Comments on: How to grow your business network with social media http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php Channelship's video blog offers a fun, simple and easy way to learn about web and social media topics in plain English Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:29:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Channelship http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php/comment-page-1/#comment-406 Channelship Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:40:54 +0000 http://www.channelship.ie/?p=1938#comment-406 Hi Barry,<br><br>The first point important to acknowledge is that you will not "advertise" in social networks. The most important thing is to build a community so the more people that like your products, services and/or your brand help you spread the word with pleasure :)<br>I guess the best analogy is when you go to a business networking event. If you enter the room thinking how can you pitch/sell your products, instead of trying to get to know people better and build a strong network, you'll get bored very easily, people will walk away from you and you will not see results.<br>Now, if you really meant advertising and what you were looking for was really fast results through a method to get leads in the door, then maybe online tools like Google Adwords might be the right move for you.<br>Anything related to social networks and what can companies do to leverage it, it involves time and effort. Starting is the toughest point (like anything) but once you figure it out, you can look after your business online strategy while you do other stuff... Hi Barry,

The first point important to acknowledge is that you will not “advertise” in social networks. The most important thing is to build a community so the more people that like your products, services and/or your brand help you spread the word with pleasure :)
I guess the best analogy is when you go to a business networking event. If you enter the room thinking how can you pitch/sell your products, instead of trying to get to know people better and build a strong network, you'll get bored very easily, people will walk away from you and you will not see results.
Now, if you really meant advertising and what you were looking for was really fast results through a method to get leads in the door, then maybe online tools like Google Adwords might be the right move for you.
Anything related to social networks and what can companies do to leverage it, it involves time and effort. Starting is the toughest point (like anything) but once you figure it out, you can look after your business online strategy while you do other stuff…

]]> By: Channelship http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php/comment-page-1/#comment-404 Channelship Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:31:23 +0000 http://www.channelship.ie/?p=1938#comment-404 Hi Darren,<br><br>I hope this webinar pointed you in a better direction towards those goals. Focus on your own blog. That's the starting point.<br>When it comes to growing your network in Dublin and Ireland, ensure that you build followers within this geographic region. This way, your updates will have a more effective impact (since the message will be relevant to all of them) Hi Darren,

I hope this webinar pointed you in a better direction towards those goals. Focus on your own blog. That's the starting point.
When it comes to growing your network in Dublin and Ireland, ensure that you build followers within this geographic region. This way, your updates will have a more effective impact (since the message will be relevant to all of them)

]]> By: Channelship http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php/comment-page-1/#comment-405 Channelship Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:32:24 +0000 http://www.channelship.ie/?p=1938#comment-405 Good question Miriam.<br>The answer is: there's no difference between the conversation happening offline and online. <br>Word-of-mouth happens offline of course but the one that you can generate online is also important (if not more important) because of the "speed" in which the information travels. <br>I'm not suggesting that a business person must drop offline activities but instead implement "word-of-mouth" tactics to leverage all the offline efforts through blogs and social networks.<br>For someone that wants to build this "word-of-mouth" offline, he/she will probably selectively pick the events and business meeting where to network. then, some of them will be good, other will not... The exact same exercise need to be done with different online networks. Once you figure out the spots in with you'll hang out online, you'll be able to be a lot closer to your business network and you'll also realise that you met a lot more interesting people that you would have never probably met before if it wasn't because of the web... I think Twitter already gave you a few nice surprises of that kind :) Good question Miriam.
The answer is: there's no difference between the conversation happening offline and online.
Word-of-mouth happens offline of course but the one that you can generate online is also important (if not more important) because of the “speed” in which the information travels.
I'm not suggesting that a business person must drop offline activities but instead implement “word-of-mouth” tactics to leverage all the offline efforts through blogs and social networks.
For someone that wants to build this “word-of-mouth” offline, he/she will probably selectively pick the events and business meeting where to network. then, some of them will be good, other will not… The exact same exercise need to be done with different online networks. Once you figure out the spots in with you'll hang out online, you'll be able to be a lot closer to your business network and you'll also realise that you met a lot more interesting people that you would have never probably met before if it wasn't because of the web… I think Twitter already gave you a few nice surprises of that kind :)

