. And it’s how people keep up to date with what’s new in your life.
If your blog is home, Twitter is like happy hour. Imagine walking into a bar and seeing a room full of people. Everyone is standing in groups of three or four people, chatting back and forth. Now imagine that you have a remote control that can pause all of those conversations. That’s what Twitter does. Twitter allows you to dive in and out of each one of those small conversations. You can jump in, share your perspective, and build a relationship with someone new… all without going through that awkward process of introducing yourself.
Traditional social networks are for maintaining relationships. Blogs and Twitter are for building new ones.
The key is to build relationships with people who have had more success than you. Accomplished people are fun to talk with because they have great stories to share, they can open up some major doors for you, and there is a lot to learn from them.
How you can meet these people. I’ve met over a dozen authors by using my blog. Normally I find someone I want to meet through reading blogs or through Twitter. That is where it begins. Then I start by leaving a comment on their blog or sending them a message on Twitter.
If that goes well, I try and find a common interest that we share… Social media. Technology. Generational Issues. Marketing. Anything that we both would enjoy talking about over the phone. After chatting back and forth a few times on Twitter, I’ll email them and ask if I can interview them for my blog.
If they say yes, I’ll call them on Skype and record the call with PowerGramo. This way I can re-listen to the call to find the most interesting topics. After that, I transcribe the highlights of the conversation and email it back to them. They edit it and send it back to me so I can post it.
Why this works. I absolutely love doing this. First, you get to learn directly from someone really, really smart. Second, it gives you more content for your blog. Third, and most importantly, you help out the other person by promoting their stuff. Plus it lays the foundation, for future long term relationship with them.
It wouldn’t be possible without a blog. If you’re looking to expand your network online, a blog and a Twitter account are two things that you cannot live without.
So there you have it… Your blog is your home. Twitter is like happy hour. And how you can build relationships with successful people. Try it out and tell me what you think. I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can reach me at andy[dot]drish[at]gmail.com.
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Andy writes about Marketing, Millennials, and Technology on his blog at www.andydrish.com. He is currently in a Leadership Development Rotation program at The Principal Financial Group. In his spare time, he teaches bloggers how to transition their blogs to custom themes on WordPress.org. This post was submitted for The Talent Buzz blog post contest.
This is a pretty terrific summary of my experience so far. Like most things in life what you get out of something is inversely proportional to what you put into it. I have rapidly accelerated the learning curve on subjects like blogging and technical issues such as coordinating the various components of my professional life online.
Things that are simple now once seemed daunting. I am beginning to develop a network of knowledgeable, creative, intelligent and generous writers, programmers, technophiles and marketers that share my common interests. This journey started in earnest as a result of my participation in Twitter and has now expanded to social bookmarking sites and FF. I will soon have a hosted .org Blog a commitment I would never have never dared tackle had I not been exposed to this environment.
Thanks for the positive reinforcement.
Sincerely,
A new subscriber
Eric – Thanks for your comment. Isn’t crazy how social media just kind of snowballs like that? Good luck with transitioning your new blog.
Awesome post! I wish I had a meaningful comment, but really you’ve said everything here. Thanks for distinguishing Twitter as a place to meet new people as opposed to other networks – this is a huge distinction that I think many (actually most) people and companies don’t understand.