Why Your Teenager and College Student Must Network Now!

I Think Your Teenagers and College Students Must Be Networking with Professionals

Your teens and college students are missing a tremendous opportunity if they are not networking with the business people, instructors, teachers, administrators, employers, youth leaders, scout leaders, charitable organization leaders, etc that they meet and those that get to know them. These people are their references and recommendations of the future. These people are you and/or your child’s connections to opportunities.

One of the most important things you can do in networking is connect to people that know you: It Is Who Knows You that Counts! The individuals identified above are people that know you and can attest to your character, abilities, and other characteristics.

The Reality Is

When your student wants to apply to a college, apply for a scholarship, find an internship, look for a recommendation, etc creating the necessary connections today will make their lives easier in the future. It is a fact that connections are important for people to succeed, so now is the time to start building them.

College Applications

If you or your child are attempting to get into a prestigious college; having an inside connection is of tremendous value. When you or they have access to alumni they have a leg up in the process. Alumni and college representatives are critical to the acceptance process. College entrance is just like getting a job an insider is a key asset.

Internships

During the college years if you or your child are seeking an internship, connections are crucial. Your connections will know about or know people that know about opportunities and again the connection is key.

The truth is that people like to help people and people with the important connections like to see those they help succeed. Most want to be mentors it is their way of being able to give a payback for their success.

Target Your Efforts

As you go through this process target they need to target their efforts. If they want to go to Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Michigan, or wherever; they need connections to any that are on their list. If they do not know someone currently by starting the networking process now, today, they can build their connections and then start searching for “THE” connection that can move them forward.

If you/they know what is wanted; the opportunities for success exist. No, it’s not a given, but with effort it can happen.

Don’t wait, start your networking now; then your network will be in place when you need it!

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Tom Staskiewicz is a Social Media/Social Networking Coach helping business, organizations, and individuals to establish and manage their Social Media presence. Your Social Media presence doesn’t just happen and will not take care of itself. Tom helps you with those processes so your Social Media efforts will work for you.

Your Circle of Communities Are Your Key to Going Viral

The Key to Going Viral

Everyone wants their Fan Page or business for that matter to go viral, but for most it is a huge challenge to make that happen. This is especially true for local businesses. How do you get your word out?

For your Fan Page or business to be successful it must go viral to your target market. So what is your target market? Have you defined it? Do you know your target market?

Local Businesses

For the brick and mortar business – which includes businesses like restaurants, salons, medical practitioners, etc. – your target is your local community. The people that will be using your service are local and therefore you need to reach out to people within your community.

When I talk about your community; it is actually your collection of communities. You have many communities where you participate. There is the community at large where there may be some relative awareness of who you are; within that community, however, there are many smaller communities where you are well known.

Your Circle of Communities

These are the areas you must penetrate to be successful. These communities include your church or synagogue, your school where you or your children attend, your sports activities where you or your children participate, your work and volunteer efforts, etc.

All of these communities are important to your business objectives when it comes to a brick and mortar entity. This is where, as Malcolm Gladwell says in “The Tipping Point“, your connectors, mavens, and salespeople exist.

Connectors, Mavens, and Salespeople

Your connectors, called that because they have lots of connections, put you in touch with the people you need or want to know. The mavens are those that spread your word far and wide. Your salespeople are those that promote your product or service to others.

As you successfully reach into your Circle of Communities and they become your fans; you need these contacts to be promoting you to the friends in their Circle of Communities.

The Power of the Ask

This is where the “power of the ask” comes in. You need to ask these friends to “like”, comment, or share what you have shared with them. You need them to be reaching out to others if you want your message to go viral!

Here is my power of the ask… If you like this Blog; please share it with your friends and others that you believe would benefit. Thank you.

Check us out on our Facebook Fan Page the UPPROACH Support Center and take a look at our Fan Page How Tos and Webinar schedule while you are there. Whether you are looking for the basics or advanced features we have or can have the webinar for you! Let us know what you would like to see.

