Social Media Tips: Let The Real You Shine Through

Here's a little "Social Media Tip" that sounds so obvious, but so many times is overlooked.
When you're out there on the Social Sites, places like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, when you send out a request for someone to be your friend; a personal message goes a long way in getting you what you want.

For example, Facebook is a Social Media Site that I've been involved with for over a year. In that time I've had thousands of friend requests sent to me.
The ones I look at first, and the ones I'm most likely to accept are those that have sent along a personal message.

Think about it. If someone came up to you at a networking event or party, handed you their business card then simply turned around and walked away; how likely would you be to want to do business with (or even get to know) that person?
Social Media works much the same way.

Although these Social Sites are based online, there is still a human being at each end. Everyone still has the same feelings and perceptions as if you were standing and talking with them "belly-to-belly".

Here are some tips for connecting online:
1) When setting up your profile, always put up a picture of yourself. Make it a photo where people can see your bright, shining face. Folks in the online world may never meet you face-to-face so that picture is all they have to decide whether to accept or ignore a friend request. It helps them get to know you.

Also, please, please, please. I beg of you. Don't put up an image of the product you sell as your profile picture. It screams "I want to sell you my stuff" or "I want to get you into my business". People who've bought into YOU, who like and trust YOU may eventually buy your product, not the other way around.

2) Your profile should include personal as well as professional information about you. It should be detailed enough for your potential new friend to get a feel for who you are, but not so detailed that they know what you had for breakfast that morning.

Ever gone to someone's profile page and all that's there is their birthday? There's no info about them, their family or what they do for a living.

If they're obviously new to the site, I usually cut them a little slack. I'll leave the request in the ol' inbox for a week or so to see if they add anything new. If after that time they still won't open up, I'll pass. Doing business online means letting people know about you. It's not the time or place to be secretive. Leave that to the government. Did I say that? :-)

3) My third Social Media Tip for the day goes back to my original point; sending along a message with your friend request. A message being sent with the request tells the other person that you actually took some time to seek them out. It's very nice in our instant gratification society for someone to take time out of their day to include a personal note asking for our friendship. However(you knew I'd have a "however" in here, didn't you?)

If you're going to copy and paste a pre-written message, at the minimum add in your future friend's name. I always have to smile when a request comes in that says "Hi(empty space here) , I found you on so-an-so's page and...". Just taking a couple of extra seconds to add in their name will show that you're truly sincere about being their friend. Wouldn't you feel the same way?

Social Media is a powerful medium for attracting clients and business builders to you. There is a wealth of information on Social Media Marketing just waiting for you to tap into.

An amazing resource for free information on social media marketing will be here. My hope is that by using these suggestions, just a few "warm and fuzzy" touches, you'll create a network of friends that will help your business soar.