Social Networking: 10 Keys to Increase Your Networking Success Online (Part I)

Social Networking is all the rage! Web sites like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ryze, and more are popping up every day and working their way not only into our personal lives, but our professional lives as well. As a business professional, Social Networking can be your biggest boon… leading to new connections you may have not been able to make any other way – without great difficulty that is; Or, it can be your biggest bane… enticing you to continuously waste your most precious commodity, your time. The choice is yours. Social Networking can become whatever you want it to become for both you and your business. Now anticipating that you want value for your efforts, in this 2-part series, I’m going to share with you 10 keys that can help make your online Social Networking efforts a success.

1. Personalize Your Invitations to Connect
Just because you can hide behind your computer doesn’t give you an excuse to be lazy. Give people a reason to want to connect and network with you. Don’t send dry and impersonal invites to connect … ever! I don’t care who you’re looking to connect with. In my opinion, because of its already built-in cold nature, social networking requires even more personality and vitality injected into it, than traditional offline networking.

2. You’ve Got to Give In Order to Get
Nobody likes to hang out around the proverbial “taker”. You know… the type of person you don’t pick up the phone for when they call… thank you Caller ID! So to make sure you don’t end up like our friend “taker”, always be on the lookout for, as Dr. Stephen Covey says in his much heralded book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, opportunities to make deposits into the personal bank accounts of others.

3. Think Quality, Not Quantity
Social Networking shouldn’t be a popularity contest to see who has the most connections. You’re better off having fewer mutually lucrative and beneficial relationships than having tons of connections that bear no fruit.

4. Be Authentic
Nobody likes a liar… a cheater … a fake… a phony… or whatever you call someone who presents themselves as something they’re not. Be true to yourself and others and your natural magnetism will shine through. And it’s that magnetism that brings stronger more genuine connections that can really bring results. Yes we can all improve our game a bit here or there but, trust that you’ll bring more to the table when you’re being yourself.

5. Open the Door and Let Them In
The more you’re willing to share about yourself, the more parallels others can draw between you. These parallels can serve as a great stimulus for conversations to begin. Having things in common certainly helps break down comfort-level barriers. People tend to be more willing to connect and engage in conversations with others who share similar backgrounds, experiences, tastes, hobbies, et cetera. So be willing to share a bit about you. Just be careful not to share anything you wouldn’t want everyone in the world to know because once it’s posted online, it’s available to all to see.

So in closing, remember that these keys only work if you diligently and consistently apply them. And I firmly believe that much like the offline world, strong relationships lie at the core of any and all business success.

© 2008 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then check out Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' at http://www.MotivationalMarketer.com Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute', -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

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Top 10 Business and Marketing Lessons Learned in 2007 (Part II: The Second Five)

Well I certainly hope you enjoyed part I of this article where I shared with you the first five of my top 10 business and marketing lessons learned in 2007. To quickly summarize, they were:

#1 - Maintain an Attitude of Gratitude

#2 - Improve Myself… Attract Better Clients

#3 - Make a Conscious Effort to Use Time More Efficiently

#4 - The Clearer My Vision… The Greater My Results

#5 - The More I Measure… The Better My Decisions

If you’d like to review them in detail, you’ll find part I of this article on my blog the Motivational Marketer’s Journal at www.MotivationalMarketer.com.

In the meantime, as promised, here are the remainder of my top lessons learned in 2007:

#6 - Milk Each Marketing Campaign for all they’re Worth
“Anything worth doing is worth doing well”. I’m not sure who to credit for that statement however it is such sage advice. You’re better off doing a few things great than many things so-so. One hard lesson I learned this past year was that since I knew how to implement dozens of marketing strategies and tactics, I wanted to use them all. Therefore I started out doing just that and received mediocre results for my efforts. Once I scaled back and took on just a few of those marketing strategies and tactics, I was able to really maximize my effectiveness and get more results with less effort. So my point is for example, if you’re going to have a blog, be the best blogger you can be or, if you’re going to have a newsletter, publish the best newsletter you can, and then focus and maximize your efforts to gaining the most traction from them.

