Working From The Basement

Last week, I attended the Middlesex Businesswomen’s Alliance monthly event.  The presentation that evening was “LinkedIn 101,” by Gateway Financial Group’s President and resident social media expert, David Wood.

First, let me tell you what Little Dave got right:

1.  Put a picture on your LinkedIn profile. His reason – take the profile seriously.  My reason – what does your face look like?  Have we met before?  It creates a personal connection, which is what internet connections are supposed to facilitate.

2.  Groups, groups, groups. Little Dave hit this on the head.  In fact, he said this in a presentation a year ago and, honestly, this was the first time it had occurred to me.  Groups can be your greatest way of connecting with those who need your services.   Join groups whose mission and values appeal to you, develop real connections, and then when those people need services of the professional nature you offer, you will be the first name that comes to mind.

3.  Don’t advertise.  It annoys people. That’s why it’s called “spam.”  Create valuable content with real benefit to the end user, and that person will seek out your services.  Don’t come right out and say “Buy my 3bed/2bath ranch in West Hartford.”  Instead, provide the people following you with useful information, such as, “The tax credit ends on November 30.  Did you realize that’s on the Monday right after the five-day bank vacation of Thanksgiving?  Better aim for the beginning of the month.”

Now, let me tell you what Little Dave got wrong:

1.  His advice, “Connect with people whose connections are valuable to you, pick up the phone, and call them.”

He missed the whole point of Web 2.0 (soon to be Web 3.0).  He advised to apply traditional methods of networking – figure out who people know, whether you can use them or who they know, pick up the phone, and start a dialogue.

Don’t call me.  Email me if you’re really brave (caveat emptor), but definitely don’t call me.  Connect with me online – follow me on Twitter, connect with me on LinkedIn, and join my fanpage on Facebook.  But don’t call me.  When I need you, I’ll find you.  If you call me, you’re getting yourself blacklisted for cold-calling me.  When you need my help, find me and tell me you need my help.  You’ll already know what I do, because we’ve legitimately connected, shared resources, and discussed ideas.  But definitely don’t call me.

2.  Judge people by their connections.

I disagree completely.  LinkedIn, to me, is like a virtual exchange of business cards – in one direction only, in my viewpoint.  If someone invites me to connect, I connect.

Caveat – I am NOT an open networker.  I do not follow people on Twitter, simply because they follow me, and I don’t connect with everyone who wants to connect with me.

But why is he wrong?  Three points:

a.  LinkedIn profiles are dynamic.  Just because someone is not valuable today does not mean they might not be valuable in the future.

b.  When someone invites me to connect, that person is allowing me to pump their head full of my propogand…..er, marketing materials.  That, by itself, is a value.  And once I spread my prop…er, marketing materials to that person, the viral nature of the internet means that it’ll end up exactly in the hands  of the right person.  So, the more, the merrier.

c.  Database.  By connecting with the person, I can see the details of his/her connections when I’m using the database feature of LinkedIn.  (A hidden secret, for later discussion.)  So, we all know people who are Division 3 in the world of business.  But, since we all know them, then they all know us, right?  When I need another Division 1 or 2, I can find them through the database feature, which gives me much better information than a simple Google search.  I can figure out quality, education, background – everything – by using the person I don’t want to connect with as a filter.  (Thank you, LinkedIn, because I know that wasn’t intentional.)

3.  I do really have 300 friends.  They’re Facebook friends.  It’s a different category.  Facebook friends are, again, people with similar interests, with whom you have crossed paths at some point in your life.  They are people whose kids’ photos you actually do want to see, whose ham sandwich you do know about (because she’s vegan and shouldn’t be eating ham), and whose thoughts and interests you are genuinely interested in.

I want to see pictures of my college roommate’s kids, because when am I going to get back to Pittsburgh again anytime soon.  I want to hear Jochen’s adventures in whatever crazy European country he is now.  I want to hear about Isaac’s adventures teaching English in Korea.  Because that is interesting to me.

I don’t want to be Facebook friends with the Governor, because I don’t think she’s giving me the cow I need for FarmVille, and she’s probably not going to challenge me to a game of Farkle or Bejeweled.  That’s not a Facebook friend; that’s a LinkedIn colleague.

Facebook friends are the ones you would sit and chat with, laugh with, and play with, if time and geography were not limiting you.

The future of business:  Real relationships with people you like

I say – this is the dialogue, connecting online is the dialogue, the relationship.  Business is no longer about who you know and how powerful you are.  Business is about who you are. Be yourself, and the people who want to do business with a person just like you will find you.

Connect with people you like.  Do business with people who like you, just the way you are.  With the advent of social networking technologies, you can now locate and develop relationships with people just like you.  Under traditional networking approaches, you were limited in scope to those you could connect with physically.  Now, remove those boundaries and use the internet as a network to connect with those most like you.

Do business with people you like.  Enjoy life.  Because life can be amazing, if you just let it.