Your Virtual Business Card
In a previous post, I explained the virtues of the lowly business card. Every business needs an ample supply of cards to give to customers, potential customers, friends, acquaintances and anyone else you run into. You simply cannot hand out too many business cards.
You also need a virtual business card, too. “What!?!”, you say. Yes, you also need a business card for the virtual world. I’m not talking about your website, this is in addition to it.
People are spending more time online than ever before and its not likely to change. Search habits are getting more refined. With social networks on the rise, your name is likely to be Googled more than you think.
Here’s a screen shot of my virtual business card, click it to go to the url (a new page will open).
Notice how clean, simple and direct the message is: who I am, what I do and how to contact me. This single page website appears in the top 10 rankings of Google when my name is searched for.
The title bar says it all: “David Tinney’s virtual business card”. This page gets a lot of the traffic that’s looking for David Tinney.
Domains are relatively inexpensive now. You should own your name and take advantage of a virtual business card.
What’s Social Media All About?
I received an invitation by email today to a webinar titled “How to Use Social Media for Lead Generation.” The opening sentence read:
Learn how to harness the power of social media - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other networking sites - to get found by more prospects and generate sales leads for your business.
There’s no doubt that new prospects, customers and business are generated by social media venues. However, I’m of the firm conviction the primary purpose of social media is “social” interaction.
I’ve been active on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for over a year. In the beginning, I was probably like the masses, shy and afraid to post anything.
One day on Twitter, something dramatically changed. Someone tweeted a question that I knew the answer to. I tweeted back with that answer and a link supporting it.
I received back a very nice comment, complimenting me for the generosity of my knowledge. (Believe me, it wasn’t that big a thing.)
It was then I ‘got it’. Twitter and other social media venues are about making friends, just like we do in the real world.
You help someone because you want to, not for any other reason. Because it’s the right and friendly thing to do.
I know there are others who are simply using Twitter and the other social sites to build their following so they can market to them. So be it. In my opinion, they’re missing the true value of social media.
To date, I’ve met a throng of people on Twitter and Facebook. Probably a dozen or so I would call new friends. These new friends are scattered all over the world, from SE Asia through North America to Europe. My life has been enriched by them and I’m doing the best I can to enrich their lives. Without expecting anything in return, except friendship.
To me, building lasting relationships rests on the foundation of friendship.
When I see some blatently pimping social media purely to generate leads and new prospects, it offends me. Why? Because I value relationships just for the sake of relationships.
If you want to be my friend merely to use me for business purposes, don’t bother.
Perry Belcher on Social Networking
“Social networking is not about making money, it’s about making friends…”
My friend, Perry Belcher, has made a 10 minute video that is absolute dynamite! Perry explains in simple, easy-to-understand language how social media can have a positive impact on your business.
From what I’ve seen, many people get in to big a rush with social media. You need to slow down and be consistant in your mission: to make friends.
Someone said social media is like a first date: go slow, make friends, hold hands.
Makes sense to me.
