Category: Business-Social Media

Social Networking For Those Of Us Who Are Not Particularly Social

Does social networking work for those of us who are not particularly social? What about those of us who are private by nature or have concerns regarding privacy in general? Are any of these platforms great places for introverts to hang out? The simple fact is, you can be effective on social networking sites and you don’t have to be particularly social in order to be so.

I know this to be true because I meet or exceed all of the above mentioned concerns. My focus tends to be task oriented. I’m intently private with all those who I am not close to. My cynical nature constantly fuels my privacy concerns. That being said, there is a HUGE difference between somebody who is social on the surface and somebody who is relationship oriented to the bone. Who will be more successful in the long run? The social butterfly who flits from person to person at a party or the relationship-builder who has deep and meaningful conversations with the few? Continue reading “Social Networking For Those Of Us Who Are Not Particularly Social”

Behold …. The Power Of Networking!

Last week was a fairly important one for me. I had the privilege of conducting a workshop at Meridian Business Day and next Wednesday we will have a table at the Ultra Clean Smoke Out. While preparations for all of these were going on, another opportunity presented itself and then rapidly became a reality. I had looked at Meridian Business Day as a chance to perhaps re-wet my feet in an arena that I was successful in some 20 years ago …. workshops and seminars. Instead, it became a vehicle for the soft announcement of those services as well as my recent designation as Idaho’s first authorized “Nimble SCRM Solutions Partner” which is a venture that I will team with SEN Technologies. Somehow, somewhere, the memo I wrote myself about slowing down got lost. Continue reading “Behold …. The Power Of Networking!”

UltraClean Smoke Out – 32 Business Tips

I attended the UltraClean Smoke Out yesterday as I do every month. This time it was sponsored by Sprague Solutions with help from a number of local vendors including Redline Recreational Toys (where the event is held), Event Rent who provides the tables and chairs, and Qdoba who was this month’s featured food vendor. Incidentally, UltraClean, Sprague Solutions, and Event Rent are all NetWorks! Boise Valley members.  If you have not attended this event in awhile, it’s a great time to start back up! The venue is excellent, the crowds are smaller and of a higher caliber, and the guest speakers are dynamite! Education, networking, and food? How can you go wrong?

The panel today was composed of:

Steven Nipper – nipper@stephennipper.com, Twitter – @nipper, http://www.linkedin.com/in/nipper Continue reading “UltraClean Smoke Out – 32 Business Tips”

Networking Remains A Contact Sport

I really wanted to use a picture of a fight but …………. (smile). With all the hype surrounding Social media as a way to make contacts, it reminds me that it is even more important to meet contacts. As others have properly pointed out, it’s not about numbers, it is about conversions. And, in my experience, conversions occur face-to-face. Networking is still very much about “pressing the flesh” and “meet and greet”. Why do you think they have TweetUps? Even good little Tweeple recognize that, at some point, they are actually going to have to speak to each other in order to take the relationship to the next higher level (smile).

What social media really is, as Justin Foster puts so well, “old rules, new tools.”  It’s still communication. Social media excels in the areas of branding and initiating some form of contact. Case in point. I was having coffee with Jacob Nordby the other day and as some people were leaving he stopped this one gal and said “Aren’t you …..”. And, yes, she was. They had never met but recognized each other from Twitter. This is a result of branding. Jacob was initiating a form of contact. Mission accomplished. And there are many avenues to get to that goal. Honestly, while social media can be a lot of work, by the same token it encourages folks to be lazy where it counts. Here are some of my favorite, and proven, old school methods: Continue reading “Networking Remains A Contact Sport”

Hello Social Media – Buh Bye Networking Groups?

Disclaimer: I am a traditional networker who has been studying social media heavily for the last six months only. And, I am still learning more and more daily. My expectations and feelings about this phenomena change just about as often. As such, certainly what follows is merely my perceptions on this topic at this specific snapshot of time. There will quite likely be those who will read this and say “That idiot just does not get it yet!”. To which I would respond…. “O.K.” (smile). I also enjoy playing “devil’s advocate” and the devil in me just loves to “stir the chili”.

Let’s see now, traditional networking groups have been around since ……. well, a real real long time. Dinosaurs were around a long time too. And now? They be gone (smile). Evolution is a funny thing. So are the axioms “survival of the fittest” and “only the strongest will survive”. Therefore, with the explosion of Social Media, Business-Social Media, Internet Networking, whatever you want to name it, how does that bode for the traditional networking group? It’s gonna’ “bode” one way or another. The question becomes ….. will it bode well, bode badly, or have little or no affect? Continue reading “Hello Social Media – Buh Bye Networking Groups?”