Most people are familiar with Google at this point. It is a very popular search engine. Google’s social platform, Google+, has a tool called Google Circles, which enables the users to categorize people into different groups or lists.

The purpose of Google Circles

The intended purpose of Google Circles is to allow people to share their content with the most appropriate people. It also allows people to follow other people’s content if it is deemed interesting and valuable.

The privacy aspect of Google Circles

Whoever is a member of one of your Google Circles is not able to see any of the other members of the circle. They are not able to tell specifically who is in the circle or how many people are members of the circle. Google Circles mimics real-life relationships. When it comes to a circle of friends (or even a circle of business associates), you are very selective about who you will allow to be a part of your circles. The people whom you choose for your circles are people you respect and admire, close friends, potential business partners, and people with whom you have some sort of emotional connection. The members of the circles have no awareness of the other members of the circles. If they eventually have an awareness, it is usually not detrimental; however, in the beginning, it is up to the person who is forming the circles to have control over who is a part of them.

Circles are circles and groups are groups

There are several differences between circles and groups and it is important to understand that they are not interchangeable. The following are ways to differentiate circles from groups:

In groups:

• All of the members of the group are aware of who the other group members are.
• All of the members of the group understand the objectives of the group.
• All of the members of the group know the name of the group.

In Circles:

• A Google Circle is an exclusive group of people. With Google Circles, there is nothing public about it. You can think about it as an extremely exclusive “country club.” Along with the privacy, unfortunately, the concept is difficult for some people to understand because of its complexity.
   
• Circles can limit who has access to any given content and others who have not been given access to that particular content will see “Limited” at the top of the post.
   
• With Google Circles, you can control who you want to share specific information with, whereas you can’t control it with groups.
   
• With Google Circles, you are able to keep the number of people at a comfortable level for you. If you feel that someone is worth adding to your circle, it will be a decision that you have not made lightly or quickly.

When you first set up your Circles, you can drag people from your lists in Google+ to form your circles. It is as easy as click and drag. The uniqueness of it is in the control that it allows you and the owner of the circles.

Conclusion

Google+ Circles is an excellent organizational tool. To have the capability of not only forming circles of people (for business and personal use) but then being able to control who is allowed to receive your content is amazing. This is a unique feature that will help you and your business to prosper more and more toward your journey of ultimate success.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

You might also like:

1. The Power of Customer Relationships
2. The Power of Color In Doing Business Across Cultures
3. The Power of Humor in Blog Writing

When you use the correct social media tools to benefit your small business, the results will be surprisingly successful. You have to have the proper mindset and a willingness to work very hard and to establish an unrelenting consistency.

With that in mind, it is very important that you understand clearly what return on investment (ROI) you are hoping for. Undoubtedly, considering that, your (and all other business owners) ultimate goal is to sell your offerings. Of course, there are several things that have to happen along the way before you get to that point. However, at some point, you will need to convert your prospective customers into paying clients.

Hit the ground running

You should get involved and start engaging with social media right away. Waiting is not a good idea. The sooner you get involved, the sooner your online connections will notice you and will start to engage with you. As your business grows, you social media activities will grow as well.

Keep your eye on the communications

It is critical that you monitor the communication that comes in and goes out. If your volume of communications starts to diminish rapidly, you may have to adjust exactly how you are communicating.

Play around with various social media channels

Some of the more popular social media channels (such as Twitter and Facebook) are incredible communication tools. As such, it is important to use them in a way that highlights their strength as tools. You should use them to communicate one on one with clients, prospective clients, other writers, etc. The more popular those social media channels become, the more diluted your communications may become (because the number of people who are reading your content will be much greater).

Encourage your online connections to eventually buy

It is widely understood that the heart of successful social media interactions is the relationship itself. Once you have established a solid relationship with someone, a relationship that you feel you can trust to endure over time, there is nothing wrong with broaching the subject of selling. It is acceptable at this point to communicate about what you want through Twitter and Facebook. At that point in time, you may want to ask them to download an Ebook that you have offered, sign up for a free trial of your services, or ask you for a proposal. Make sure to include your call-to-action as often as possible and most importantly, remember to constantly provide other people with valuable, educational, and informative content.