You are welcome to use this information in your newsletters or Blogs, but please extend the professional courtesy of referencing UP^PROACH as the source. Thank you.

Copyright © 2010, UPPROACH

Harnessing the Power of Your Network

There Is Power in Your Network

I believe that most people underestimate the power of their personal network. In many cases I also feel that part of their reason for underestimating the power of their network is their lack of comfort with the networking process.

People that understand the concept of networking and the power of their network have no problem growing their network and bringing increasingly influential people into that network. If you look closely you will see that the majority of the time; the greater the success someone has achieved the larger the network or rolodex they possess.

Success is not an individual effort. If you have a desire to be successful, you must have a network and have a supportive network.

How Networks Help You Achieve Success

There are many different roles that members of your network will play as you reach for and achieve your goals. Here are some of the roles your network members may fill for you:

• Advisors
• Cheerleaders
• Confidants
• Advocates
• Reality checks
• Mentors
• Accountability coach
• Connectors
• Mavens
• Sales force
• Friend

For some of these roles you may have a single person that fits the category and for others you could have many. Regardless, these roles are critical to your success and you must have members of your network supporting you.

Roles and People within Those Roles Will Change Over Time

There are two important things to remember with this exercise. First you need to have members of your network that fill each one of these roles. Second you must realize that over time the people filling some of these roles will change and, in fact, they need to change.

As you progress the person in any given role may not grow or grow as fast as you and therefore will be unable to continue to be effective in the role. Do not be afraid to make changes and continue moving forward. It’s not that you cut them off, it’s just that sometimes you need to make changes for you and your network to keep growing.

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Tom Staskiewicz coaches individuals on networking and Social Networking helping them create an Internet presence and their brand. The tools today are readily available to do things that were here-to-fore unheard of for an individual. Contact Tom for help in establishing and building your networks.

Social Media.. What Site or Sites Are Best for My Business?

Few Companies Take the Time to Select the Social Media Sites that Will Be Best for Them

I don’t know how many times I have read purported experts telling organizations that they should have a presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Plaxo, Friendster, MySpace, etc. I have heard them specify up to 10 sites that they state are critical to your business. Do they really know? What is their proof?

If you go looking for sites on your own you will see that Wikipedia lists over 190 different Social Media sites. On top of selecting your Social Media sites; businesses are told they must be blogging and oh, by the way, you should do podcasts in your spare time.

The reality is that there are way too many options and no business, regardless of how well staffed they are, can effectively participate in all these sites or even 10 sites. To make it worse many so-called Social Media consultants or experts spend little or no time understanding your business or helping you develop a strategy. My experience is that their interest is to get you involved in Social Media Sites far more than helping you achieve Social Media success.

What Do You Hope to Accomplish with Social Media and Why?

Before you jump into any site you must first understand or determine what you are attempting to accomplish. You must be able to answer these questions:

• Who do you want to talk to?
• Where do members of your audience spend their time?
• What Social Media sites serve your audience?
• What is interests your audience?
• What information can you contribute to meet their interests?
• How often do you want to talk?
• What of quality or value do you have to say?
• What action do you want your audience to take?

I am sure you can come up with other questions that will help to narrow your focus and evolve your strategy.

When you can answer these questions you are then prepared to start evaluating which Social Media sites will best serve your purposes. Certain sites lend themselves better to one objective or another and none are a one-size fits all solution.

The mistake that you do not want to make is to spend time in places where you will not find your customers and prospects or where you have nothing to add to the conversation. My friend, Neal Shaffer, wrote the blog post 5 Reasons Why Your Social Media Strategy Isn’t Really a Social Media Strategy.

Your Social Media Strategy Must Be Evolving

Your Social Media strategy must be evolving. Social Media sites will come and go, customers will redefine their interests, and/or you will change your strategies. You must be prepared to adapt and change as your needs change.

