Archive for the ‘social networking’ Category

Recently I started selling complete website packages especially for Virtual Assistants.  It is a website package that grows with their business and offers a ton of add-ons that do not require them to pay an additional fee for those services, such as a newsletter manager.  This is a great service for virtual assistants.

Anyway, I belong to a forum that is specifically for virtual assistants and they allow signature lines. Well a signature line is a highly regarded way of marketing your services without advertising.  I changed my signature line about a week ago to link to my VA websites and I got banned last night for three months from that forum. In their defense, I will say that it was my fault because I forgot about this being a no-no according to their terms of service. We are required to read the terms of service and agree to them before we can even post, which I did.

I’m taking full responsibility for my actions because it was my fault but here is what went wrong.  I was not notified at all before my ban. Had I been notified of my misdeed, I would’ve apologized immediately and changed my signature line back to my VA website, as would most people.

When you own a membership site, you expect all the members to respect you and your terms of service and polices. However, owning a membership site also means that you need to show your members the same courtesy by respecting them and their business.

If there comes a time where a member needs to be reprimanded for something, do not do it publicly.  That is extremely disrespectful and rude. Handle it as a private message or email.  If you feel they are violating terms of service or any other policy that you may have in place, sending a friendly reminder to them is just common courtesy. We are all human and with all the information that is available and all the things that we see on a daily basis, it may be difficult for us to remember EVERYTHING that we read and see.  If you reprimand them or remind them about what they are doing wrong and they still do not fix it within 24 hours or if your terms of use state that certain offenses will be banned without notice – things like profanity, abuse, overt spam, etc., then and only then is it appropriate to ban them from your site.

A membership site can be extremely rewarding, because not only are you getting to meet new people, but you are also learning from their experiences.  The secret to a successful membership site is having great information and extending common courtesy to your members.

Somebody once said that having a membership site is like inviting people into your living room.  When you invite people into your living room you expect a degree of respect but those who are in your living room also have the right to expect that same degree of respect from you.

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With all the online buzz about the US economy and the upcoming historic presidential election, it is tough for people to not get involved.  We all know that this presidential election has gotten some major publicity and has recruited people, such as myself, that don’t normally get involved in politics to have an opinion.

Right now, when visiting any social networking sites, it is inevitable that you will find a debate about the election or the bailout.  Everybody has an opinion, whether it’s the right opinion or not doesn’t matter.  What does matter is how you handle yourself when doing these debates and how it portrays you and your business.  It’s okay to have an opinion and I am all for freedom of speech and voicing one’s opinion but you have to watch how you approach the subject.

Don’t Read It-If you belong to a social networking site and one of the topics is politics and you are not interested then don’t waste time reading it.  If you open a topic that plainly says it’s about politics and you post that you think it’s disgraceful that they would even discuss this on a public forum, you will lose respect because nobody made you open it.  You are your own person and you choose your own actions.

Keep It Civil- Politics and religion are extremely hot topics, especially right now. If you feel the need to voice your opinion about those subjects, do it.  However, be polite-no name-calling, swearing, screaming etc. Yes, it is possible to scream in text. Don’t attack.  When I say attack, I mean don’t criticize their spelling, their grammar or their lack of paragraph spacing.

Listen- Voice your opinion but also listen to what your debater has to say.  Don’t just say it’s my way or the highway.  You’d be surprised, most people do have value to add to the debate.

Read, and Re-read and Re-read again- Before you hit that submit button read, re-read, and re-read again what you wrote. Does it sound condescending, could you possibly be seen as being defensive, rude, or ignorant. If it does, re-write it and then again re-read what you wrote.

Walk Away-If you can feel your blood pressure rising and your anger meter going up, walk away. It does wonders for your respect and credibility when you walk away.

Don’t Let Antagonists Get The Best Of You- One of the issues you may deal with when walking away is you will get people emailing, sending PMs etc telling you additional details of the debate since you walked away.  Many times, they do this because they live for the drama that these debates create.  They are bored with their own lives and they don’t want to make themselves look bad so they will find somebody who is involved in the debate and latch onto them just to keep the flame burning.

Don’t Add Flame To The Fire- On the flip side, don’t be the person trying to get the debaters into round 2.  Not only will it make the debater look bad, but once the drama is all over, it may backfire and make you look bad as well.

I have lost respect for debaters who have not followed these simple rules. I also know several people including myself who will not do business with these debaters who have the mindset of it’s my way or the highway.

I’m all for freedom of speech and a friendly debate as long as it remains civil.  If it starts to get rough, walk away.  You can stand behind your beliefs without becoming defensive, condescending, or nasty. Remember, your posts are public and are more than likely indexed by the search engines.  Don’t say something that you wouldn’t want your mother to read and don’t say something that could come back to bite you in a couple of years because we all know, once your responses are indexed they never go away. Online, YOUR reputation is your business reputation, so don’t mess it up over a political or religious disagreement.

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With so many different social networking sites on the internet it can be difficult to decide which ones to become a member of. It doesn’t have to be.

Each site has its faithful followers that will swear by them and talk them up until they are blue in the face just to convince you to join. While referral is very powerful you shouldn’t take only the advice of associates. Each person is different and each person has their own style. What one person absolutely loves and adores another person could despise it. So how does one decide which is best for them?

Research- Talk to friends and colleagues about what their favorite networking sites are. Chances are you will receive a long list that will vary from person to person. Pay attention to which ones pop up most and check those out first.

Goals-Decide what you hope to accomplish when online networking. Is it more clients, more blog hits, more website visits, more interactivity etc. Once you decide that, you can proceed further and start testing the ones to see which ones give you the outcome you hoped for.

Test Drive-Once you receive a list of the most popular ones, see if they offer free trials. Some sites give you full features for free, some do not. Some give you a limited time, some don’t. If you don’t have a lot of time to give to online networking, spend the most time on the ones with time limit trials. Once you have spent time test driving, you will have the ability to make a decision as to which ones are worthwhile and which ones are not. In order to come to an accurate conclusion as to whether they are worthwhile, you must actively participate.

Paying VS Free- This is a controversial issue. You will have people who say you need to pay for membership to add to your credibility. Not so! Your credibility goes by how much you participate, how you handle yourself and how you portray yourself and your business online. This is why I say test-drive them first. Especially on a shoestring budget you can not afford to hand over your hard earned cash based on just referrals. If you have been on a site and you haven’t gotten any responses to any posts, connections to any colleagues etc you may not want to pay for membership because obviously not enough people participate on it to make it a wise investment.

Social networking sites are one of the best places to market your business. However, with so many different options out there, you need to do your due diligence. Find the ones that fit your style, personality and budget. Don’t let anybody tell you different. If you become a member of sites you do not like, you will find yourself either dreading the networking or completely neglecting it. Networking online can be fun and rewarding but you have to go with your gut to be successful at it.

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Social networking sites are the new craze among small businesses because there is the potential to reach clients of all cultures, countries, and areas.  Now some of these sites require a membership fee that allows those who pay for it additional features.  Ryze allows paid members the ability to own their own groups as well as other features.  Fast Pitch allows paid members the ability to make connections and chat live with potential clients as well as create groups. If it wasn’t for those features, they would probably go in the red quickly.

These groups allow owners to get more marketing and visibility easily. Owning a group requires a lot of work and dedication, that is why many times you will see the owners asking for other members to participate frequently, become moderators, and do a thread weekly, dedicated to something that they are experts in.  This all helps those participants get exposure as well as providing content for the group.

Here is where the issue lies, those same groups owners have a tendency to let the authority go to their heads.  Yes, they do pay the fee to own these groups but without the participation of other members and the content they provide, those groups would be closing up shop quickly. At one time, owning a group was compared to owning a TV network.  The comparison was that the TV is not for entertaining, it’s for advertising. However, this analogy isn’t true.  We are seeing it all the time, new shows begin but if they are not doing a good job in the ratings, they are discontinued. It’s not because they are not getting advertisers, it is because they are not getting the people to watch the shows.  There is one huge difference between TV networks and some group owners, the TV networks actually listen to their viewers instead of going on the defense, they try to find what their viewers are interested in. That is good business!

When owning a group on social networking sites, while it is appropriate to show your authority when necessary, such as vulgarities, obscenities, arguing, etc.  It is inappropriate to show your authority just because somebody disagrees with you.  It is inappropriate to think that just because you are the owner, you are the only one that matters.  It is inappropriate to flat out say that your group is strictly about you because if it wasn’t for the other members, there would be no network, there would be no exposure, all that would be there is a group taking up space on the site server. Also, when you own a group instead of having the mindset that it is your network and you can do what you want, go with the mindset that it is your group and I better make a darn good impression on people.

Good network, forum, and group owners set rules that they expect their members to abide by. But they abide by them also. If they expect the members to not advertise, then the leaders do not do that either. If they expect them to not send unsolicited emails, they respect that rule themselves. They use the power of owning that venue in ways that show the members that they won’t abuse the privilege.

It really isn’t about you. It is about them. When you make it about them, it benefits you more.

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