Social Media and Relationships

Image by HubSpot via Flickr

Are you tapping into the Social Media market?  Are you having success?  Or are you still wondering how to make social media work for you.

Building relationships online is not to much different from building an in person, face to face relationship.  Here are a few tips that I think will go along way to foster and build good long lasting mutual benefiting online relationship.

-  Think about meeting someone in person.  You are either introduced or you introduce yourself.  Meeting someone online should not be any different.  So why do people not add a message on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter,etc. to introduce themselves when requesting to connect and/or be your friend?  Unless it is totally obvious* a brief message only takes a few seconds and gets the relationship off on the right foot.  (*Just because you and someone else have 42 mutual friends does not mean a person wants to add you to their network.)

-  So someone accepts your friend request, what do you do?  Do you say thank you?  It would be a nice gesture and it starts to engage your new acquaintance.   By doing this, you are extending your hand in friendship.  To me this is equal to the in person handshake.  

- Ever heard the term, 'to have a friend, you have to be a friend.'  Friends help each other.  Offer your new acquaintance something of value.  Do a little research to find out their interests.  Share some information, link, article, etc. that relates to their interest. This furthers engages your new acquaintance.

-  Show you care.  Make positive comments regarding their posts.  Visit their website (if they have one) and/or their blog.  Sign their guest book.  Comment on their latest blog.  This shows that you really care and are interested in them.

-  Keep in touch.  One of the features that I like on Facebook is the one that shows me a  friend's page that hasn't posted in a while.  It's a good opportunity to  drop by their page to say hello, check in, make sure that everything is OK in their world.

These are just a few things that can be done to build online relationships.  I believe using old fashion manners, i.e. 'nice to meet you, please, and thank you,' etc. will go a long way in building long lasting mutual benefiting online relationships.

Please share with us what other things you have found that have helped you to build relationships online?

Here are my links:

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/paintedladyenterprises

Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/paintedladyenterprises

Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/paintedladyent

Send me a note, please, when you send your request. ;)

In appreciation,
Annette
Painted Lady Enterprises
"Helping You and Your Business Look Good'

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