Hello? Are you looking for me?

In previous Social Media Masterclass installments we discussed connecting with your clients, partners and employees as your first outreach activity. Ideally connecting with this group should be quite easy and embolden you for the next outreach activity.

Social Media Masterclass

In previous Social Media Masterclass installments we discussed connecting with your clients, partners and employees as your first outreach activity. Ideally connecting with this group should be quite easy and embolden you for the next outreach activity. Once you’re ready for the next step, here are two scenarios that you can consider:

Birds of a Feather

The Birds of a Feather scenario is an extension of the clients, partners and employees activity but this time you’re connecting with people you do not have an existing relationship with. These people should be within your discipline or a complimentary one. When you read the postings from this group they should sound quite familiar to you. You can readily imagine meeting these folks for a coffee or beer after work and be quite comfortable with the knowledge that you two could talk shop. The idea with this scenario is to connect with like-minded folks and extend your network to folks who have similar needs as yours.

Although, it might sound glib to say “meet these folks for a beer and talk shop” — this is not a flippant statement. The best thing you can do for your social media presence is to log off and meet your new connections face to face. Remember, the point of this whole social media thing is expand your professional network and engage in meaningful conversations around a given topic — not to rack up some high score like a social pinball game.

Big Game Hunt

The Big Game Hunt scenario is just what it says but instead of hunting water buffalos or zebras — you’re hunting the Glitterati of the social media world. Looking to expand your presence into faraway lands and rocket launch your identity into the stratosphere — this is your plan. A cautionary note, the Glitterati didn’t become the Glitterati overnight. They’ve spent considerable time nurturing and growing their online presence so if you try to get them to re-Tweet your promotional offer for half-off roofing and they don’t know who you are, the likelihood that they will do as you wish is slim to none. Even worse is that you could be reported as a spammer.

So what’s a keener like you to do? Here are some tactics you might want to try: engage with the folks the Glitterati engage with, participate in the same Google hangouts and Twitter chats as they participate in, post a comment on their blog or re-Tweet them. At the end of the day, the Glitterati are much like you and me, they’re looking to share their experience with the world and learn a thing or two along the way. So, help spread the Glitterati’s content with your network (judiciously and when relevant) and in turn post great content to your network. So, when the Glitterati checks out the person who is spreading the love they can see you are person with great insight and will want to engage with you.

Let’s Begin

There is an obvious sequence to these two scenarios. First, try your hand at the Birds of a Feather. Then, when you’re comfortable engaging with folks online, you’ve built a respectable following and you’re used to the content production cycle that is necessary to power a growing social media presence, go for the Big Game. However, if you treat your Birds nicely you might find out that the Glitterati are more interested in you than you are in them.

Social Media Masterclass is a collaborative initiative developed by Reed Construction Data and EllisDon. Christine Zakrajsek is EllisDon’s social media manager. Social Media Masterclass appears every Monday in the Daily Commercial News and the Journal of Commerce. Please send any emails to editor@dailycommercialnews.com or editor@journalofcommerce.com