Quality over quantity

In order to use social media effectively, you need to be consistent and regular in your efforts with other people. Once you have established a solid relationship with others, you need to work on maintaining those relationships. If you have thousands of online connections and you don’t really know anything about the majority of them besides their names, what value do they actually hold for you? If you want to successfully convert  your prospective customers into actual customers, you have to put their needs and wants above your own. The concept of WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) must always be at the forefront of your mind. If you don’t use that approach, your prospects will not have a true motivation for engaging with you.

Engage away

The engagement with your online connections is critical to the success of your business. The more you interact with people, the more you will get to know them and the more they will get to know you. The stronger that bond becomes, the more they will trust you, find you credible, and want to do business with you. Social media interactions don’t lead directly to sales; however, if you follow the logical steps of engagement, eventually, you will be successful at selling your products and/or services. You get noticed and eventually, you convert them. The more valuable content you are able to share with them, the more they will want to engage with you. After all, your content is offering them a solution to their problems.

Your immediate reason for being involved with social media

When you first start to become active with social media channels, you should not get involved thinking that you are there to acquire customers. You are there merely to establish new relationships. The person on the other end of the computer is just that. He or she is a real, living, breathing person. Your number one concern in that relationship is to figure out how you can help the other person (in a sincere and genuine way). Once you have established a real relationship, the rest will follow.

Give them what they need

You must always think in terms of giving the other person what he or she needs. One of the biggest challenges is establishing the relationships in the first place. Once you have accomplished that, the hard work is over. Once you have loyal online connections who want to continue to interact with you, you merely need to figure out exactly what you can do for them. If, after all is said and done, your connections don’t buy anything from you, the relationship is not what you thought it was.

Make them aware of what they are missing

If you are able to show your connections what they are missing by not engaging with you, they won’t want to miss out on it. You need to get to know them as deeply as possible and you need to allow them to really get to know you. Before you know it, they will be anxious to engage with you as much as possible. Make them understand why they can’t live without what you are sharing with them.

 Establish yourself at the forefront of their minds

The more focused your messages to your online connections, the more they will think about you. If you share all sorts of valuable content with them in several different forms, they will think about you and your business very often. Your goal is to get them to come across something that you are not offering them and have it remind them of you and what you are sharing. It is almost subliminal.

Conclusion

All businesses should be involved with social media; however, the engagement that small businesses have with social media is different than other businesses. Small businesses tend to do engage with their clients on a more personal level. If you follow the advice that was given here, you will enjoy a great deal of success with your prospective and current clients and everyone will be happy.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

You might also like:

1. Social Media Impact on Small Businesses
2. Small Businesses and Social Media, a Great Combination
3. Making Sure That Your Web Presence is Social Media Friendly

You have a great deal of information to share with others. You don’t want to force it on others. You want to earn their attention instead of demanding it. Earned attention is a building block of a sustainable relationship.

Earning versus demanding attention

The majority of people who are trying to share their information with other people inundate other people and don’t give any consideration to whether their recipients are actually interested in the information that is being sent to them. There is another approach that works much better in the long run and the positive results will be much more permanent. You can earn attention from people who you feel are valuable to you professionally and with whom you feel you can have a mutually beneficial relationship. A large volume of content, if shared respectfully and discretely, can really go far. On the other side, of course, you want to provide something valuable to the people with whom you are trying to cultivate a relationship. Once you have earned the attention of your chosen people, everything will fall into place.

There are several different ways in which to earn the right kind of attention through your content.

Intrigue: If your content is entertaining and humorous, people will be interested in it and it will stay with them for a long time. People love to be entertained. You definitely don’t want to share dry, boring content. Having entertaining content doesn’t mean that your content isn’t valuable. You should make it as interesting as possible for the people whom you want to read what  you are writing.