#7 - Love the Client’s you Want to Keep… Fire the Rest!
I’ve had the unfortunate experience of losing a loved-one this past year and let me tell you, life’s just too damn short to waste on screwing around with clients who don’t add value to your life. Business is a two-way street… every client/vendor relationship must be mutually beneficial and enjoyable else, give yourself permission to move on! It’s important here to lose the scarcity-mindset. There are plenty of clients out there for all of us. As a matter of fact I do believe that there are plenty out there that are meant to be served by you!

#8 - Increase the Quantity and Quality of Thinking Time
Turn off the radio… turn off the TV… grab a pen and paper… and a seat, and practice thinking. Let your thoughts run through your pen and onto the paper. Let your creativity and inner-genius flow. Think of ways to improve your value… think of ways to improve your client’s experience with you… think of ways to improve your productivity… think of ways to have more fun in your business… the bottom line is to practice thinking. I’ve been journaling my thoughts for years and believe me when I tell you that my best stuff has spawned from such thinking sessions… let alone the clarity of focused action that came as a result.

#9 - Mastermind Your Way to Success
This past year I participated in several different mastermind teams. Some focused on business… some focused on investing… and some focused on self-improvement. I am a firm believer that 2 minds are better than 1… let alone if you have a mastermind team of 5 or 6 great minds… the possibilities are endless! I garnered tons of insight and advice from all of my fellow mastermind teammates and I am eternally grateful to each and every one of them!

#10 - The Joy Is In the Journey… Not the Destination
Do yourself a huge favor and pause long enough to smell the roses. Driving yourself forward like a slave-driver is no way to go through life. This year I really took the opportunity to slow down and have more fun with my business. That didn’t mean get lazy. It just meant to consciously draw more joy out of every day. I not only had a more fruitful and enjoyable year, but all those around me seemed to as well… my vitality became contagious and also attracted others with similar vitality toward me!

So in closing, I just have to ask you, did any of my experiences shared here resonate with you? What lessons did you learn this past year? Take the time to do some reflection of your own… and then… why don’t you stop by my blog and share them? I’d love to hear all about them. In the meantime, allow yourself to learn from my experiences as well as the experiences of others around you and make this next year, a year to remember!

© 2008 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then you won’t want to miss Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' (www.MotivationalMarketer.com). Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute' (www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com/marketingminute), -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

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Top 10 Business and Marketing Lessons Learned in 2007 (Part I: The First Five)

It’s scary… 2007 has come and gone in the blink of an eye. Time sure seems to fly when you’re having fun… and I did have fun this past year. Not only because my results were better, but because I learned and/or re-learned so many great lessons along the way. And I intend to share with you 10 of those which had the most impact for me. I’ll share five here and five more in Part II of this article. So without further adieu here are the first five:

#1 - Maintain an Attitude of Gratitude
I’ve been keeping a daily gratitude journal for a few years now yet for some reason this year, something just seemed to click… kind of like a light switch just flicked on in my head. I began noticing patterns as well as more specificity in what I was truly grateful for. I began writing more from the heart and started letting go of my fears and inhibitions… I do believe that these were some of the same fears and inhibitions that were holding me back. I became much more grounded and tuned in this past year to what was really important to me in both my personal life, as well as in my business. Getting clear on what was important really focused me on not only what to do, but why I am doing it. It also strengthened my conviction and resolve to make these things happen. This I believe was the most important lesson for me in 2007… more important than any business skill or marketing strategy.

#2 - Improve Myself… Attract Better Clients
I’ve been a consummate student of self-discovery and self-improvement for the better part of the last 20 years… really upping my commitment to that cause over the past 5. I cannot articulate to you enough on how wonderful and fruitful this journey has been. It’s had such a profound effect on not only my life, but on the lives of all those around me. In terms of my business, it has helped me continuously attract an increasingly better quality of prospects and clients

#3 - Make a Conscious Effort to Use Time More Efficiently
One thing’s for certain, we’re all given the same exact amount of time each day to work with. No one is privy to a larger ration than their neighbor. This is a good thing. This levels the playing field and gives the small business owner a fighting chance for survival. What makes the difference is how we choose to use that time. This is where my lesson came in. The crux of the lesson was to work smarter not harder… wean my business away from purely trading time, my time, for money… the lesson was the power of leverage! And the two biggest areas of leverage for me this past year was leveraging the resources of others for mutual gain and repurposing content to get the most ‘bang for the buck’ out of it.

