Our granddaughter Annabel gets it: just put on a pink tutu and smile! Everyone else smiles, too. Works every time. For those of us without Annabel's magnetic presence, however, social networking's all the buzz . . . (is "buzz" still hip enough to mention in an attempt at hip communication? Is "hip" hip enough?).
Pressing questions about social networking for business applications: Which apps to use: Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter, or the whole bunch? Others? Is your blog the dog or the tail of social networking? How to find time to create the content for even one? How to find time to keep up with others' entries? How to get entries in one app to feed to other apps?
Fun stuff, this. Lots of nifty applications, but is it better use of time than face-to-face meetings (or at least phone calls) with biz contacts and (dare I say) clients, customers, and prospects?
That's an easy question, but misses the point. J. Paul Meyer suggests three acceptable behaviors for sales folks: 1. being in front of people; 2. making appointments to be in front of people; and 3. finding people to make appointments with. Here's a cool aspect: social networking apps help with 1. and 3. Using these apps may seem confusing, hard to organize, time-consuming, and frivolous at first, but so did writing and "personal" computing.
Do you get this? I think I do. And if I don't, or if you don't, the best advise is to follow Annabel's lead: put on a pink tutu, look over your shoulder, and smile!