Inspire: People react and connect emotionally to what they read if it has the ability to touch them. If you can’t touch them emotionally and inspire them in some way, you won’t succeed with your content. If you share thoughts and ideas that other people can connect with and can relate to, you will be able to get them to respond to you in a positive way and to start to build a relationship with you.

Teach: People love to learn new things all of the time. The more you are able to teach them, the happier they will be. When you sit down to write content that you gear in an educational direction, there are several ideas that you will want to consider incorporating into your articles. Your content should plainly state why you should and why you should not doing something in business, how you should do something, when you should do something, and what you should and should not do.

Sharing information: If you give other people information that they find useful and valuable, they will remember you for it and will truly appreciate the help that you have given them. When you share information, you are simply giving them a tool that they can use or not use, at their own discretion. that is different than teaching them something. In that case, you are giving them information and you are then showing them how to use the tool.

Treat controversy carefully: Controversy is not always bad. In fact, if you are smart, you can use it to your advantage in many cases. It is important, however, to choose which situations and issues are worth making a big deal out of and which ones are not. If you behave appropriately with the right people in a situation that is controversial, you may earn brownie points.

 Conclusion

If you use the approach that has been discussed here and you make sure that your content focuses on some or all of those categories, you will succeed and people will interact with you and they will want to continue to read what you are writing and sharing. Make sure that you always keep the needs of the people whom you are trying to connect with in mind and gear your content to them. Most importantly, you want to get people to continue to come to you and to continue to interact with you.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

You might also like:

1. Earning Valuable Attention for Your Business
2. How to Play Nice Online
3. Getting Your Customers to Spread the Word

LinkedIn now has more than 100 million professionals worldwide, potential clients for small businesses. If you have a LinkedIn profile, follow these steps to take advantage of recent changes to LinkedIn and create your Company Page today.

Add your company page. In LinkedIn, choose Com­panies on the navigation bar. On the right are links to Add a Company and FAQ. Click on FAQ for com­prehensive information, and go to Company Page Overview for the requirements to add a Company Page. There are only four, but one is that you must have a company email address (e.g. john@companyname.com). Once you meet all the requirements, select Add a Company, fill in the contact information and verify that you are an official representative.

Add basic information. Add com­pany description, industry, website URL, Twitter ID, location, and more. Once your page is established you can click on Admin tools in the upper right, select Edit, make your changes and Publish. Your profile must be associated with the correct company in or­der to edit the page. You can also assign administra­tor rights to employees for later updates.

Add your key services. Select Services. Under Ad­min tools on the right, select Edit. Add a more de­tailed description of your services with banners and URLs to highlight current promotions. Target audi­ences with multiple variations of your service page. Add products or services by choosing Add a prod­uct or service under Admin tools, and provide information and pho­tos. You can assign specific em­ployee contacts for each service, add a promotion with a link to a specific URL, and even add a You­Tube video.

Ask clients and associates to rec­ommend and follow you. Once you have taken those first few steps to get your page in order, don’t forget to solicit recommendations for your work, which can be done directly within the services you have promoted. Also, don’t forget to ask associates and clients to follow you.

Full steam ahead with promo­tions. You can create paid ads for your company or for specific ser­vices and promotions. Just look for promote my products & services or promote my product under Ad­min tools on your Service page or product or service page. Ad varia­tions can test which image and text performs best. Be brief, creative, and honest. You can target your ads to specific audiences, one of many campaign options available to maximize your ad. There are help links to answer questions and guide you through the process.

NEW on LinkedIn: Status Pages. The most exciting new rollout is status pages for companies. Now, you can create status updates that showcase your company and help to drive your connections and their contacts to your company page! Once you create a status update for your company you and your em­ployees can share it with personal connections. You can also send the update to individuals or post to your groups (if they allow such promotions). There’s a comment space and like link to engage your followers and others too, so make the most of each status update!

