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Build a Better Professional Network and Transform Your Business

by Sonia Simone on April 24, 2013

Authority

Did you know there is a direct correlation between who you spend time with and what your life looks like?

True.

You tend to be happier if you hang out with happy people, more successful if you hang out with successful people, more pessimistic if you hang out with pessimistic people.

So if you’ve got some audacious goals and want to nudge them closer to reality, one thing you can do is spend more time with the people who have the qualities you want.

Business savvy. Well-balanced. Optimistic. Knowledgeable. And yes, successful.

If you want to uncover career-enhancing opportunities, rewarding projects, and a better life, think about the kinds of people you can start to surround yourself with. Because success rubs off.

How do you find these folks? Well here are some ideas about how to get started.

Understand that influential people can dramatically change your life

This has always been true in business, but the effect is hugely amplified by the internet. Success in the 21st century isn’t created solo. It’s built within a web.

According to Lewis Schiff, if you are connected to six highly-connected people (as most very successful people are), they each open up their networks to you.

A handful of good connections can open out to thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of new connections — and one chance encounter could do unbelievable things for you.

These might be the web’s “movers and shakers” — the powerful voices with big audiences.

But it can also be the perfect business partner, or the striking creative voice that gives a vision to your business. Your next business-changing connection could be a vendor, a client, or just a friend who’s really smart about marketing strategy and is happy to lend a hand.

We all have something to contribute, and we all have areas where we aren’t strong. A network lets you find your complements, so you can do more of what you’re fantastic at.

Focus on building an effective network — not a massive one

There are some people who seem to make a profession out of networking. And given the amount of time they spend socializing online, it’s tempting to wonder when they actually do any business.

Being social is great, but you don’t need the world’s most massive network. You need a few strong connections with people you feel a real resonance with. Sometimes you get really lucky, and those people have audiences that are on your wave length as well.

When you start building your network, focus at first on a few people — maybe five or six. Make yourself damned useful. Understand their work, what they’re passionate about. If they have an audience, find out what that audience cares about.

Pay attention — not in a phony, creepy way, but because you’re interested in what they have to say.

Go beyond social media

Most of us who work at Copyblogger Media met Brian Clark through social media.

We didn’t stop with chatting on Twitter about Phineas and Ferb, 80s music, and Fight Club, though. (Although that didn’t hurt.)

Social media is great for starting relationships, but when you get the chance, take things further. Trade emails. Go to conferences. Do projects together. Get into real conversations.

Copyblogger Media was born out of this kind of networking leading to partnerships, and it’s evolved into a bunch of bright misfits doing meaningful work together.

Don’t be creepy

One of the best ways to build a professional network is to be the kind of person other successful people want to be around.

Be helpful. Be confident. Know what you bring to the table — even if it’s mainly boundless enthusiasm. Contribute. Know how to give, and also know how to ask. Treat everyone with respect, whether they’re “influential” or not. And remember not to squee on your shoes when you meet your heroes! Being a fan is great; being a rabid fan is a little … scary.

The best kind of success — the kind I value — is measured primarily by the number of people you can help. Not by selling yourself short (that doesn’t help anyone), but by building something worthwhile and getting the word out. Making honest, real connections can help you with that. When you’re on a cool mission, the people who can help will find that attractive.

Discover where the influencers hang out

So where do you find this network? Well, you start by figuring out where they hang out.

Do they have a blog? What conferences do they go to? Where do they speak? What forums do they haunt? When do they hit the bars?

If you happened to be in Austin for South by Southwest interactive this year, I hope you made it to our party. It was a hell of a place to connect with bright people — online influencers, creative business minds, talented artists and writers, and an assortment of rock stars, ninjas, and (my favorite) goonies.

We like bringing smart, successful people together. It’s fun and it’s interesting, and we learn a lot from the connections that are sparked. We’re going to have some more thoughts to share with you on that very soon, so stay tuned.

How about you?

Ever made a connection that’s made all the difference in your business or your life? Let us know about it in the comments.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Sonia on Twitter and .

