Brand Your Business

Amazing People You Can Meet at Networking Events

Wendy Terwelp 8 Comments

Get ready, it’s the holidays. There will be shopping, holiday parties, and more parties, and friends coming to town, and relatives who are having parties, and on and on.

Rather than figuring out who to avoid, as this article mentions, 6 ridiculous types of people you’ll meet at networking events, how about being on the lookout for some fabulous folks to meet and talk to instead? Take five minutes to plan ahead and choose three of these type of folks to get to know.

Here are six types of people to meet at your next event:

1. The Connector: This person knows many of the event attendees and is happy to introduce you to them.

2. The Listener: I’m not saying lay your “Dear Abby” woes on this person, however, they do listen well and ask great questions. Learn from them.

3.The Storyteller: This person shares amazing, funny, and interesting stories. They can hold you spellbound and often are surrounded by a group. A great way to get to know more people at once. When The Storyteller takes a break, you get to meet the audience. And then move on to the next group.

4. The Historian: This is one experienced person who knows the background of the event and the inside scoop on key people and event happenings. If you haven’t made a plan BEFORE attending the event, this person always has a schedule handy (a la conference mode) or a recommendation and you can determine your next move, speaker to see or person to meet.

5. The Master: This person is not always the host. A VP I worked with was a true master at being a gracious networker. I recently saw him at a wedding – he’s still the master. This is a person who can meet with nearly every person at a gathering, know his or her name, say a positive word and all in under two minutes. And, when he moves on to the next person, the person left behind feels GREAT. I often hear things like, “Hey did you see Tom?”

“Sure did. Do you know he asked me about my son’s football game?”

“Really? He asked me about my book.”

COOL is the mutual response. And the positive mojo keeps on going.

6. The Rememberer: (If you come up with a better name, SHARE!) This is the person who has amazing follow through. She takes a note or two on the back of your business card, then, miraculously, does what she said she would do! And, later, when you are now connected, she sends you a congratulatory note or quick DM or birthday card. And you feel great because you were remembered.

My grandma was truly amazing and gifted at this. She would remember all of our birthdays, our close friends’ birthdays, her coworkers birthdays, their kids’ events and special days, always sending a card with a thoughtful, handwritten note inside… She worked at a hospital and would also send kind little notes up with the dinner trays.

I learned from the best. And you can too at your next event or holiday gathering.

Have you got a type of person you’d like to meet at your next event? Do share.

Want more networking tips? Check out, “Rock Your Network®.” Good luck! I look forward to hearing your stories.

PS: Tip of the hat to my friend Joan who sent me the link to the “Six Types” post.

10 Things Social Media is NOT

Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

Guest Blogger, Dana Van Den Heuvel, MarketingSavant

Social media. Very few two-word phrases conjure up so many expectations and misconceptions as these two words put together. For as much as social media can do, there is still plenty that it can’t. Here are the top 10 things that social media can’t do, along with a mind map on the things that you can do about the 10 things that social media can’t do…

  1. Social Media Isn’t and Will Never Be Totally Free: If you want results, build deep experience within your own team to reduce cost
  2. Be Your Marketing Strategy: Social media is not a strategy. In fact, in a few years, we won’t be talking about it with the reverence we now have for it, rather, it will be assumed that it’s part of everything you’re doing, if not the center of it all.
  3. Guarantee Sales: Social media cannot and will not likely ever be a sales engine. It’s a marketing and communication engine. It supports sales and like most all other forms of marketing, it’s up to you to convert.
  4. Succeed With a Half-Assed Effort: Social media requires dedication, and like anything else, you get out what you put in. Consistency is the first key to social media success. Get consistent, and you’ll see results. Build a plan to publish social content in the 1-7-30-4-2-1 rhythm and you’re more likely to succeed.
  5. Change Your Company For You: Social media requires active change management and a corporate culture to support it. Get the right people involved to lead and support the effort – that will change your company.
  6. Replace Advertising/Sales Team/etc.: You still need to meet people in their medium and social media is just ONE of the ways to build business for your brand.
  7. Be Your Only Go-to-Market Method: Your best bet is to build an integrated approach where social media builds on your other channels. Budget across channels, and include social in that budget.
  8. Deliver Quick Success: Social media is NOT (usually) quick. In fact, it’s really only done well as a long-term commitment. Focus on delivering genuine value to a devoted base of customers first and activate that base only after you’ve built trust and social capital.
  9. Be a One-off Project: Ongoing conversation is what makes social so powerful. Get out of ‘campaign mode’ and into ‘conversation mode’.
  10. Create Conversation from Nothing: You MUST create/re-imagine/curate great content to get great conversation.