Conclusion

LinkedIn is an amazing tool for business and LinkedIn company pages enables you, as the business owner, to strengthen your relationships with other people. LinkedIn is constantly coming up with improvements (tools, applications, etc) that make your LinkedIn experience even more profitable and beneficial.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

You might also like:

1. Essential Pages for Your Business Web Site
2. Blog Posts Versus Pages
3. Earning Valuable Attention for Your Business

When it comes to online interactions, just like any other interactions, your personality is a strong influence on your ability to be successful. Your personality, with all of its traits, is a huge influence on how others respond to you.

Connecting people

When it comes to business networking and introductions being made, some people will be more likely than others to effectively help other people to widen their circle of business connections. Your personality will determine whether you will be comfortable with introducing people to other people. If you are a reserved individual, chances are very good that you won’t have a desire to put yourself in the spotlight. By introducing one person in your online social circle to another person in your online social circle, you are making yourself the center of attention. That may not be something about which you are comfortable.

On the other hand, if you are an outgoing person, a person who lacks inhibitions, you will be much more inclined to connect people in your online communities with each other. In fact, connecting people can bring you a great deal of joy. Your deepest influence comes from who you are as a person, deep down inside. Your genes could be a much larger factor in your life than you know.

Social media: It satisfies many different types of people

Social media is extremely attractive to people with all sorts of different personalities for many different reasons. It gives outgoing people a much larger group of people to work with when it comes to successfully being the person who establishes connections for others. It makes them so happy to be in the middle of everything and, at the same time, to positively affect a change for others. The various online communities offer different benefits for different people.

Social media is also very attractive to people who are not as comfortable with being in the middle of everything. Social media gives them the opportunity to connect with people as much or as little as they wish to do so. They can go at a pace that is comfortable for them and, at the same time, they can still feel satisfied that they are making a solid contribution to other people.

One thing that is clear in all cases is that no matter how people use social media and social networking,  who they are as people is an important part of it. It is scientifically understood that different genes affect different types of behavior. One thing that is certain is that people will continue to connect with each other and interact through online social communities. That means of communication is here to stay. Having a deep understanding of the psychology and the science behind it makes everything better.

Social media’s potential influence

There are so many different ways in which social media can influence people with their issues. Many of those issues can have genetics at their source. Let’s look at obesity as an example. In many cases, obesity is very influenced by heredity. From a psychological perspective, many people who battle a weight problem are able to overcome their issue with support from other people. That is where the social media aspect comes into play. If a person has a strong sense of online social community and shares relationships with other people who can empathize (or at least sympathize) with them, their end result will be affected in a positive way and they will feel better about themselves.

Conclusion

Whether genetics are being considered when it comes to personality traits or issues that are physical as well as psychological, social media comes into play and can have a positive influence on the outcome of the situation. It is very important to have an understanding of how strong a role heredity plays when it comes to people successfully making social media work for them. People will respond to you if you allow them to see who you really are and to forge common ground with them. At the same time, if you feel that your personality needs a little spicing up, there is nothing wrong with keeping things interesting by speaking about provocative subjects or, perhaps, by injecting some humor into your interactions with others.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

You might also like:

1. The Female Approach to Social Media
2. An Easy Approach to Writing Online Content
3. Social Media in the Mainstream

There is a whole lot of online garbage that comes to you via the Internet. When you get garbage, your first inclination is to press the “delete” button ASAP. On the other side, you want your content to be valued.

You want your content to be read, cherished, and shared with others by others and by others. The issue is that people are in a position where they have to sift through a great deal of useless information in order to get to valuable and educational content, such as the content that you are sharing with them. They have to brush away all of the dirt before they get to the actual gem that is your content. Earning the undivided attention of other people is definitely no easy task. You really need to change your approach to getting attention. The old methods just don’t seem to be working as effectively as they used to work.

Earning attention from the right people

As is always the case, you will want to earn attention from the people with whom you can share a mutually beneficial relationship. When you change the dynamic and you earn the attention of others rather than demanding their attention, it completely changes the impression that other people get of you as well as improving the results that come from that new approach. The very first thing that you need to determine is connected to the marketing principle that is commonly uttered by many people nowadays and one that has truly been instrumental in building solid business relationships: WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?). In other words, your goal is to make sure that you are able to help the other person solve their problems. If each side has their needs satisfied, everyone will be happy.