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5 Writing Links You’ll be Glad You Clicked

by Robert Bruce on April 20, 2013

The Lede | copyblogger.com

This week on The Lede …

  • Jerry Seinfeld’s Secret of Productivity
  • If You’re Stuck for Ideas, Go for a Walk
  • How to Consistently Write 1000 Words a Day
  • The Reuters Guide to Cultivating and Keeping Good Sources
  • You Can Be Busy or Remarkable — Not Both

Want to grab even more useful links (beyond those that make The Lede)? Follow @copyblogger on Twitter.

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Jerry Seinfeld’s Secret of Productivity
Writing is a game of odds. The more you play, the better your chance of walking away from the table (or desk) a winner. Some seem to have no problem writing every day. For others, it’s a constant ‘fight unto death’ that produces more losing days than not. This article outlines the best trick I’ve ever used for getting what I want from the blank page.

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If You’re Stuck for Ideas, Go for a Walk
Another bit of ancient advice rolled out to the Generation of Screens. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot actually squeeze blood from a turnip, and at some point, staring too long into those white, glowing pixels becomes a self-defeating excercise. Get up. Get out. Walk a mile in your own shoes.

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How to Consistently Write 1000 Words a Day
A simple walk-through of how one writer has become prolific. You will have heard some (or much) of this advice before, but it’s the basic things our pride tells us we no longer need, that we sometimes need the most. No?

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The Reuters Guide to Cultivating and Keeping Good Sources
Chances are you’re not a professional journalist. However, I believe that traditional journalistic integrity should be transferred to the creation of content for the purpose of building audiences and businesses. Are you publishing interviews? Are you gathering facts? Are you making statements about the nature of your industry? All of this must be backed by solid research, tenacious follow up, and complete truth on your part. Who, or what, are your sources? I shouldn’t have to bring this up, but there you go.

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You Can Be Busy or Remarkable — Not Both
Mr. Newport’s headline says it all. The addiction to busyness kills business.

Miss anything on Copyblogger this week?

About the Author: Robert Bruce is VP of Marketing for Copyblogger Media, as well as its Resident Recluse. Get more from him via Twitter or Google+.

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Is it Time for Content Marketers to Abandon Facebook?

by Sonia Simone on November 28, 2012

image of Batman and Robin

If you spend time on Facebook, you’ve seen a great weeping and gnashing of teeth as Pages realize that they’re only reaching a tiny sliver of their audiences with each post.

Facebook’s noisy, overvalued IPO means they need a better revenue model. Page owners are being strong-armed encouraged to pay to “Promote” posts to get a wider reach to the audiences they built in the first place.

For a business with a really large Facebook audience, this can run into tens of thousands of dollars a year.

Does this suck? Yes, it sucks.

Should you have seen it coming? Yes, you should have.

This phenomenon isn’t as new as people think it is. Pages never reached 100% of their subscribers. But a recent algorithm update does appear to be making things noticeably worse.

This morning we republished our post on digital sharecropping, which is the dangerous practice of building your online business on someone else’s (virtual) land.

The latest in a long line of Facebook messes is a prime example of just what makes that a dangerous strategy. And the dangers won’t stop with Facebook.

Social platforms are great tools for expanding your audience. But there are three things I want you to keep in mind if you still want to use Facebook (or any platform you don’t control) to promote your business.

Principle #1: Facebook owes you nothing

You may think they do. You may argue that you attracted a certain number of users to “Like” you, thus helping them build an audience they can show their spammy display ads to.

Facebook, much like honey badger, don’t care.

You can keep thinking that your relationship with Facebook is a two-way street. And you can keep being disappointed when Facebook pulls another lousy stunt and you get shafted.

Or you can use Facebook for what they’re good at — having conversations with people who might become customers. If you can do that without becoming dependent on Facebook, you’ll do fine.

Or you may decide that Facebook isn’t worth the effort. That’s fine, too. Contrary to what some will tell you, not every business “needs” to be on Facebook. It’s a tool — nothing more, nothing less. You need to make an informed decision about whether or not the tool makes sense for you.