#4 - The Clearer My Vision… The Greater My Results
This one is such common sense that it is often overlooked and taken for granted. It really is much easier to get what you want if you know what it is you want. However ask 10 people to clearly describe what they want and see how difficult that question really is for most of them to answer. So for me it was not only getting clearer on what I wanted both personally and professionally but I also applied that same thinking to all of my marketing campaigns. Before embarking on each campaign, I began asking myself what I wanted as a result of carrying it out. This also provided me with a measurement I could use to track each marketing campaign’s effectiveness… I could then judge their viability going forward and make more sound business decisions.

#5 - The More I Measure… The Better My Decisions
Simply put, the numbers don’t lie. And simply figuring out what core metrics I needed to track, and those that I no longer needed to, have empowered me to make more educated decisions faster and with increased confidence. For example, keeping track of how many visitors stop by a specific web page that sells a specific product as well as how many of those visitors actually buy that product once there, is instrumental in knowing whether of not the sales copy on that web page is doing its job. This helps me figure out what actions I need to take (if any) on that web page.

So in closing, remember, reflection can be a powerful tool if leveraged properly. Yes this article serves as a kind-of therapeutic reflection for me. However, take advantage of my hard-learned lessons and maybe leverage them to cut your learning curve a bit.

© 2008 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then you won’t want to miss Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' (www.MotivationalMarketer.com). Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute' (www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com/marketingminute), -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

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3 Simple Steps to Create the Business of Your Dreams – A Business that’s On Purpose

Imagine for a moment that at this same time next year, you have accomplished everything you’ve ever wanted… and more… for both yourself, and for your business.

Is that possible? Why of course! In order to accomplish that though, there are three very important components that you’ll need to put into practice:

First, be crystal clear on what it is you want.

As crazy as this may seem, in my many years of experience as a marketing coach and consultant, this is the number one breakdown I see entrepreneurs and small business owners make time and time again. They simply don’t know what they want! And believe me, it’s very difficult to get what you want if you don’t know what it is.

Essentially they’re like a dingy floating aimlessly in the ocean… instead of rowing towards a specific destination… a destination they choose… they let the tide push them around at will… all the while hoping the tide will push them somewhere good… not really knowing where that somewhere good is until they get there… and the sad truth is, is that since they’ve not chosen their destination, there’s a strong chance that they will never get what they want.

I don’t know about you, but that scenario scares me a bit. It scares me enough to dedicate ample time on a regular basis to get crystal clear on what it is I want. And the interesting part about this is that what we want, will and does change in one way, shape, or form over time… and that’s okay… that’s a good thing. There’s nothing worse than blindly continuing on a path to something we once wanted, only to find out that when we’ve gotten it, it wasn’t what we wanted any longer… as a matter of fact, we’ve wanted something different for quite a while… we’ve just negligently avoided revisiting our desires. Implementing regular checkpoints along the way should prevent this from happening.

Second, put a solid plan in place to achieve it.

I don’t care if you only take 5 minutes and jot it down on the back of a napkin… I’m a firm believer that every business needs a plan... for me, that’s both a business plan and a marketing plan. The business plan at a minimum should dictate the “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, and “why” your business exists and your marketing plan should spell out the “how” you will get it done. The marketing plan must directly support and tie into your business plan… there’s no place for autonomy here.

As far as I’m concerned, a plan is not a plan unless it’s written down… just having it in your head doesn’t work effectively... I’m sorry to break it to you. Additionally, it’s not a viable plan unless it is shared with and supported by your team. Just like sports, business simply happens better with a team approach. Accountants, Coaches, shipping companies, your staff… these are all members of your team… get them involved... give them a chance to help you further your cause.

Third, diligently work your plan.

It’s not enough to create a plan and then file it away somewhere to collect dust. You need to diligently work that plan… making adjustments as needed along the way… all the while keeping your eye on the prize… that is, what it is you want.

So in closing, please know that there are no shortcuts here… you need all three of these components to purposely manifest what you want for your small business. If you’re unclear on how to approach these three steps, don’t be shy, get some help… bring in a coach or a consultant to help you make it happen. Bottom line is don’t be a victim of circumstance… create your business on purpose!

© 2008 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then you won’t want to miss Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' (www.MotivationalMarketer.com). Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute' (www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com/marketingminute), -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

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