A different networking approach

I am a long time member of the Ryze.com community. Lots of people know me or know of me there since I have a bulletin board network with about 5,000 members. I also made a ton of posts there over the years.

I received a private message from someone I don't know. Yes, I may have chatted with this person online once, but I'm not even sure of that.

Below is the message he sent. What is interesting about the note is that he writes as though we've been friends all along.

Know what? This is a good idea! You can bet I will remember his name the next time I see it, or I may get a fuzzy feeling when I do see the name.

Is this good networking? I think it could open doors. What do you think?

Here is the message:


Hi Greg,

It's been awhile since I dropped you a line. Sorry, life get's in the way sometimes I am sad to say. I need to prioritize better. Having fun takes up a lot of time.

Anyway, hope all is well over there and not too cold!

Jen & I had a great day yesterday, (Saturday) diving off the Sunshine Coast, a one hour drive north of Brisbane.

We had three dives at Caves Reef, about 20 minutes off the coast. On dive 1 we saw a massive Crayfish, just sitting at the bottom of the anchor chain. On dive 2 we caught up with a turtle. It was about 3 feet long and just resting in a hideaway watching as swim by. Very cute. Then on dive 3 for the day, a giant school of colourful fish, don't ask me what type as I still have to do that part of the course.

Needless to say we slept well last night.

They have sunk a Navy ship, the HMAS Brisbane not that much further north and we plan on diving that in a couple of weeks. Oh, just incase you were wandering, the water temp was 26 C, think thats high 70's F. Are you guy's C or F?

Today is going to be a nice relaxing day of recovery. Sunday breakfast with some friends, then catch up with one of my daughters, Seth's mum. He's 4mths old now and all smiles.

Take care,

(name withheld)

What other networking techniques have you tried? Please post them in comments.

Greg Cryns
Free Freelance Report

Work At Home Profiles
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Social Networking in Plain English

Instant Niche Emails - This is a fantastic list building tool. It is an incredibly simple way to create a year’s worth of emails for any niche market literally overnight! (also can also be used to create 52 blogging posts and more!)


Here is a nice video about social networking for dummies (like me)

Don't be afraid of social media

Guest post by my friend Jill Whalen. I've been following Jill on the web for many years. She taught me to build websites with good content and not to be concerned with tactics to influence search engines. Essentially, Jill says design your pages for your visitors, not for the search engines.

++Scared of Social Media? You May Already Be a Pro!++

I'll admit it. I used to be scared of social media. I didn't know what it was, nor did I want to. I'm rarely an early adopter

So when I first started hearing of social media, and more specifically, social media marketing, I hoped it would just go away. I mean, the phrase "social media" didn't even exist when I was first learning SEO in the '90s. In fact, a search last week on Google's 2001 index (which was available only during October) showed that in 2001 Google had about 1,460 listings for the phrase "social media" and the resulting pages weren't about social media as we think of it today. The more specific phrase "social media marketing" showed zero results in the 2001 Google index – meaning it hadn't even been coined as a phrase.

A search in today's Google index shows about 19,100,000 results for the phrase "social media" and approximately 1,630,000 Google results for "social media marketing." It's safe to conclude that social media and its use as an online marketing strategy are here to stay, and are growing by leaps and bounds. If you're marketing websites, scary as it may sound, you need to learn about social media.

Don't be afraid!

Here's the thing – there's actually nothing to be afraid of! In fact, you may already be using it without realizing it. What makes it confusing is that everyone has their own definition of it. I was confused a few years ago when a friend asked if I wanted to speak on a panel about social media. In true crotchety old-woman style, I told him that I knew 'nuthin 'bout that newfangled social media thingamabob.

My friend looked at me as if I was crazy and said, "Jill, you are the queen of social media marketing!" Of course, I argued that he didn't know what he was talking about, and blah blah blah. But he did know what he was talking about, even though it took me a few months to come around. (Yeah, I'm slow!)

I don't remember what triggered it, but one day I woke up and realized that social media is nothing more than online communities where people interact with one another. Like a chat room. Or a forum. Or an email discussion list. Holy cow! I had been participating in stuff like that since the early '90s! In fact, just about the only marketing I did for years was based on participating in online communities. From my old parenting chatroom and forums in the '90s to my later SEO newsletter discussions, forums and blogs, and every other online thing I do. I've been a social media geek since day one, but never knew it!

Just be yourself!

The reason it took so long for it to sink in was that I never set out to use social media (or the online communities in which I participate) for the goal of gaining clients or branding myself as an expert. But that's exactly what happened; not as some sort of calculated plan, but simply because I was being myself and letting my passion for SEO show through.

My first clients came from chat rooms and email discussion lists. Today, many of them come from this newsletter or our forum – all of which would be considered social media. I visit those places and participate in them because I enjoy them and like to hang out with like-minded individuals. Plus, I never tire of answering SEO questions. Certainly, I could never have consistently cranked out these newsletters since 2000 if I didn't get some personal satisfaction out of it.