Principle #2: Understand why people use the platform

People go to Facebook to share duckface selfies, pictures of grandkids, and memes from George Takei. Silly and personal are the watchwords.

Some businesses can fit into this pretty well. Health coaches, wedding photographers, and gluten-free cupcake bakers are part of their customers’ personal lives, so using Facebook (judiciously) can work well.

Nonprofits with the right message can also do well. The Occupy Sandy organization (or un-organization, as the case may be) uses Facebook and Twitter to quickly recruit volunteers and donations for hurricane relief and rebuilding in the Northeast. Their supporters’ webs of personal connections are incredibly well suited to this. It works.

It can even work B2B, if you have the right brand. Superstar business author and coach Pam Slim does a great job making audience connections on her Facebook page.

But you need to watch out for two things.

First, the minute you actually depend on Facebook for your business, they will change their terms of service in a way that causes you pain. Refer back to Principle #1.

Second, “engagement” does not equal “customers.” I see too many coaches in particular who have magnificent engagement on Facebook. They get tons of shares and comments and likes. But that’s not translating into business.

That’s not marketing, it’s an annoying hobby.

Principle #3: Facebook is an outpost, not your home base

I’m not here to trash Facebook. (That’s Brian’s longtime job.) I’m here to encourage you to use Facebook if it makes sense for you, and to protect yourself against the Terms of Service roulette.

One popular Page I saw was recruiting her Facebook fans to move to Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram.

No.

Never build up an outpost at the expense of your home base. Your home base is something you control — a place where you pay the bills and you make the rules. In other words, it’s your primary site.

Your Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instragram, and any other fans/followers should have frequent opportunities to come back to your site for content they can only find there, and to subscribe to your email list for even more premium content.

Think of social sites as trade show booths. They’re excellent places to spark conversations, find new leads, and spread the word about what you do.

But you still have an office where the main work gets done. That’s your primary site. Keep it … well, primary.

Still want to use Facebook?

Next week, we’ll be running a detailed reference post on how to make the most of Facebook today, if you decide it’s a good outpost for you.

We’ll talk about:

  • How to reach more of your audience
  • The advantages of images versus text-only posts
  • Whether and how to use Promoted Posts
  • Whether the Interest List will save your engagement
  • What Page Notifications are and whether they can help

Make sure you’re subscribed to the blog updates so you don’t miss it.

And this week, do yourself a favor. Create a fantastically useful piece of content for your primary site. Use Facebook (or wherever else you hang out) to drive traffic to it.

Spend a little less time and emotional energy on your social media outposts, and a little more building the asset that contributes to your long-term business success.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Sonia on Twitter and Google+.

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3 Questions Content Producers Must Answer

by Charlie Gilkey on October 22, 2012

Image of 3 Vintage Suitcases

Have you ever read a non-fiction book that was so poorly structured that you couldn’t finish it, because you were constantly confused about what you were supposed to be learning?

I know I have. And I know that my not being able to finish it or not learning whatever I was supposed to wasn’t my fault — it was the fault of the author and their editors.

Learning is a journey. Effective teachers help students navigate that journey smoothly. The major difference between learning on your own and learning from a teacher is the fact that the teacher knows where you need to go and how to help you get there.

Content marketing is a form of teaching (among other things), so what’s true of teachers is true of content producers.

Teaching via content marketing requires you (the content producer) to know where your readers are, and to have a plan that will help them get there. If you do it well, your readers learn what you’ve promised and are better off.

If you do it poorly, they’ll end frustrated and dissatisfied with you, for the same reason we’re dissatisfied with those murky authors.

I’ve come up with three simple questions to help make sure your readers are never disappointed in you, and don’t lose track of what you’re trying to impart …

Effective teaching requires planning

Good teachers can show up and wing it; great teachers plan their students’ journey and stay on track.

Why are the latter better? Because they make the content they share subservient to their students’ needs, rather than making their students’ needs a secondary, almost accidental, consideration.