There are several different ways in which you can earn attention from the content that you share.

Inspiration: If you can succeed at touching people emotionally, you will succeed at establishing a relationship with them, which will hopefully flourish for a very long time. At the heart of social media is the relationship. With that in mind, it is not surprising that emotional connections envelope relationships and they are the fuel that makes the relationships work. All human beings want the same thing. They want to feel good and they want that feeling to last indefinitely.  A great way to capture the emotional element in writing is through testimonials from other people. Testimonials are generally charged by emotion. It is rare that you will read a testimonial that is so flat and dry that you don’t feel anything when you read it.

Education: Another great way to earn attention from other people is by educating them. When gearing your content in the educational direction, the elements of information that you may want to include are what to do and not do, when and when not to do it, why and why not to do it, and how to do it. Most people love to learn new things whenever possible. The more they learn, the smarter they feel. After all, who wouldn’t want to feel smart? Again, it is that emotional connection that causes people to respond. Feeling smart makes them feel good about themselves. It is a feeling that they hope will continue for a very long time.

Participation: In order to earn valuable attention, you must interact with others on a consistent and regular basis. People who don’t interact with others won’t get anywhere. Your success in business is all about  your success with your relationships.

Entertainment: People love to be entertained as much as possible. If your content is dry and boring, people won’t pay attention to it and people won’t remember it afterward. If you make it interesting and touching in some way, its impact will go on for a very long time. You can certainly present content that is entertaining in a clever and effective way as opposed to being silly or fluffy.

Controversy: Controversy does not necessarily have to be a bad thing. One thing that is undeniable is that controversy earns lots of attention. Of course, when it comes to controversy, you need to exercise a great deal of discretion. Of course, you must gear your controversial contact to the people whose attention you are interested in earning. The topics must fit the needs of your audience.

Conclusion

If the content that you are sharing with others fits into one or more of the categories mentioned above, you are in good shape. The more categories that apply, the better. Attention is a very valuable and rare commodity and at times it can be difficult because you don’t control the amount of attention you earn, others do. Earning valuable attention from business associates who matter to you and your business and with whom you share a valuable connection will take you very far and you will find that this new approach will work extremely well.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

You might also like:

1. Making Valuable Networking Connections
2. Valuable Mobile Apps for Your Social Media Campaign
3. Valuable Tips for Startup Businesses Through Internet Marketing

Since 2008, when the US economy seemed to hit rock bottom, many people were forced to consider new ways of earning a living. Many opened their own businesses and introduced themselves to other business owners.

One essential part of being an entrepreneur is networking with other professionals. One part of networking that you can count on is the elevator pitch. The elevator pitch is when you speak for a short time (30 seconds is common) to the other networkers to tell them what you do and what you need. The reason that it is called an elevator pitch is that it should take approximately as long as an elevator ride takes. The purpose for your networking is to establish connections with other people so that you can hopefully help each other professionally. The elevator pitch is a tease. In other words, you are enticing the other people just enough for them to be interested and to want to learn more about you and your business. The elevator pitch (or some form of it) must also be a part of your entire online presence. It should be included in every social media profile that you have online and on your website homepage. On your website, the concept must be there even if the wording is not identical to the verbal elevator pitch that you share with others when you are networking in person.

Changes over time

Elevator pitches are interesting. The elevator pitch that you use when you first start networking is most likely not the elevator pitch that you use subsequently. It changes all of the time. As you start to develop your business and experience new things and new people, your wants and needs will change as well. Your elevator pitch will be adjusted to fit the rest of it. Bear in mind that when you are giving your elevator pitch, people aren’t interested in the minutest details. They are interested in the bottom line and they want to know immediately how you and your business can help them to solve their problems. There are several elements that go into an effective and successful elevator pitch.

