I’m just finishing a great book about doing social media right called “Jab, Jab, Jab – Right Hook” by Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary makes the point over & over that social media is not the place for the hard sell (the right hook) until you’ve softened up your audience with a series of interesting, funny, non-salesy channel-appropriate posts or tweets (jabs).
Earlier in the week at my local chamber of commerce networking luncheon, a good friend and mentor of mine, Glenn Marthens of Milton Terry gave us an insight into how he built his business into the success it is (Morris County Small Business of the year for 2010). He barely advertises, barely markets and attributes all his success to networking. His networking philosophy boils down to a simple formula – “Align with people who have the same values and then Give, Give, Give – Get”
“Jab, Jab, Jab – Right Hook” “Give, Give, Give – Get” notice the similarity? Could it be that social media & networking are similar after all?
Of course it does! Despite their differences many of the same principles apply to both social media and networking:
- You have to be in them for the long term. There’s no instant gratification with either social media or networking but they do pay off over time.
- Both rely on you-being-you! Phonies are obvious in both social media and networking
- Both are free (or at least low cost) but time consuming. There’s no excuse about lack of money – it’s much more about time and commitment.
- When done correctly social media & networking are FUN! So much more fun than doing hundreds of cold calls a week, just to keep the funnel full.
You might have seen some other similarities between social media and face-to-face networking – tell me about them below.
Posted by John Tully
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