Turn your offline contacts into lifetime connections

I've gone to many networking events in the past few months and have acquired many different business cards and contacts along the way. The first thing I always do is connect with these people on LinkedIn, because then I know they will always be a connection and not a business card stuck in a pile somewhere. What amazes me is that not many people do the same. In fact only a tiny % connect with me on LinkedIn. Maybe they are just not interested in me as a connection (they seem very enthusiastic at the time!) or maybe because I'm wired in the social media way, this to me it is the next natural step. As people are constantly changing jobs, you may find in the future they are working for a company you would like to do business with. The beauty about LinkedIn is while people change jobs, their profile remains constant and is updated with new changes. Make your networking count and connect with the contacts you make on LinkedIn If you need company pages set up, monthly social media management or an overhaul of your social media efforts, call me, Marian on 07594 969529 or email marian@flourishwithsocialmedia.co.uk The End

Finally I'm an expert....

My son said last week ' Mom, you know how you are an expert in..............' Hurrah, I thought! Before he had divulged my area of expertise, my mind wandered and I thought, finally, the kids see me as an expert in something other than looking after their countless needs, though often they are forthcoming with many criticisms in that area too. I concluded that they see me walking, talking, living and breathing all things social media, early in the morning and late into the night, so they have to think 'Mom is a social media expert!'. Woohoo! They see the books piled high, 'The Business of Being Social', 'Socialnomics', 'Likeable Social Media', to name but a few. On top of the many books are reports, social media magazines, white papers and tutorials slowly engulfing the house.  They see me trawling through newspapers trying to capture the latest news on all things positive and negative about social media, cutting out the relevant articles on how social media has made a practical positive difference to businesses using it. Printing off blog posts relating to the many different aspects of social media including, increasing Facebook Likes, how social media can increase your turnover, leveraging your testimonials and recommendations, engaging content to share with your followers.....the list is endless. So you can imagine my utter disappointment on the one hand (and slight joy on the other) when my son said 'Mom, you know how you are an expert in ....baking!' Ok, so it's not the area of expertise I've been focusing all my energies on but it was nice to know our Saturday afternoon baking sessions were giving my son a whole new assessment of his mother. One day they will see me as an expert in social media, but until then, I will have to continue to deepen my knowledge.....now I'm off to Hootsuite University