]]> By: Channelship http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php/comment-page-1/#comment-407 Channelship Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:23:53 +0000 http://www.channelship.ie/?p=1938#comment-407 Good questions Angela,<br>The way to share PDFs or other files on your LinkedIn profile is through an application called <a href="http://box.net" rel="nofollow">box.net</a>. Simply click on "More" from the navigation bar and go to application or simply click where it says "box.net". The set up process is very straight forward. After you have that app, simply upload any file that you want to share :)<br>regarding the post tiles, there're two application: the Wordpress and the bloglink app for LinkedIn. not sure what you have but if you have a Wordpress blog (like us) use the WP app. Now, the other reason why you have 3 post titles instead of more is because your excerpts (the description below each title) is long. If you see ours, the excerpts are very short, therefore we optimise the space and more posts (titles) fit in that spot :) Good questions Angela,
The way to share PDFs or other files on your LinkedIn profile is through an application called box.net. Simply click on “More” from the navigation bar and go to application or simply click where it says “box.net”. The set up process is very straight forward. After you have that app, simply upload any file that you want to share :)
regarding the post tiles, there're two application: the WordPress and the bloglink app for LinkedIn. not sure what you have but if you have a WordPress blog (like us) use the WP app. Now, the other reason why you have 3 post titles instead of more is because your excerpts (the description below each title) is long. If you see ours, the excerpts are very short, therefore we optimise the space and more posts (titles) fit in that spot :)

]]> By: Channelship http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php/comment-page-1/#comment-408 Channelship Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:03:20 +0000 http://www.channelship.ie/?p=1938#comment-408 Sorry Stephen, you're right. <a href="http://Gotomeeting.com" rel="nofollow">Gotomeeting.com</a> should remove the American states when selecting other countries... Sorry Stephen, you're right. Gotomeeting.com should remove the American states when selecting other countries…

]]> By: Channelship http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php/comment-page-1/#comment-409 Channelship Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:01:53 +0000 http://www.channelship.ie/?p=1938#comment-409 Hi Fiona,<br><br>According to our Google Analytics, Google is the first site bringing us majority of the traffic... after that comes LinkedIn, believe it or not :) <br>LinkedIn brings us more traffic than Twitter and Facebook. Now, don't take this as a benchmark. In the type of business that we're in (B2B services) , people are more likely to find out more about us on LinkedIn rather than other sites.<br>Also, just in case someone is surprise about the "traffic" thing I mentioned..., Every platform has it's unique contribution. Yes, we all like the traffic, but for us, Twitter and Facebook are about building/maintaining a very valuable community.. we don't care much for the traffic here...<br>If you're focusing on traffic: you number one priority would be to pump good content through your blog (including good titles, tags, etc) to rank better and better on Google. Then you also have aggregators like <a href="http://bizsugar.com" rel="nofollow">bizsugar.com</a>, <a href="http://digg.com" rel="nofollow">digg.com</a> and <a href="http://reddit.com" rel="nofollow">reddit.com</a>. They'll help you also bring a bit more traffic :) Hi Fiona,

According to our Google Analytics, Google is the first site bringing us majority of the traffic… after that comes LinkedIn, believe it or not :)
LinkedIn brings us more traffic than Twitter and Facebook. Now, don't take this as a benchmark. In the type of business that we're in (B2B services) , people are more likely to find out more about us on LinkedIn rather than other sites.
Also, just in case someone is surprise about the “traffic” thing I mentioned…, Every platform has it's unique contribution. Yes, we all like the traffic, but for us, Twitter and Facebook are about building/maintaining a very valuable community.. we don't care much for the traffic here…
If you're focusing on traffic: you number one priority would be to pump good content through your blog (including good titles, tags, etc) to rank better and better on Google. Then you also have aggregators like bizsugar.com, digg.com and reddit.com. They'll help you also bring a bit more traffic :)

]]> By: Channelship http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php/comment-page-1/#comment-376 Channelship Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:40:54 +0000 http://www.channelship.ie/?p=1938#comment-376 Hi Barry,<br><br>The first point important to acknowledge is that you will not "advertise" in social networks. The most important thing is to build a community so the more people that like your products, services and/or your brand help you spread the word with pleasure :)<br>I guess the best analogy is when you go to a business networking event. If you enter the room thinking how can you pitch/sell your products, instead of trying to get to know people better and build a strong network, you'll get bored very easily, people will walk away from you and you will not see results.<br>Now, if you really meant advertising and what you were looking for was really fast results through a method to get leads in the door, then maybe online tools like Google Adwords might be the right move for you.<br>Anything related to social networks and what can companies do to leverage it, it involves time and effort. Starting is the toughest point (like anything) but once you figure it out, you can look after your business online strategy while you do other stuff... Hi Barry,

