If you want to be successful in business and in life, the more connected you are, the better. It’s a simple fact.
One of the most powerful aspects of social media is in its ability to connect you with new people. To expand your network and grow your reach.
One even more potentially powerful aspect is its ability for you to help connect other people to each other and to help expand their networks as well.
Sometimes it really amazes me that we have such powerful, free networking tools sitting there at our disposal that allow us to do so much good and have so much potential at just a couple clicks or a Retweet, and yet, so many of us are just sitting there letting it all go to waste watching that stupid timer count down in Mafia Wars, or some other equally useless time sucking activity.
Am I making you feel just a little bit guilty yet? Good.
Ok, so here is my plan.
It’s pretty easy and not very time consuming, so you can do this once a week and then get back to your game, or picking lint from your belly button or whatever it was you were doing.
Follow Friday
I got this idea after reading one of Chris Brogan’s blog posts regarding Follow Friday on Twitter.
Follow Friday (aka. #ff or also sometimes know as Favorite Friend Friday) is something Twitter users started doing every Friday, where they post Tweets that include only a list of user names for their favorite friends. The way to identify these Tweets is by the #ff keyword they include along with all the user names. The point is basically to give a shout out and promote their favorite friends to their follower lists and the result is exposure and potentially more followers for those friends that got Tweeted.
The problem though with these #ff Tweets is that they are usually just a bunch of user names and they don’t include any way to describe to anyone why these people are special and worth following, other than the fact that you are Tweeting them and thus have your cool stamp of approval.
What Chris proposed and what I would like to make a habit of doing is, instead of firing off a huge list of user names in an #ff Tweet, instead get in the habit of posting a link to a blog post every Friday that talks about some of the interesting people you discovered over the past week, or that you think are noteworthy.
So without further ado, here is my weekly #ff list of people I met and/or networked with this week.
The Tightrope
My good friend Dan Filbin is in the process of directing a documentary on mental illness called “The Tightrope” and I think it’s turning out to be something really special.
He is currently looking for people to interview as well as seeking funding and it looks like he is on his way to an amazing first film. If you are in any way involved in the mental health profession, this would be an excellent way to get involved and do something positive for a great cause.
You can lean more about The Tightrope on the website or on the Facebook page.
Lauren Becker
Lauren is a freelance writer who is currently putting together a non-fiction project entitled “New Yorkers for a Day: Memories of 9/11 from Around the World” that will be published next year. She is currently seeking essay submissions, so if you think you have something to contribute, you can contact her via her website:
Zack Stokes
To say that Zack Stokes is an incredible musician would be an understatement. I helped Zack produce his first demo on a laptop and two mics a few years back and he is now in the process of mixing his first full length album to shop to the labels and is also seeking representation.
Having been a musician myself and speaking from many years of experience, I can honestly say that if you are a record label, you would be a complete idiot to pass up the opportunity to snatch Zack up. Do it before it is too late or before he decides he doesn’t need you after all.
You can check out some of his music on his Facebook page or follow Zack on Twitter
Pascal Eggert
Pascal is a designer and new coworker that I met last week and as it turns out, besides being a cool guy with a nice car, is an AMAZING 3D weapon designer. You can check out his work, including his very intimidating looking new design “Thor” on his website or follow him on Twitter
Brendan Winans
Brendan is a realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Westminster, CO. He was so kind as to offer a truckload of free real estate advice for a marketing project I was working on and is a true professional, so I owe him a huge thanks. You can check Brendan’s website or follow him on Twitter
Biznik
I stumbled across Biznik the other day (it’s tag line is “Business Networking that Doesn’t Suck”) and so I decided to strike up a conversation about Self Branding. As a result, I got some feedback from some really interesting and helpful people, so I thought I would give them a shout out below:
Suzy Griffin
Speaking of networking! Suzy is the Community Manager at Weedle.com a new site that helps you connect with people who need your skills. I just signed up and am looking around. You should check it out.
Biznik, Twitter
Maximus Kang
Maximus specializes in small business SEO consulting
Biznik, Twitter
Judy Dunn
Judy is a copywriter and runs her own website Cat’s Eye Writer
Biznik, Twitter
Michael Irving
Michael is a designer and Creative Project Manager from Overland Park, Kansas
Biznik
Ken Mears
Ken is marketer for a Xerox Sales Company in Gainesville FLA called Office Automation Inc.
Biznik, Twitter
Have you met anyone interesting this week? Maybe someone who needs a little help, or motivated you in a positive way, or maybe just moves the needle and deserves paying attention to? Do them a huge favor and give theses people a shout out once a week.
Do you have a personal networking success story you would like to share? Feel free to leave a comment and tell me about it.
