1. Begin with a Profile
2. Leverage your Presence
3. Work as a Hub

Begin with a Profile

There are countless people who build a profile and then let it sit… this passive approach won’t work. Just like your phone doesn’t ring, you won’t get much out of building a profile and leaving it alone. A few thoughts on profile building:

• Use a good picture - pics are standard now, and not having one reads as absence – especially in sales.
• Be in the Right Networks - Consider your use of Linkedin (no brainer), Facebook, Twitter… you need to be where your market already is. Do some searching around to find your spot(s).
• Be Active – Update, post, use, build and change your profile; make yourself visible and interesting (and professional).
• Keep it 1st Person – Avoid the 3rd person narrative of “Carson is a dedicated…”, Use ‘I’ and ‘my’.

Leverage Your Presence

Now that you have a profile, you need to actively build out your network. As I have said before, with Sales2.0, there is no prospecting – it is simply networking:

• Search for and connect with all your customers on social media platforms
• Search for and connect with your top prospects
• Business Development: Seek new contacts by profile searching for your ideal contact, reach out with a simple message – not a pitch
• Join appropriate groups to expand your network and connect with target industry professionals
• Use RSS feeds to share information with your network

Work as a Hub

Once you have been actively operating on social media platforms, the next level is to operate as a hub or central node of your network. What it means to be a “hub” depends on your business and your role as a seller within it.

• For a sales force rep- operating as a hub is more of a central network node – someone who is well connected, someone with information to share and is considered a source or a conduit.
• For a business owner or solo entrepreneur – working as a hub means to build a core – like a blog, or a group or a specific network, a virtual place or destination for people when they are online to access what you know and share what they have.

These are the 3 main concepts behind sales and social networking – which level are you currently operating from?

Do you have a Google profile? I’d be interested to see it and understand how people are using it differently than Facebook or Linkedin. I think it begs the question – just how many profiles does a person need? Or on the flipside, is the idea of a singular profile even important?

All these social media profiles are really a venue to demonstrate personal brand. Is it difficult to demonstrate consistency through multiple profiles? Is it an issue of redundancy? Is each profile a specifically different media and therefore merits a different “flavor” of personal brand?

I’d like your help in thinking this out… please let me know your thoughts!