• Humor
• Entertainment
• Very little or no technical details
• Your elevator pitch assumes that your audience has an extremely short attention span
• Your elevator pitch will help you to gain clarity
• It puts you in a position of understanding the position of the person to whom you are presenting your pitch

If you incorporate those elements into your elevator pitch, you will capture the audience’s attention and you will succeed at keeping their attention. In addition to those elements that have already been mentioned, there is some additional information that you may find useful and effective in your elevator pitch.

• An explanation why you are doing what you are doing (professionally)
• Your elevator pitch captivates your audience
• Your elevator makes you seem credible

Getting people interested in what you are doing

Your absolute first goal is to get people to be interested in what you are doing and what you are offering. If you can get them interested with that initial 30-second pitch, you can go into more detail at a later date. In fact, it is at the time when you share more details about your business that you will be able to distinguish yourself as a subject matter expert and the person who other people will go to when they have an issue or question that needs to be resolved. Elevator pitches may seem very easy but there is more to them than you might think. It is important to be well prepared before you walk into the room and you will be surprised at how much polishing is necessary before you actually get to the point of standing up and delivering your pitch.

Conclusion

Elevator pitches (whether you like them or not) are an extremely important part of your business. It is so important for you to be able to articulate what you do and how you can help other people through your offerings. Remember that your elevator pitch has nothing to do with actually selling anything directly. You will want to say something in your elevator pitch that stands out and that makes the members of your audience associate you with something that you said in those 30 seconds.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

You might also like:

1. Getting People to Like You
2. How to Play Nice Online
3. Making Valuable Networking Connections

When social media was first introduced, it was on the fringes. However, it started to gain momentum very quickly and before you knew it, it was in the mainstream. At this point, it is on everyone’s lips.

Every time you turn around, there is some new tool or application (app) connected to social media that is being introduced. People are forming new social networks and the interaction level among people is astronomical. It is almost as though they are living, breathing entities. One of the main reasons that social media has taken off in the way that it has is because of people. People are at the heart of its success. As has been discussed numerous times, social media won’t work without human beings sharing relationships. Relationships are at the center.

If you think back to the time before social media existed at all, people would interact with each other in person. They would network at various events and form and maintain relationships in that way. Social media has given people the opportunity to take those relationships and build upon them. In the beginning of online exchanges, everything and everyone was anonymous. As time went on, people became less and less afraid to come out and say their real names and give some personal details, which enable other people to really get to know them as people. After all, it is not really possible to know someone who is faceless. At the same time, being anonymous made people feel as though they could behave in ways that were a little too free. In their minds, there would never be any consequences to their actions. Nowadays, of course, there are rules and regulations that govern peoples’ online behavior just as much as their in-person behavior.

Greater honesty: Of course, one of the most popular social media channels is Facebook. Facebook has really made it easy for people to see the truth about other people with whom they are connected. Now, more and more people are connecting with social networks as themselves. They are using real details about their personal and professional lives. Of course, that makes them more discriminating about what they actually share with other people because they have a lot more to lose. If their reputation is on the line, it is important to ensure that nothing is said that could hurt them in any way.

Collaborate and cooperate: With much stricter rules in place, if people want to be a part of social networking, they are forced to play nice. They have no choice but to defer to whatever the majority has decided. There is now a much greater understanding that the content that is being shared on social networks is out there to educate, add value, and provoke meaningful thoughts. People are connected for the purest of reasons.

Don’t allow yourself to be distracted: It is pretty easy to get distracted with all of the new technology that is constantly being offered. However, it is important to keep in mind that there is no obligation to use all that is offered. You should pick and choose whatever works for your business and whatever makes sense for you. You will still be able to take advantage of plenty and many tools and apps, etc, will be able to enhance your business.

Ownership and responsibility: It is important to remember that each and every person must be responsible for what they do and what they say. This concept applies to interactions online and interactions in person. Each person must own their individual part and work with others to make it a success.

Sharing content: One of the largest contributors to bringing social media into the mainstream is content. Sharing valuable and educational content has really brought social media’s success to a whole new level. There is so much wonderful information that is available and there truly is something for everyone and the potential is tremendous when it comes to the ability to solve people’s problems.