Social media marketing works, but only if you have an authentic voice. You can't fake authenticity. You can try, but real people and real voices are what succeed in the social media world. The key is to go into it without any expectations of what you may get out of it. Have fun and you'll be surprised at what may come from it. People like to do business with those they know, and social media is one way of getting others to know you.

Even Web 2.0 is not as scary as it sounds!

There's no need to be afraid of newer social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter either. Other than their funky Web 2.0 names and cool appearance, they are no different from old-fashioned chatrooms and forums. It's true that they are not for everyone and may or may not be a good vehicle in which to market your company. But it can't hurt to give them a test run. The worst that will happen is you'll become addicted! Or maybe you really won't like it at all. If you find it's not for you, then stop using it. Alternatively, have someone else in your company who's more familiar with online communities test it out on your behalf. While you may need to provide them with some guidelines, don't be afraid to allow them to let their personality shine through.

The main thing I want you to take away from this article is that social media marketing is just a new twist on an old tactic. It’s not scary, and it’s not very different from many of the other forms of online marketing you're probably already using.

Jill Whalen offers search engine optimization services and is CEO at High Rankings. and co-founder of Search Engine Marketing New England (SEMNE).


Greg Cryns
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com

Results of Twitter message

Yesterday, 12/16/08/, as an experiment to find out how far a Twitter post will connect with my followers, I sent out this message four times:

"HOW MANY FOLLOWERS SEE YOUR POST? - IF you READ THIS POST please notify me in a message, date and time - I update later - thanks! "

1st post 5:17 AM PST

2nd post 7:00 AM PST

3rd post 3:00 PM PST

4th post 11:00 PM PST

I received nine (9) direct responses and 15 email message responses from people who said they saw the message. That is 24 total responses.

I have approximately 950 followers. This says that 2.5% of the people who follow me sent a response.

What does this mean? I'm not sure. The variables are many.

They were sent on a Tuesday. Would I get a better response on another day?

They were sent near Christmas day. Is that a factor?

I think it is fair to say that not all who saw the message decided to take action. I wonder how many simply did not have the time or energy to respond. I wonder if the people who do follow me think I post too much that does not interest or concern them?

I would like to see some more people do the same experiment. Statistics lie and liars use statistics, right?

At the core of the experiment is to find out how powerful, or not, is Twitter in getting out our messages.

What do you think?

greg cryns

Work At Home Profiles

Wahm Search Engine

Do I have to follow you on Twitter?

Cartoon by Hubspot

click the picture to enlarge

Personally, I follow most of the people who follow me.

Hey, check out my new videos of Paso Robles. They trucked in snow for the youngsters to sled on. :)

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

(refusing to say "happy holidays")

How not to "make money" on the Internet

When I see stuff like "How to make money on Twitter" or "ways to make money on the internet" I get a little sad and a lot angry.

There is no letting go of the hacking, thuggish ways of the 20th Century.

Old Style marketers keep coming at us with their marauding style of ugly approaches.

Listen up marketers. The Old School style of marketing is falling apart at the seams. Look at General Motors. Look at your local banks. Look at the business vacancies in your neighborhood.

Isn't it time to try something new?

Here are some recent posts on Twitter that just smell up the joint:

Make Money Scrapbooking

New blog post: Make Money and Save the Environment

New blog post: How To Make Money From Home With Articles And Niche Websites

Survive From Financial Crisis by Make Money Blogging

Do u want to make money? Become part of our team.

Want to Make Money Online?

Google’s YouTube: Finally, A Way To Make Money

Benefits and Pitfalls of Generating Free MLM Leads: You can make money in Multi Level Marketing MLM

How To Make Money Fast On The Internet

They want me to click on their incomprehensible offers and their oh-so meticulously preplanned "launches"?

Not everyone has a herd mentality.

Go away, spammers. I've got better things to do with my time.


Greg Cryns

Join a new community of Wahm folks. http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
My town: http://www.allaboutpasorobles.com
My business blog: http://gregcryns.blogspot.com

Jack Humphrey's "Top 142 Social Marketing Blogs on the Web"

I don't know him personally but I like and admire Jack Humphrey. He is an expert on internet marketing.

Recently he published "Top 142 Social Marketing Blogs on the Web" and then he explained why he put this list together on his radio show that broadcasts on Fridays. The point about the "Top 142" is that he put up hotlinks to all 142 blogs. Jack is not afraid to link out from his blog. More importantly he suggests that we all do more of it.

I agree. The more good info we give YOU, our readers, the more readers we will get. It works that way. You are not losing ground, you are gaining ground by posting good links.

For myself, I will visit each and every one of the Top 142. I want to see what they offer. I want to learn more about Interent marketing through blogging. A lot of other people I talk to also want to be successful bloggers. Not so many will pursue it with vigor. That is actually good for the ones that do.

Less competition. ;P

Learn about Twitter at Twitter Squeeze

Greg Cryns
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg