Is Your Social Net Working for You?

This special online event, a week of unique blog posts, is brought to you by Biba Pedron from Your Business in Style

Today I introduce you to Mari-Lyn Harris a Relationship Marketing Specialist

How does or is Social Media networking/marketing working for you? Are your connections helping you? Most people like Artists and other professionals like to think that Social Marketing is a fad, or it’s too time consuming, they all have merits and need to be considered. However every person has a Social Net – whether it’s in a forum, a discussion group your friends on and off line, places that you can go for help, your co-operative or Business Association. Your Social Net, is wherever you go to be social, to use the tools that are made available to all of us. Here are seven people who share how their social net is working.

 

“The paradox for many artists is that they desire intensely to communicate and be understood but find the expression of this need through their work and not through more active, fluid and immediate channels such as live communication.

 

Perhaps the answer is that with indirect media such as this one, or blogging, or other social media, the artist has much-needed time to reflect, to write and edit, to experiment with one idea then change it — without the pressing need to be socially “interesting,” with all the pressure that entails.

 

What if there were a social media in which texting-level word babble were not permitted, and only those media capable of complex and subtle thought such as music, images and poetry were allowed? Would we end up talking to the choir or would we find a new level of interchange?” By Eric Olson

“The last 6 years I’ve used some form of social networking. It’s increase traffic to our web to over 1 million visitors a year. Now we’re working on our “Tribe” Love to talk more with you about it. After all my mission is to bridge the gap between art and commerce.”

By Scott Hull

“I use social networking like Twitter and Facebook to promote my blog posts and Etsy shopping cart. I think it helps bring people to my shows and to look at my blog but it has not helped with sales a whole lot. I am still plugging away at hoping people will buy a few photo prints on my site.” By Kerry Ann Hawkins

“I am a truly devoted fan of social media networking. I’m also a person who easily makes new friends, who loves to socialize, spend time with people all over the world, work on art project with others – and so on. For me – the social media networking just makes it even easier to connect, and stay connected, with people. It makes me feel that I belong to a larger society of artists. It makes our planet smaller in a way. I really like that. The main thing about successful networking, though, is to always remember this: The question should never be “What can you do for me? – but always “What can I do to help you?”

Do not expect people to help you, but be very grateful if they do. The network aSmallWorld is based on this: how can we help each other? I recently posted information about an up-coming art project I am doing in San Francisco. Immediately I got constructive and good response with suggestions to whom I could contact. Some days later I even got a mail from an investor who is a partner of one of the largest independent galleries in the Bay Area, asking if we wanted to have the exhibition there. Amazing!

 

Promoting my own art feels like holding my heart in my hands, hoping that someone won´t step on it. It was less scary to be in charge of a budget of several 100 millions than opening an exhibition. But the good thing about having this experience is that I know that I just have to do it! I have to be out there – I have to talk about my art – I have to visit galleries – and so on. But I also have to find a way of doing it that is in accordance with who I am. And in that sense social media networking is perfect. I can connect to a lot of people in an easy way. I make valuable connections that are fun and rewarding (hopefully) for both parts.” By Kristine Maudal

 

“Social Media is not a fad and has in fact made a great impact on the ability of artists to network, share resources, get advice and make sales. As for Twitter, like anything else it is a tool to be used judiciously. I only follow other professionals in my field who have useful information and can direct me to relevant content.

It is true that outgoing people pick up social media pretty quickly. That is why they put me in charge of internet marketing and social media three years ago. I’ll talk to a telephone pole if it will stand still long enough. In the beginning I thought it would be laborious and time consuming, and it was for the first two weeks or so until I got the hang of what worked, who was a waste of time and where the smart people hung out. Now I spend two hours a day or less keeping up with and making new contacts, leaving comments, but remember, I am doing it for a company, not just for myself.

Social media, can absolutely have an impact on how to connect to the “average person who hasn’t a clue”. Blogging is one of the best ways I know to get information out to a broad audience. Buying original art online or otherwise isn’t the hip, hot thing to do but I guarantee you, if Oprah talked about it, encouraged it, or wrote about it in her magazine, the whole world would start buying art.

We can’t afford to be elitist about anything anymore. Do we want people to buy art or don’t we? WE have to be the educators, the communicators, the marketers and the advocates. In order to reach people we have to go where they are, and that is on the internet.

Social media is a way to determine your audience, generate interest, get valuable feedback, connect with other artists and professionals and get your work in front of millions of eyeballs.” By Mary Lawler

“I see the value in social networking, but my biggest problem is that there are only so many hours in my day. I believe in the whole concept, but it so much of a time investment. If your business IS social networking, then yes, this is great to be able to spend hours and hours talking about it. But if you’re a solo entrepreneur who has to create your own work and then manage all the other aspects of running a business, it gets very overwhelming!

 

I fit more into the introvert category; I force myself to go to networking events because I know I need to.” By Debbie Viola

“ Social networking should be about creating relationships. That is hard to do when you are all over the social networking map. It takes time to cultivate relationships online. How do any of you create the time to devote to one forum, one Linkedin group, enough to create relationships which are meaningful enough to enhance your art related businesses?” By Kirstie Bennett

How do you get your social net to work for you?

 

1. Ask questions, answer other peoples’ questions in forums or groups

2. Engage the members by sharing an article or post or resource, not just to your site but to other things that are relevant to the groups needs.

3. Do a poll

4. Put yourself out whether it online or offline, if you don’t show up know one will have an opportunity to know and like you

5. Start loving people, guide them, mentor them

6. How can you help someone else? Ask them.

7. Be your own friend and think about how you can be a friend for someone else

8. Be positive, update your profile

9. Be friendly, encourage others

10 Share your ideas

 

Mari-Lyn Harris is a Relationship Marketing Specialist in customer retention. Get your FREE report on why you need a customer retention program. http://heartatworkonline.org. http://XeeMe.com/Mari-LynHarris