Social Media has been around for a while now, many businesses have jumped on the bandwagon and are actively networking using sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  With all this information around about how to do it, why are so many still getting it wrong and using it as a platform to try and directly sell to us?

It’s one of my pet hates to check up on a group in LinkedIn and find it is littered with posts telling everyone how fantastic they are and how they can help them and their business, please stop it.  It does worry me that if it continues to be flooded with self-promotion then people will just simply get fed up with the whole thing.  It seems the whole givers gain philosophy has been twisted around the wrong way and people are simply out to see what they can get.  It really ruins the whole experience for so many people.

Another (and there are many) pet hate is being bombarded with spam via the social networks, yes I connected with you because I am interested in what you have to say, yes I want to learn more about your business, but no I don’t want a daily email trying to persuade me to spend money with your company.  In fact I am far less likely to do business with someone who is trying to shove it down my throat (unless it’s ice cream – I might make an exception there).

Social networking is about building relationships with people, it’s about creating an awareness of your brand amongst your network in the hope that they will spread the word, it’s about knowledge sharing and helping eachother to succeed in business.  You don’t need to blatantly sell to people. You will gain far more by taking the approach you would with an offline networking group because if you help people out by putting them in touch with someone useful or giving them some free advice then you can bet when they need your services in the future, you will be the first person they think of.

That’s it, rant over.  I’m off to Facebook

LinkedIn differs from most social networking sites in that it is expressly designed for business use. While many other social media sites can also be used for business, LinkedIn specialises in it and welcomes those looking for professional  networking opportunities with open arms.