Click here to download Dana’s mind map of the above.

Dana Van Den Heuvel is the founder of the marketing consulting firm, The MarketingSavant Group. An award-winning marketing blogger, Dana is also the author of the American Marketing Association’s “Marketech Guide to Marketing Technology” and their “Guide to Social Network Marketing” and the creator of the AMA’s TechnoMarketing training series, Advanced Social Media training series and B2B Social Media training series. Dana is also a member of Rock Your Network®.

Five Quick Tips to Rock Your Network® Online

Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

1. Pick Three: There are MANY social networks online to choose from, I recommend picking three so you can manage them effectively. For job seekers, I recommend: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Yes, I said Facebook.

Facebook’s fastest growing population is adults age 35 and older. They have 600 million users, 200 million members use Facebook primarily on their smart phones. With LinkedIn, there are more than 300,000 recruiters as members and 100 million members.

2. Create a branded bio: Tell a story in your profile (bio). Don’t just regurgitate your resume information. Know that chemistry helps you land and KEEP a job. Likability counts, so be interesting.

3. Know what you want: When you start networking online, it’s important to know what you want from the activity. If you want a job, be sure your profile is on brand and professional. Have a professional headshot as well.

4. Join a group: Know that in order to make the most of an online group, you’ve got to take an active role. You can take a leadership role in online groups. You can answer members’ questions and provide your expertise.

5. Be relevant and add value: Social networking gives you a chance to demonstrate your thought leadership and set yourself apart from your competition. As an executive and leader, it is even more critical to demonstrate your expertise online.

For example, these experts say…

Every executive should be on LinkedIn. We look at LinkedIn before ever looking at a resume. — Wayne Mitchell, executive recruiter, Career Thought Leaders Conference & Symposium, March 2011

The Facts: 83% of employers now use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to find new hires, according to a survey by recruiting platform Jobvite. Of those, by far the largest number, 89%, rely mainly on LinkedIn, followed by Facebook at 28% and Twitter at 14%.

In a survey of more than 500 human resources managers, Office Team found that 36% of respondents believe it’s at least somewhat likely that resumes will eventually be replaced by profiles on social and business networking websites. —Wired Workplace, 2011

Take Action: Review your current social media and identify at least three action items from the above list you can implement immediately. Make an action plan to effectively manage your online network. If you’d like more tips, join my upcoming class, Rock Your Network Online, starting next week Tuesday, June 7.

© 2010 – 2011 | Wendy J. Terwelp | All rights reserved.

Wendy Terwelp has helped thousands of clients get hired faster and be rock stars at work since 1989. A recognized expert on networking, both online and off, Wendy was dubbed LinkedIn Guru by The Washington Post and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Fast Company, The Business Journal, Careerbuilder.com, Monster.com, NBC, ABC, and more as well as numerous radio and television shows. She has published hundreds of articles on the web and in print and wrote the ultimate networking book, Rock Your Network®. Rock your career and buy the book at http://knocks.com.

Personal Branding: Myth, Madness, What?

Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

Recently, a member of one of my LinkedIn groups asked, “I hear the term branding a lot, but rarely if ever see examples of it! Is it merely a catch phrase, or it is a real, effective strategy?”

Let’s bottom line it, shall we?