Yet many, many content marketers show up and wing it every day. Their blog posts are persistently the thoughts du jour. Their newsletters are whatever random information they can send out on schedule. Their social media streams are a constant reaction to what’s going on today.

And their audiences are understandably confused or disengaged. If they hang around, it’s because there are occasional glimmers of brilliance amidst the cacophony.

Developing a content plan helps increase the frequency of those glimmers of brilliance. And those glimmers of brilliance are what will get shared, liked, commented on, and purchased.

Developing a content plan also helps avoid the dreaded “but what do I say?” problem that so many creatives end up grappling with from time to time. It’ll be clear what you need to say, because you can follow your own script.

1. Where are you taking your students?

Here’s a paradox that goes back to Socrates: If you don’t know what you don’t know, how do you figure out how to learn what you don’t know?

A good teacher avoids this problem altogether … assuming the teacher knows where they’re taking you.

Answering that deceptively simple question drives your content plan. Remember, simple isn’t easy: to nail that question down, you have to decide who you’ll be talking to.

2. What’s the first thing they need to learn?

Are your students beginners or experts? Do they keep up with trends or live under rocks? What do they already know?

By picking what the first thing your students need to learn is, you’ve necessarily picked a niche. For instance, many of the teachers reading this post are likely thinking “Duh!” because they already know what I’m saying, whereas content marketers who haven’t considered themselves teachers are (hopefully) having lightbulbs go off.

Experienced teachers: knowing ≠ doing; Do the work!

Developing the rest of the content plan is straightforward: keep asking what the next thing is that they need to learn to get them where they are wanting to go.

Note: if you want to be creative, do so in the content and (perhaps) the delivery method, not in the journey itself.

3. When are you going to create the content?

I’ve seen brilliant content plans and many of them have had an obvious flaw: they don’t consider the amount of time it’s going to take to create them.

Effective teaching content doesn’t create itself.

After you develop your draft content plan, you have to assess it in light of the other activities you have planned during that time period.

A content plan that you mean to execute has to be incorporated into your operational plan. Otherwise, that content plan just ends up becoming another thing you “should” do that you’re not going to have time for.

Most of the time, syncing your content plan with your operational plan means that at least one of the two will have to change. If your content plan is the priority, some other things will have to shift.

If it’s not, either trim your content plan — teachers always stuff more into the plan than actually needs to be there — or stretch out the timeline so you can get the necessities in there.

It’s for this reason that I added a monthly planner to our premium blog post planners; too many people weren’t incorporating their content plans within the context of their total business activities.

A content plan that would require 20 hours of content creation a month simply won’t work if you only have 10 available hours to do the creation that month. (Note that this isn’t just a problem with content plans; many plans fail to address the reality of how long the plan will take to execute.)

In summary …

To be an effective content marketer, you have to develop an effective, executable content plan. When you think like a teacher, the three questions that you’ll have to come to grips with are:

  1. Where am I taking my students?
  2. What’s the first thing they need to learn? (Followed by a rinse and repeat of “what do they need to learn next?”)
  3. When, specifically, am I going to create that content?

Answer those questions clearly, execute the plan, and watch as you create satisfied customers.

About the Author: Charlie Gilkey helps people and organizations focus on what matters and then execute on it. His company, Productive Flourishing, just released new versions of their popular planners for creatives, changemakers, and proactive leaders. He can also be found on Twitter at @CharlieGilkey.

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A 10-Point Plan for Connecting with Online Influencers (Without Turning into a Suck-Up)

by Sonia Simone on September 5, 2012

image of boy talking to a statue

This is the fifth post in the “Content Connections” series.

I’m here to tell you a dreadful truth about online business and marketing.

While you can, in fact, make money in your underwear, there are limits to how antisocial you get to be.

The web isn’t really made up of algorithms. It’s made of people. In all their frustrating, imperfect, and complicated glory.

Don’t get me wrong. Systems are smart. Automation has its place. Creating functional processes will do a lot for your project or business.

