I had lunch with Steve Clarke recently. Who’s Steve Clarke I hear you ask? Steve has just been invited to speak at an event at the O2 alongside such luminaries as Sir Richard Branson and Lord Alan Sugar. He is a regular speaker at the Enterprise Business Academy and one of James Caan’s Millionaire Mentors, he’s also a very down to earth nice guy. I asked him how he got the O2 gig and was not surprised to learn that his name was put forward by someone in his network.
Now I know you are regular networkers. You attend breakfast, lunch, dinner and all manner of other events but what frequently happens is that you meet the same people with the occasional new face. Those people are important and you should keep connecting but we all need a bigger net. That’s where social media comes in.
Linkedin is formulated on the principle that there are only six stages of separation between us and anyone else in the world. Social media can short cut even that. I now have a direct connection with Brian Tracy! Wow! A guru whose material I have studied for years is now following me on Twitter, so are more than 800 other people. Now I’m not expecting to become Brian Tracy’s best friend but some of the people who follow him (more than 47,000) will be interested in the sort of services I offer. If I engage with Brian Tracy some of them will follow me; some may become my customers. You need to be using social media to grow and develop your network then, like Steve Clarke, you might be offered a stellar gig.
Image via Wikipedia
So this month’s action: Decide what you want to get out of your social media networking activity, allocate a bit of time and then get started. Schedule 10 minutes a day for engaging on Twitter or Facebook or Linked In, wherever your potential audience is. Set a timer because it can become addictive. Follow a few people, join a few groups, watch how other people engage then join in.
If you would like some help I will be running a couple of workshops in Ealing on September 9th. One will look at how to incorporate social media and blogging into your marketing plan. The other will be a beginners guide to Twitter. There are just 5 places at each. Each workshop costs £37 (per person) including VAT or attend both for £70 including VAT and a light lunch. For more information or to book please email me.