The reality is that businesses must pick and choose their Social Media sites with care. Just like you take care in selecting your product or service lines you must be using the same care in selecting your Social Media sites.

Social Media Has Much to Offer Businesses, but They Must Do Their Homework First

If you take the time to do your homework; your chances of success will increase geometrically.

Why Businesses Must Blog

If You Are Not Blogging You Are Missing One of Your Best Marketing Tools

I frequently hear people say that they do not have the time or inclination to Blog. That is a mistake! Blogging can be one of your most effective marketing tools you have in your arsenal. It is your opportunity to get you message out to a lot of people.

If You Think You Don’t Have Time You Are Missing the Point of Blogging

Many business people say the do not like to or do not have time to write Blog articles. While I can understand where they are coming from; the reality is that they are missing the point; they do not understand the power that is at their fingertips. Blogging is your opportunity to get your information out to as large an audience as possible. Blogging is the lead in to syndication and syndication is when you really get the viral nature of things rolling.

The Power of Blogging Lies in Syndication

Whether you like Larry King, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Handel, Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah, or anyone else you have to admit the power of their message is in the size of the listening audience and the quality of their message. Without a large audience they would still be a relative unknown. How did these individuals build their audiences? I can assure you it was not by knocking on doors or calling their friends to tell them to watch or listen. Although some of that most likely happened at first, it is not the way that they became as popular as they are.

They have succeeded through the power of “word of mouth”; Friend telling Friend telling Friend. When you start getting the word out things slowly start to roll. It doesn’t happen overnight normally, but it can. The speed depends on who you start with and what you have to say.

Using Celebrities

Businesses use celebrities to speak on behalf of their companies and products; there is no reason you cannot do the same thing with your Blog. Using a celebrity can be a jump start to your viral efforts.

What if you were able to get a Larry King or a Michael Jordan to comment on your Blog? It would be incredible because these individuals are followed by millions and where the celebrity goes; so go their minions. Now take that a step further. When you advertise on television or radio your viewer or listener may be impressed by the celebrity, but they must take action at some later point in time. If you advertise on the Internet with a powerful message, endorsed by a celebrity, all the viewer must do is click a link to get to your site or product. How much more simple can it get.

Don’t miss the opportunities; get with the program and get BLOGGING!

Networking May Be Right Up There With The Fear Of Speaking

My LinkedIn Poll

I have an unscientific LinkedIn poll with a few results, but I am going out on a limb to draw some conclusions because I find it interesting.

The question I asked and the possible responses:

What is your greatest networking challenge?

• Identifying possible connections?
• Lack of comfort when inviting?
• Available time?
• Understanding networking value?
• Believe it to be bothersome?

I was and still am asking about your biggest challenge to networking (go to my poll to participate). I am suprised by the responses I have received. The results are split 50/50 between small and large organizations, 33% women and 67% male, 33% C and VP-level, and all respondents were between 35 and 54.

As to response all but one indicates a lack of comfort when inviting people to connect and one of the non-C and VP level individuals indicated time constraints.

As I said above 50% of the current responses are from C and VP-level respondents and these individuals all identified the lack of comfort inviting as their biggest challenge as well. This really surprised me. I expected time challenges to be their reason.

What Do the Responses Mean

Although I received just a couple of comments; those comments and my experience lead me to the conclusion that the problem is a fear of rejection. The fear of rejection is powerful and it stands in the way of many successes. Successful people, however, do not let this fear stop them. They continually move forward.

When you invite people you do put yourself out there and invite a potential negative response, but that is a risk you must take; if you are going to be successful. If you are still laboring over a no response; you must really question your commitment.

The reality is that the worse that can happen is someone says: no. At that point you just need to dust yourself off and move on. Don’t dwell on it when someone says no; keep moving forward to your next invitation.

Your level of success can be measured by the size of your rolodex. The truly successful realize that they cannot do it on their own, it is with the help of others that they will continue to move forward.

