LinkedIn, Twitter, and a blog are the main components of my social authority power triangle.  This is an important strategy to understand if your goal is to quickly develop a thought-leadership or expert reputation within your industry.  In fact, this power triangle works like compound interest because each platform accumulates benefits making it possible for you to be found by your customers and prospects when they are searching for a solution you can help them with. In addition, you can proactively find your target audience by using those same search features.

In the business world it’s a casual phrase that’s tossed around all the time.

 

· I thought I’d reach out to tell you a little bit about our company.

· I thought I’d reach out to see if we could set up a time to chat.

· I thought I’d reach out to give you one of our new white papers.

· I thought I’d reach out to introduce myself and make sure you understand my company.  And then you can buy something!

OK, that last one was over-the-top.  But more broadly, "

Have you ever removed a connection on LinkedIn? Unfriended someone on Facebook?  Blocked a Twitter profile?  It’s a rare event, but on occasion I do severe relationships.  I don’t do it lightly because it’s hurtful.  Yes, it’s true that social rejection activates the same part of the brain that physical pain does.  It hurts most of us to be rejected.  In fact, I also feel bad when the role is reversed making me the rejector.  That means I don’t like to do it if I don’t have to.

Do you truly understand the value of your own personal brand?  The strength of your personal brand plays a role in, and impacts the strength of your social network.  And the strength of your social network contributes value to your employer.  Your personal network isn’t a tangible asset, but it is social capital that vests immediately.  And it's portable, meaning you can take it with you.  Have you ever thought of it that way?

I’m often surprised that many organizations don’t consider the power their employee’s hold in this regard.

LinkedIn’s advice on sending connection requests reads that you should “only invite people you know and trust.”  The number of requests I receive from individuals I’ve never met (and therefore have no basis for trust) leads me to believe there are a lot of people who are not following that rule of thumb.  Or, perhaps it suggests their “trust” in certain profiles is deep enough to overcome their fear that they’ll be rejected because they don’t personally “know” their desired connection.  Research shows that social rejection activates the same part of the brain that physical pain does.

 

If you’ve spent any time in personal sales you know that Willy’s philosophy that anything is possible as long as a person is “well liked” is not going to close every deal. To influence someone about an important idea, you need to be more than just liked. A successful, persuasive personality that projects a positive selling image focuses on building rapport, reducing risk and has the substance that comes with having credibility.

For your entertainment; a short knock-off skit based on the Drew Carey TV series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

 

The Host:Welcome to “Whose Content Is It Anyway?” Where the quota is made up and the revenue doesn’t matter. Our first skit is called, “Your marketing content sucks.” Mr. Sales VP, you’re very nervous; you’ve just examined your sales pipeline and discovered your team will not meet its sales objectives.

Ms. Marketing Rep, you are a super confident business development person from a marketing technology company ready to save the day.

What does “transparency” in business actually mean? A lot of material has been written on that topic over the last few years in relation to social media marketing.  Most of articles deal with transparency at the corporate branding level although some authors provide commentary around personal branding.  I’ll admit that a few of my own blog posts touch on transparency; yes, in many cases authenticity, relevance and trust are also mentioned.  One business dictionary defines transparency

Is a man with a truck sexier than a man without a truck?  According to the folks from Chevrolet the answer is yes.  Take 30 seconds towatch the videobelow and listen to their focus group discuss the matter.  So, how much do trucks costs these days?  After all, I might need to haul something!  I also found a survey byInsure.comthat states that women say that attractive men tend to drive black Ford pickup trucks.  While men reported that attractive women drive red BMW sports cars.