Conclusion

Social media is everywhere around us and it is truly necessary for us to be involved in order to take your business to the next level. Online interactions are just as critical to your success as in-person interactions are. They are both necessary in tandem. Social media is here to stay and as you look around and consider all of the technology that is available to you, you most probably are wondering how you ever did without it.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

You might also like:

1. Social Media Impact on Small Businesses
2. Creating Loyal Relationships Through Social Media
3. The Reality of Social Media Reciprocity

At this point in the social media world, it is clear that LinkedIn is a heavy hitter when it comes to effective communications. People feel that LinkedIn is a very powerful channel for business; however, not everyone uses it effectively.

LinkedIn as a business card exchange

There are many people who subscribe to the school of thought that says that quantity rules. The more people who want to connect with you on LinkedIn, the better. Those people feel that everyone is worth the connection. This philosophy also believes that if you have so many LinkedIn connections, you are bound to eventually do business with some of those people.  One thing that is for sure is that no matter what, you should have a presence on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn selectivity

People who believe in this philosophy are more discriminating about who they choose to accept into their LinkedIn community. People who think in this way feel that there may be negative consequences if you choose anyone and everyone to be connected with you on LinkedIn. One of the biggest issues is regarding time. Everyone is so busy managing their businesses and their lives. The last thing that they want to do is waste time interacting with people in a fruitless relationship.

Let’s take a closer look at both schools of thought so that you can make an informed decision about how you want to approach your LinkedIn connections.

The issues in the eyes of people who choose quality over quantity

The following are potential issues from the perspective of people who don’t accept LinkedIn connections solely on the basis of numbers.

• The fear that low-quality connections may say or do something to damage their reputation or relationship with other high-quality connections. From their perspective, their connections on LinkedIn should never be chosen randomly. They feel that it is just too risky.
   
• They are protective of the people whom they have chosen to connect with. They feel the need to shelter them from people who may be questionable.
   
• These people covet confidence. They feel that it is wrong to reveal information that has been given to them in confidence. This puts them in an uncomfortable position. The last thing that they wish to do is to endanger any of the relationships that are important to them.
   
• Smaller, high-quality relationships are more meaningful than a large number of relationships. In addition to that aspect of it, it is also much easier to manage and maintain relationships with a smaller number of people than a larger one.
   
• Connections should not be made until after an actual relationship has been firmly established. True relationships require trust and honesty. From the perspective of people who choose quality over quantity, they are very careful before they say yes.

The issues in the eyes of people who choose quantity over quality

• Those people are not overly concerned with protecting other people. They can certainly take care of themselves. They are secure enough with their own reputation to feel that nothing (and nobody) can affect it. If anything happens, they feel that their network of connections will shelter them.
   
• Imposters are not an issue for them. Proper etiquette is being used at all times and thus, expect the same behavior from everyone else. If anything questionable or unethical happens, they will simply not connect with that person after that.
   
• Sharing information is a positive thing. It is understood that there is some control over the information. You only allow people to see your information if you choose to do so.
   
• With regard to connecting to people, they don’t feel that this is in any way a bad thing. They feel that if you connect with someone, you will start to establish a relationship and, after all, that is exactly what social media is all about. Connecting with people is the only way that you will be able to eventually do business with them.
   
• When it comes to the size of their networking community, they don’t feel the need to choose between large and small. They have a smaller, intimate group of people with whom they connect regularly. Having the larger group surrounding the smaller group allows them the option of drawing from a substantial pool.

Conclusion

The two schools of thought are very different but neither one is better than the other one. There are advantages to both and negative points to both. You need to look at them and determine which one works best for you and your business. Whichever one you choose, LinkedIn is an amazing social media tool for business and is well worth your investment of time and effort. You should consider LinkedIn your most important professional media channel. People who have a presence there are serious about making high-quality connections that will help them to succeed in business. So, jump in and start connecting.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

You might also like:

1. Your Online Business Connections — Quality vs Quantity
2. Cultivating Meaningful LinkedIn Connections
3. Building Solid Business Relationships Using LinkedIn

You may be wondering why you bother writing your eNewsletter every month and sending it to your list of recipients. Maybe more and more people unsubscribe each month. You may not understand why you need to continue to send it.