But at the end of the day, you still have to deal with people.

One of the most critical aspects to building an audience for your business is making high-quality connections with other web publishers. From SEO to reputation management to growing traffic to your site, connections matter.

Which leads us to today’s topic. Here’s how you can make high-quality connections with bloggers and other content publishers in order to find a wider audience for your own content.

You don’t have to suck up or turn into some weird networking-addicted phony. Here’s what to do instead:

The 3 Foundational Building Blocks

Before you can start making connections, you have to build from a place of strength. Make sure you have these elements in place before you start reaching out, or you’ll find that your networking takes you in the wrong direction.

1. Build something worth talking about

Influential people — whether they’re celebrities, business leaders, or web publishers with large audiences — virtually always have one thing in common.

They have a lot of people coming forward who would like to engage their attention.

If you’re known for doing something interesting and useful, it makes it a million times easier to make the connections you want to make.

  • Josh Kaufman created the Personal MBA to empower professionals to educate themselves more effectively, quickly, and cheaply than they could with a traditional MBA. That’s remarkable.
  • Amber Rogers created GoKaleo to help women recognize the predatory tactics of fitness and diet gurus, get off the self-hatred bandwagon, and think critically about health, nutrition, and fitness. That’s remarkable.
  • Adam Baker and Grant Peele produced the documentary I’m Fine, Thanks, showcasing the lives of dozens of people who have worked to free themselves from complacency and traditional assumptions. The film inspires and challenges viewers to take a hard look at their own lives. That’s remarkable.

None of those people has any trouble making connections with influencers … because they’ve done something that lots of people will want to know more about.

Do something epic — even if it’s epic on a micro scale. One great project will open doors you didn’t even know existed.

The simplest way to do something epic? I bet you know the answer to this one. And yes, a genuinely interesting blog absolutely counts.

2. Be a good egg

Anyone can get social media attention by being an ass. And, as we have seen again and again, many do.

But making an ass of yourself only gets you attention … it does nothing for your influence.

All of the networking advice in this post depends on you being a good egg.

Be positive. Share content that’s helpful. Put your best foot forward. Make more friends than you do enemies.

It’s fine to hold some controversial opinions. In fact, next week we’re going to talk about how that can be a great way to stake out a remarkable position with your audience.

But if you pick fights 90% of the time, you’ll become known as someone who only knocks down. You need to be known as someone who can build.

Be nice until it’s time to not be nice. ~Dalton’s Rule #3 from Road House

3. Be interesting

Everyone likes to hear “I love your work.” But if that’s the sum total of what you have to say, the conversation fizzles fast.

(There are a few influencers who can spin your love of their work into an hour-long self-appreciation monologue. Thank goodness, these people are pretty rare.)

Have a point of view, think critically about your topic, ask interesting questions, and stay informed.

No matter how crowded your topic, there’s always room for someone who can think and speak intelligently about it.

The 3 Places You’ll Create Connections

Now that your foundation is set, you need places to actually get out and find your influencers.

4. Spark the connection on Twitter

Right now, Twitter is one of the best venues for sparking connections with content publishers. It’s not as popular with the general public as Facebook is … but it’s often more popular with bloggers and content creators.

Remember your foundation. Be helpful, be charming, be interesting, and point to remarkable things. (Including remarkable things created by other people.)

Twitter works because it’s easy to find your favorite influencers and it’s a low-risk environment. It’s relatively easy to approach even folks with large audiences … just “@” them.

It’s also a noisy environment, so it can take some time to make yourself heard. Don’t let that worry you. Get out and start putting your friendly, useful face forward.

5. Deepen the relationship on Facebook or Google+

Twitter is great, but 140 characters is a pretty significant limitation.

At some point, you’ll want to deepen connections by going further with the conversation on a platform that supports that. Depending on who you’re talking with, Facebook and Google+ are two great venues right now.

(Although for your influencers, it may be Tumblr or Reddit or a particular online forum. Focus on the principle, not the platform.)