The first point important to acknowledge is that you will not “advertise” in social networks. The most important thing is to build a community so the more people that like your products, services and/or your brand help you spread the word with pleasure :)
I guess the best analogy is when you go to a business networking event. If you enter the room thinking how can you pitch/sell your products, instead of trying to get to know people better and build a strong network, you'll get bored very easily, people will walk away from you and you will not see results.
Now, if you really meant advertising and what you were looking for was really fast results through a method to get leads in the door, then maybe online tools like Google Adwords might be the right move for you.
Anything related to social networks and what can companies do to leverage it, it involves time and effort. Starting is the toughest point (like anything) but once you figure it out, you can look after your business online strategy while you do other stuff…

]]> By: Channelship http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php/comment-page-1/#comment-375 Channelship Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:31:23 +0000 http://www.channelship.ie/?p=1938#comment-375 Hi Darren,<br><br>I hope this webinar pointed you in a better direction towards those goals. Focus on your own blog. That's the starting point.<br>When it comes to growing your network in Dublin and Ireland, ensure that you build followers within this geographic region. This way, your updates will have a more effective impact (since the message will be relevant to all of them) Hi Darren,

I hope this webinar pointed you in a better direction towards those goals. Focus on your own blog. That's the starting point.
When it comes to growing your network in Dublin and Ireland, ensure that you build followers within this geographic region. This way, your updates will have a more effective impact (since the message will be relevant to all of them)

]]> By: Channelship http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php/comment-page-1/#comment-373 Channelship Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:32:24 +0000 http://www.channelship.ie/?p=1938#comment-373 Good question Miriam.<br>The answer is: there's no difference between the conversation happening offline and online. <br>Word-of-mouth happens offline of course but the one that you can generate online is also important (if not more important) because of the "speed" in which the information travels. <br>I'm not suggesting that a business person must drop offline activities but instead implement "word-of-mouth" tactics to leverage all the offline efforts through blogs and social networks.<br>For someone that wants to build this "word-of-mouth" offline, he/she will probably selectively pick the events and business meeting where to network. then, some of them will be good, other will not... The exact same exercise need to be done with different online networks. Once you figure out the spots in with you'll hang out online, you'll be able to be a lot closer to your business network and you'll also realise that you met a lot more interesting people that you would have never probably met before if it wasn't because of the web... I think Twitter already gave you a few nice surprises of that kind :) Good question Miriam.
The answer is: there's no difference between the conversation happening offline and online.
Word-of-mouth happens offline of course but the one that you can generate online is also important (if not more important) because of the “speed” in which the information travels.
I'm not suggesting that a business person must drop offline activities but instead implement “word-of-mouth” tactics to leverage all the offline efforts through blogs and social networks.
For someone that wants to build this “word-of-mouth” offline, he/she will probably selectively pick the events and business meeting where to network. then, some of them will be good, other will not… The exact same exercise need to be done with different online networks. Once you figure out the spots in with you'll hang out online, you'll be able to be a lot closer to your business network and you'll also realise that you met a lot more interesting people that you would have never probably met before if it wasn't because of the web… I think Twitter already gave you a few nice surprises of that kind :)

]]> By: Channelship http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-1938-how-to-grow-your-business-network-with-social-media.php/comment-page-1/#comment-374 Channelship Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:23:53 +0000 http://www.channelship.ie/?p=1938#comment-374 Good questions Angela,<br>The way to share PDFs or other files on your LinkedIn profile is through an application called <a href="http://box.net" rel="nofollow">box.net</a>. Simply click on "More" from the navigation bar and go to application or simply click where it says "box.net". The set up process is very straight forward. After you have that app, simply upload any file that you want to share :)<br>regarding the post tiles, there're two application: the Wordpress and the bloglink app for LinkedIn. not sure what you have but if you have a Wordpress blog (like us) use the WP app. Now, the other reason why you have 3 post titles instead of more is because your excerpts (the description below each title) is long. If you see ours, the excerpts are very short, therefore we optimise the space and more posts (titles) fit in that spot :) Good questions Angela,
The way to share PDFs or other files on your LinkedIn profile is through an application called box.net. Simply click on “More” from the navigation bar and go to application or simply click where it says “box.net”. The set up process is very straight forward. After you have that app, simply upload any file that you want to share :)
regarding the post tiles, there're two application: the WordPress and the bloglink app for LinkedIn. not sure what you have but if you have a WordPress blog (like us) use the WP app. Now, the other reason why you have 3 post titles instead of more is because your excerpts (the description below each title) is long. If you see ours, the excerpts are very short, therefore we optimise the space and more posts (titles) fit in that spot :)

]]>