Your broader social media strategy

When it comes to your entire social media marketing strategy, an eNewsletter is an extremely important component and you will see that it is a positive contributor to the success of your business over time. One of the main reasons why eNewsletters are so important to your marketing strategy is that they generate leads. Once you succeed at getting people to opt-in (in other words, they make a conscious choice to give you their contact information), they have automatically given you permission to market to them. Your eNewsletter is an excellent vehicle for all of your wonderful content that you will  use to impact your readers and get them to, hopefully, eventually do business with you.

Why you need an eNewsletter

There are several reasons why you should be offering an eNewsletter to your readers:

• Staying in touch: An eNewsletter will help you to stay in contact with your clients. You can keep them informed of all that is happening with your business, including new products, new services, etc.
   
• Improving your relationships: Your consistent offerings will make people turn to you first when they need something. After all, you are the subject matter expert.
   
• Giving valuable tools to your clients: You can share helpful tips and tricks in your eNewsletter, which will enable your readers to become more successful in their own businesses.
   
• Providing additional data: The information that you offer in your eNewsletter will provide data that you can use when you want to promote your new offerings.
   
• Gaining attention: You can request that your clients share your eNewsletter with other people. The more attention your eNewsletter gains, the better it will be for you and your business.

What makes an amazing eNewsletter

As you are writing your newsletter, you should put a great deal of thought into the concepts that should be included and in a particular order.

• Establish your reason for writing the eNewsletter.
• Figure out what you want to say.
• Figure out how you want to say it.
• Figure out exactly how you are going to share it with other people.
• Figure out who will write it and how frequently you will distribute it.
• Be consistent and use the same template every time.
• Keep your language and the message that you wish to convey simple.
• Try to keep your eNewsletter to a maximum of 1000 words.
• Make sure that your articles create an interest in what you are trying to sell.
• Make sure that the information that you offer is useful to your readers.

So, now you want to know how to write an amazing eNewsletter. The immediate answer is content. The reason that people are willing to opt-in is because of your content. People need a really good reason (a reason that is really compelling) to open your eNewsletter. Your content must really grab them. Your content needs to satisfy their wants and needs (What’s In It For Me). From the marketing perspective, your content should offer valuable and educational information and it should not cost anything for the recipient. It is very important for you to constantly keep your target audience’s needs in mind when you are writing your content. It needs to fulfill at least some of their needs.

After you have shared your high-quality content, you can offer your audience promotions and/or some other incentives of interest. It is acceptable (and appropriate) to include some self-promotion with your promotions, as long as it is done in good taste. This offering will bring you closer to an eventual sale. If you don’t currently have an eNewsletter, you should seriously consider either writing one or having someone else write it for you. There are several companies (Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, to name a couple) that can provide you with a variety of possible templates for your newsletter.

Avoid spamming

It is extremely important that you don’t spam anyone with your eNewsletter. People will read your eNewsletter if they want to read it. It is their choice. If they don’t opt in, you are automatically spamming them. The most “invasive” that you can be is to ask them if they would like to receive a free copy of your eNewsletter and proceed to let them know what they will find in the eNewsletter. If they say yes, you can feel free to send it.

If include your eNewsletter in your social media marketing strategy, you will be able to follow up with your recipients and they will eventually turn into valuable and loyal clients.

Conclusion

eNewsletters are an integral part of your social media marketing strategy. As you consistently offer your readers content that is informative, educational, and compelling, they will look forward to reading about you and your business and you will be building trust and credibility over time. Another thing that is very appealing about an eNewsletter is that it is very inexpensive to produce and it won’t cost your readers anything either.The next thing you know. they will become loyal clients and they will continue to buy from you as well as telling their friends to do the same.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

You might also like:

1. Why Blogging Is so Important to Your Business
2. How Important is the “About Us” Page for Your Business?
3. What Is a Klout Score and Why it Is Important