Make Friends, Not Suckers

The last thing someone wants to feel like is a sucker. Well, with the surge of network marketers leveraging social media marketing these days, far too many are turning what they intend to be a friend into a sucker.

What I've seen in the social media arena is where people befriend someone and before you know it, they are sending their "new" friends a request to join their home business.

What really kills me and their chance of having success is to understand what social media is all about. What they are not getting is it's about being "social".

Nowhere is it called "sales media". It's a shame as that's what we are seeing these days where so-called entrepreneurs are using it for this particular (wrong) purpose.

Their new friends are soon feeling like a sucker.

When they accepted your friendship request, something about you interested them. Perhaps the pictures you posted in your bio or the people in your network.

The good news is you're off to a great start. You've attracted others too - job well done.

The minute we see promoting someone's business before they've even met you, is the minute they've just burned down that bridge - to a crisp!

The better approach would be to provide your audience with value they can chew on and digest. Make it really tasty for them that they'll want to stay connected with you.

Does this mean they are going to buy your product(s) or join your business opportunity? Maybe, but most likely not.

What this means is they want to learn more about you and to see how true you are to what they've been drawn to. How you do this is based on the information you provide to your audience and connect with them.

Imagine you've created a friendship with someone and they like what they've seen thus far.

They decide to reach out to you, but only you NEVER connect back with them. Sorry friend - you just burned that bridge down.

Whenever I'm working with anyone in the social media realm, I am always thinking about what my audience wants. I'm NOT thinking of what I want, which is what most do. I'm putting value out to the world for those that are interested in what I'm talking about.

You'll make far more friends doing these two very important things in social media.

1. Provide value
2. Build relationships

An example of how you can provide value is, if you discovered an unique way to bring traffic to your website, then you share that message with your audience letting them know how they can review that information - Information they would love to get their hands on. Therefore, making it an irresistible offer they simply cannot refuse.

By providing your successful experience, you're putting it out there for your target audience to really connect with you.

Take BetterNetworker.com for example. A community of networking professionals who are willing to provide meaningful value to other members. Anytime we see anyone deviate from this, they are really shooting themselves in the foot. It's not about posting crap on the BetterNetworker community as Ferny Ceballos describes.

An extension of providing value is building relationships. You've put your value out there and now others want more. They want to connect with you.

The time a connection has been made between two parties is when it's best for the network marketer to create a dialog for you and them to openly help one another.

Let's use the example where you have a Friday night date with a person of your dreams.

Do you think talking all about you and your ex will be building a relationship to the point where they would absolutely LOVE to go out on a date with you again?

Or, do you think actively engaging yourself in conversation with them by asking them non-drilling questions about them and listening to their answers is building a relationship?

Which is the better option...

By listening and actively engaging yourself in the conversation, you'll have begun the building a relationship process. It's a very natural process.

When it goes to working with anyone after a connection has been made, you play the role of asking (non-drilling) questions about the other person and listening to them.

This is what making friends is all about. Someone you have built an ongoing relationship with because of the value you provide and your uniqueness, is more attracted to you because of your approach.

They are attracted to what you do, how you do it, and why you do it.

They are drawn to you!

When making a connection in social media, remember my example about dating. This is how you make friends, not suckers.

What part of social media have you been pleased with that you would be willing to share with others?

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I look forward to your comments.

Jerome Ratliff