I would appreciate it if you would take a minute to respond to my poll, so we can build better results.

Building Your Business Using Social Media

Does the World Know About Your Expertise?

I received email this morning from my friend Charlie Cook. Charlie helps small businesses with their marketing. In his email he was talking about a bike shop, Santa Fe Mountain Sports.

Charlie needed to fix the derailleur on his wife’s bike so they could take a ride. An avid biker, Charlie thought he was up to the task, but quickly realized he needed some help. He went to YouTube and searched on “adjusting front derailleur”. He found the video he needed and saw that over 400,000 other people had found it as well. All told this bike shop has over 1.3 million views of their videos that demonstrate their expertise.

Are you demonstrating your expertise? Are you getting your word out?

As Charlie points out even if each person viewed it twice that is 200,000 exposures to potential customers and it is all done for free!

I can help you make Social Media work for you! Contact me at tom@upproach.com and let’s talk!

STOP! Before You Take a Step Forward on Your Social Marketing – Read This!

Social Media Marketing Reality

First, do not get me wrong; I am a proponent of Social Media Marketing and I encourage the behavior. The problem is that it is being sold to you incorrectly. Social Networking Consultants, Specialists, Experts, or whatever you want to call them are not telling you the truth!

Social Media Marketing Is Not a Rainmaker Proposition

Social Media Marketing has the potential to drive business, and, yes, even massive business through your doors. The caveat is that it takes work; lots of work. It takes commitment; lots of commitment. It takes time; lots of time.

There is no getting around it; Social Media Marketing is not for the faint of heart.

Case in Point

Earlier this year I was talking to a friend about Social Media Marketing and the opportunities that it offers a business. While I am firmly committed to that statement; I have since come to realize that most business owners do not have the level of commitment necessary to make it successful.

This friend changed the website; it was not necessarily for the better. In fact, the old site, to me, was far more aesthetically pleasing. The content from the old page to the new page is not significantly different, but they can say things have changed.

As part of the new look they created a blog. Blogs are great but again they require commitment and dedication. This is not a stop-start proposition; this is a commitment and your audience is expecting regular postings. This friend created three or four articles over the span of four or five days in February and has done nothing since.

The truth is they should pull down the blog. This minimal effort gives the impression that there is no follow through within the organization and does not help them and, in fact, does more damage. It is like jumping into the deep part of the lake and making a big splash and then not coming back to the surface because you were not prepared and had not made the prior commitment to learn how to swim.

Social Media Marketing Requires Commitment

It is not that these owners are not committed to their business; it is the commitment to Social Media Marketing that is lacking. Not surprisingly business owners have many other day-to-day tasks that occupy their time and it is hard to think about Social Media Marketing when your biggest customer is getting ready to bail on you or your top salesperson is considering a new opportunity.

Obviously those situations loom larger and their immediate impact on the business is far more important and the effect is far more quickly realized and felt. The truth is that most business owners and managers do not have the time available to put into Social Media Marketing.

Before You Jump In; Ask Yourself If You Are Ready to Follow Through

Do not just stick your toe into the water to determine the temperature. This is a situation where you make the commitment, jump in, and stay there for the long-haul.

Next Time I Will Talk About Trying To Do Too Much

Social Media Consultants talk about using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Mashable, Websites, Blogs, Digg, Del-i-cious, YouTube, and others. The truth is that it takes an entire department or staff to monitor all of those sites and a tremendous commitment. Trying to do too much; too fast will leave you frustrated and unsatisfied. Do not do it!

Should I Add People to My Network That I Do Not Know?

I Think People That Limit Their Networks to Only Those They Know Are Making a Huge Mistake

Did you know that statistics show that out of every 100 connections; only 2 or 3 will ever play an important role for you? The question is which 2 or 3 per 100 are the important connections and are you willing to take the chance?

So Why Would You Only Network with Those You Know?