Longer-format platforms allow for more complexity and better continuity. Contribute to a conversation worth having. Remember your foundation.

6. Do some serious deals in meatspace

“Meatspace” is the cyberpunk term for what boring normal people call the real world.

You can make some amazing connections online, but if you can swing it, always try to take things face-to-face at some point.

Conferences are a great way to solidify lots of connections over a couple of days. Meet for coffee, or a drink, or breakfast. Have conversations in hallways.

When you get a chance to meet face to face, take it. It often creates a whole new level of engagement that can last for years and yield surprising benefits.

The 3 Don’ts

It wouldn’t be a good list post if I didn’t throw in a couple of warnings. There are a few things you can do that will make your efforts at connection much less successful.

Avoid these three in particular:

7. Don’t whine

Oh, you’re a blogger? What do you complain about? ~Julien Smith

It’s so easy to fall into a pattern of constant whining and complaint on social media.

Resist. Strongly.

Whining, as any parent can tell you, is profoundly irritating. And so often, what feels like “making conversation” to us comes across as whining to the poor suckers on Facebook or Twitter who are reading us.

We all need a little pity party sometimes. Call a friend and ask her for coffee (and give her fair warning that you’re in a whiny mood.) Don’t make a habit of dumping your bad day all over your social media connections.

8. Don’t gossip

If you don’t have anything nice to say, come over here and sit right by me.

Talking about others behind their back is so seductive. Most of us do it, and most of us secretly find it rather delicious.

But it’s dangerous.

When you tell a long, unflattering story about someone I like, you’ve damaged your ability to connect with me. And you may have no idea you’ve done it.

You’ve also taken a very real risk that I’ll run back and tell my friend what you’ve been saying.

Your career (and your psyche) would be better off if you simply never talked about anyone when they weren’t present.

That goal’s a little lofty (and I’m far from there myself, trust me), but try to get into the habit of thinking twice (or three times) before you share a juicy story. The reputation you save may be your own.

9. Don’t squee all over your shoes

I stole this phrase from the lovely and remarkable Pace Smith.

The thing is, I know where you’re coming from. I’m a fan girl too. I’ve got my own heroes, and I have to fight that urge to babble when I meet them.

But if your hero is worth your admiration, she probably gets a little weirded out when people treat her as something Better-than-Human.

Again, it’s great to let people know you’re enjoying their work. Enthusiasm is a lovely quality. Step #3 can be helpful here. If you’re geeking out about the topic (rather than about the person), you can often find some common ground.

And one last point …

10. It doesn’t always work the way you thought it would

Way back when I started my first blog, I secretly imagined that one day I was going to have tea & crumpets with Seth Godin every day.

Turns out I can’t really eat crumpets … all that gluten’s no good for me. Also, possibly more to the point, Seth just wasn’t all that interested. (To be clear … he’s always been very nice. Just not daily-crumpets-level nice.)

On my path, one of my goals was to some day develop a good working relationship with Seth Godin. Things didn’t work out exactly how I had visualized. But a bunch of other good stuff happened on that path, and I did end up building great working relationships with lots of other amazing people.

You have to follow the path you’re actually on. Which sometimes bears only slight resemblance to the one that was originally in your head.

The plan is nothing; planning is everything. ~Dwight Eisenhower

Do have goals. Do have some folks in mind that you’d love to create professional relationships with.

Then do a bunch of epic stuff, be a good egg, know your topic, and make yourself useful, and see where the real path leads.

It’s going to go somewhere good. Just be ready for a few interesting twists.

This is part five of the Content Connections series

This post is part of a series on making connections with other web publishers — the kinds of connections that will serve your business.

It’s the other half of content marketing — what happens after you’ve created something worth reading.

To get the full series, just stay tuned here at Copyblogger. If you haven’t already, why not subscribe by email so you’ll be sure you don’t miss any of the posts.

You can read the first four posts here:

Awesome Flickr Creative Commons image by clairity

About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Sonia on Twitter and Google+.

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