Reaching Out

It is the question I am continually asked. Yes, me, the beginner! I don’t believe it but I am. Suppose I am seasoned now in these very fast paced lives of ours, Data Analytics?!!. I actually called myself a social media person the other day .

Oh dear… we have this tragic love affair with our technology and it is having a snowballing affect on our lives everywhere. Now we need to social network to find a dollar. It is not what you know, it is who you know. But even now, it is not just who you know, you still have to be able to show the what you know or otherwise you are at a standstill. And social networking is the way people are doing it.

How do I do it? How do I social network? You are feeling very frustrated. There you are sitting in front of the computer, filled in your profile and connected to the colleagues you know. Then comes the question, how do I build up that network so I can reach out to people and people will reach out to me to help me in my situation?

Number 1. The most important thing is you must keep remembering, why am I social networking? Why am I here in this space? Am I here to find a job, to build up my business, to be an open networker, to find like minded people, to find a mentor, or just to stay connected with my colleagues and friends? And do consider why these people are networking as they may not be networking for the same reason as you.

Number 2. Your profile. No dodgy photos, we must be able to see your face and think about who you want to attract with your photo. If you are out to find a partner, then go for it but remember others are also looking at your photo and those connected to you who have to see your network updates all the time. Luckily for “hide network updates” and “stop following”, not that I have any of these on my network .

Fill in every section of your profile, do not leave any of the sections empty or missing. Summaries of your achievements in your jobs. There is no use just putting where you worked and your recommendations. What are you being recommended for? If you have other interests, include them. Tell people what you want them to know about you.

If these are not done then who are you? A slice of profile amongst the other 55 million you are competing against? I go into detail about building a profile in LinkedIn, The Campaign Begins and My Personal Brand. Read them, over and over again if you must. These are the questions you must ask yourself.

This will not take a day, a weekend or even a week for that matter. This will take time, you do have to do some deep thinking and maybe even some soul searching. Who do you want to portray and can you do it in real life. No use saying you are upbeat when you are a grumpy bastard . Focus on the positives and your achievements. Once you get there, there will be a clear direction and you will know .

Number 3. Invitations. DO NOT send generic invitations. I don’t know how many posts I have seen about this topic, it is sooo…boring but I have to bring the topic a front as well . Yes, I have been an offender but I have learnt and now I am teaching you. Do send these to your colleagues and your friends but nobody else. Think about it this way, would you want to connect to somebody without even knowing who they were? You may have nothing in common and may not fulfil each others needs. We are being social here, there is always give and take. Whether the satisfaction of reaching out to helping others or to have shared interests or a business relationship with monetary value.

So how do I connect to people? You can go in cold. Introduce yourself, why their profile interested you, why you want to be connected to them and how you can help each other. Many people will accept these invitations and will appreciate your initiative.

Recruiters. Aim only for those in the local area. Send them a note asking if they would preview your profile so you could send them your resume. Once you have been able to send the resume, ask if you can meet with them. Meeting is good, they are always going to remember you. And always remember if you have met a recruiter offline to ask if you can send them an invitation. If you cannot meet with them ask if you can send them an invitation and reasons for connecting with them.

Those who maybe able to help you on your quest. Interact. This why others are social networking, to connect to people of interest. If you don’t interact, how are people going to know that you are interesting? Send offline notes before asking if you could send them an invitation. You never know they may send you the invitation first. Or you find that you have nothing in common and lose interest. Hmmm, that’s probably why I have some unaccepted invitations, I don’t practice what I preach .

The easiest way is to become an open networker or send invitations to open networkers and usually they will accept your generic invitations. These people are easy to find as they have their email address or LION as part of their headliner. If you want to expand your network quickly then go this route. I am connected to open networkers but these are people I have met.

I am a business analyst struggling to find that job and telling my story along the way, I am not trying to find other business. The satisfaction I receive from being in the social media is knowing I have been able to reach out to people in my blog with my story, my data analytics and my rants. This is my reward, if other things occur with my social media efforts then this will be a bonus.

Number 4. Interact. How do I find these people and how do I interact with them? Join groups, join as many groups as possible, doesn’t matter what size they are, actually the smaller the better, a more attentive audience. Follow the discussions. Get weekly email for updates from your groups so you can scan through the discussion list, you will eventually find a topic of interest.

You have searched for weeks, which means you have not tried hard enough, and you finally find a topic you can comment on but you don’t want to leave a comment. Think first what type of comment it is going to be. Are you going to agree with the author or disagree? If you agree with the author then reply privately. If you disagree, find somebody who has left a comment with the same conclusions as your own and reply to them privately. Then continue the conversation offline.

Please do reach out to people that have the same interests as your own. No good reaching out to business analyst if you are not one or you believe the person may be able to help you but they are social networking for their own purposes. You must have common interests and benefits that each can perceive. If you want people to reach out to you then you will have to leave a comment. Doesn’t matter if it is a failed comment like mine, Being Proactive. The connection I made then, this person still mentors me today .

The best way to have people reach out to you is to post your own discussions. But what type of discussion will I post? Think about what makes you passioned. I am passioned about finding that job so I am posting my story about finding that job and my data analytics to show people what I have been doing and can do. Doesn’t matter what you post, even if you are wanting to connect to like minded people, as long as you have passion for it. There are groups out there that cater for everybody’s needs.

Do not be afraid to post, do direct your posting to the correct group and the correct space, discussions, news or jobs section. Do not SPAM in one group, people will start ignoring your postings. If the group leader says something about your posting, shrug your shoulders and move on. There are so many postings out there that your one is not going to make a difference. Do not be disappointed if nobody responds. If you post in enough groups then you a bound to get a response somewhere.

I have been very lucky, I have had many, many people reach out to me through my postings. Each person has had a positive effect on my journey and I thank them all very much. Posting your own discussions will attract like minded people and those who are willing to help.

This is only a small glimpse into what I have learnt along this journey of mine. I could go on forever and I have gone well past my 1500 words. I am sure there is so much advice in the cyber world that this little post will also get lost in the many other postings but this is what I have experienced on my journey, some good, some bad.

Good luck with your social networking efforts. Enjoy this new journey you are on, there are so many interesting people out there ready and willing to reach out to you but you have to make the effort. No good putting a partial profile up and then just sitting there expecting something to happen for you. It doesn’t work that way, you have to be social and work hard at it. You will make mistakes but that is part of the learning process, in the end, all the pain will make this one of the most rewarding journeys you will travel .