There are many so called networkers that will only connect with people they know. If someone wants to network with one of these people and it is someone that they do not know, the offer to become a Facebook Friend or LinkedIn Connection is rejected. There is no real reason, other than the individual is an unknown.

Interestingly, virtually everyone we know was an “unknown” at one time or another. The exceptions are family members and if we go back far enough, even they were an unknown.

Surprisingly Even LinkedIn Subscribes To This Philosophy

Even LinkedIn encourages this behavior with the “I Don’t Know” or IDK option as it is commonly known. Why would LinkedIn do this? Although I do not know for sure, I do have a hypothesis.

From a LinkedIn perspective, I believe, it is simply to get you to spend money with them. My reasoning here is that if you spend money with a premium membership you have access to In-Mails, which are used to connect with someone that you do not know; only you now have LinkedIn’s blessing in exchange for your money.

According to Webster’s Dictionary networking is: 1 : the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically : the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business.

As I read Webster’s definition I do not see anything that limits your network simply to those you know. In fact it says the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business.

Why Should I Network with People that I Do Not Know?

My answer to this question is an unequivocal YES! I believe in adding anyone until they give you valid reasons for rejecting them. I do not consider the fact that I do not know them to be a valid reason.

Adding people that you do not know to your network expands your sphere of influence and increases your power to develop better answers and solutions to your questions.

Do All Your Opportunities Exist Within Your Current Communities?

If you are in business the question is: Do all of your future customers exist within your current communities or among the people you currently know? Obviously the answer is no. So the next question is if you are not willing to add people that you do not know to your network; how will you reach your new customers? How are you going to make the necessary connections?

Another question is how do you convert a non-customer to being a customer? Most businesses do it through communications. If that is the case, doesn’t it make sense to have these prospects in your network to make the communication process easier?

Are You Going Viral

Are You Trying to Go Viral?

If you have your business on the Internet you objective should be to go viral. But, what exactly does going viral mean?

There are many that believe going viral is simply the process of getting on the Internet but that could not be further from the truth. An Internet presence is positioning yourself to go viral, but the complete process takes work and sometimes a lot of work.

Your Internet Presence Is Not Enough

In addition to your Internet presence you must have people that care about what you have to say; and they must care enough to want to tell other people. If you cannot get people talking about you, your business, and/or your products you have not gone viral.

Individuals, professionals, and businesses that are successful on the Internet have several things in common, but most important is the fact that they can attract a following. They have people that are interested in what they have to say and are willing to tell others.

If you are familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” those that attract a following have connectors, salespeople, and mavens to carry them forward. These are people that desire to promote their activities. Gladwell explains all of this and if you have not read this book; it is a must read for anyone that is serious about going viral. I was at my local Borders just last night and convinced two people that it was a book they must have.

How to Go Viral

So how do you go viral? If you want to be successful, you must first realize that for the majority of people it does not happen automatically or instantly. For most of us, it will take commitment and work. You cannot get frustrated or let it beat you. Here are some key steps.

• Content is king.
• Identify your connectors.
• Be consistent.
• Encourage followers.

Content Is King

The next step is to have good, if not great, content. You need to get your readers’ attention, keep their attention, and keep them coming back. Good or even great content does not necessarily mean that it is perfect, it does not meant that you have excellent grammar, it does not mean that you are mistake free; it truly means that you have material that your readers want to read and, ideally, share with their friends, family, and acquaintances.

Identify Your Connectors

The next step is to find the connectors that are interested in your message. Connectors, as explained by Gladwell, are those people that you know that can connect your message to their other connections that would be interested in what you are saying.

Be Consistent

Establish a posting pattern and stick to it. Once per week, twice per week, on Thursdays, every other week, etc. Patterns are important to your readers.

Encourage Followers

Build a following by encouraging your readers to sign up for your Blog, “Like” your fan page, get the RSS feed from your website, subscribe to your YouTube channel, etc. Before you can go viral you must be reaching your immediate connections so they can promote you to their connections.