I was a recruiter prior to becoming a career coach. And I have a solid network of recruiters and employers across the country. Here’s the common thread, candidates who fit the culture of the company stick. Those who don’t, don’t. Recruiters to this day still tell me if a candiate doesn’t make the cut, 90% of the time, it’s because they were not a “right fit.”

Here are some real examples of personal branding from a few of my clients:

1. One of my clients, a sales representative, was known as “The Cold Call King.” He provided me with documentation of the same. We used it in his cover letter AND provided backup in terms of results (i.e. why he was deemed “The Cold Call King” by his company president).

2. Another client, a PR pro, was dubbed a “PR Martyr” by her coworkers. Yes, we used it, and again provided the backup.

3. And an industrial engineer client of mine shared his philosophy of design with me, which we used on his resume and his cover letter. Plus, I used a logo he designed on these docs as well – proof of performance. He also had a website, online ID, etc.

All three communicated their brands while networking, on the interview, and throughout their job search campaigns.

Bottom line is this – each of these clients was hired faster; each held positions long term; each got paid more than was expected.

Does personal branding work? The answer is a hearty YES!

When does it become a catch-phrase? When it’s merely talked about and NOT implemented.

When applied, can’t deny, it works.

Want to know where your brand stands? Take the quiz:

 http://www.knocks.com/RockCareer/CareerBrand_Quiz.html

 Note: Artwork provided by SnapHappy Creative LLC

© 2011 | Wendy Terwelp | All rights reserved.

Five Social Media Tips for Holiday Networking

Wendy Terwelp 1 Comment

Share your holiday networking story and get a chance to win my book! That’s right – send in your holiday networking story to me directly: consultant@knocks.com or post it here on this blog and get a chance to WIN!

Here are Five Quick Tips to help you rock your social media over the holidays. Use them. Share them. Get your story in before Dec. 25, 2010.

1. Pick three. There are MANY social networks online to choose from. I recommend picking three so you can manage the effectively. For job search, I recommend LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Yes, I did say Facebook.

2. Reconnect with old friends (and make new ones). I reconnected with friends from “back in the day” on Facebook. Not only was it fun, but now as “grown-ups” we can help each other in our careers. You can help your friends as well.

Side note: If you’re going to a Christmas party and photos of you are snapped that may not be as professional as you wish, gently remind folks not to tag you on their Facebook pages. If they do, ask them to take down the photos or un-tag you.

3. Join a group. The holidays can be a great time to join a new group or reactivate your participation in an existing one. Check out the groups your friends are involved with on LinkedIn. Which ones might be a good fit for you? Join and take an active role.

4. Take your online network OFFline. Plan a lunch date or pick up the phone. Learn about the other person’s business and life. Holidays are a great time to do this as people are more relaxed and willing to chat.

5. Be relevant and provide value. Social networking gives you a chance to demonstrate your thought leadership. Share your ideas. I love Twitter for this as I can share my ideas AND re-tweet others’ ideas I feel will be of value to my network (aka: followers).

Go ahead! Try one or more of these ideas and share your story!

The deadline is Dec. 25, 2010. The earlier you send in your stories, the better ’cause I’m feeling generous. We’ll be doing more than one drawing.

And, for those of you who simply can’t wait for a drawing, get my book, Rock Your Network® for Job Seekers, by clicking on the book cover.

Now, here’s the really cool thing, buy one, get one FREE! And, only ONE shipping rate. Woo hoo! (Offer ends 12/31/10.) Get one, give one. Go on!

To get the deal, enter “HO HO HO 2010″ in the special message section when you place order. (We use PayPal.)

I look forward to hearing all of your cool holiday networking stories. Thanks in advance for sharing!

PS: Here are links to two holiday networking stories – to give you some ideas:

“Holiday Networking: Pass the Nuts and Your Resume Please” and “Good News: Hired Over the Holidays.”

Note: Graphic created by SnapHappy Creative LLC.

© 2010 | Wendy Terwelp | All rights reserved.