Using Twitter is a great way of connecting and building relationships. But it can be overwhelming to know who to follow and how to make meaningful connections with someone that you admire. I’d like to share some tips on how to move past the overwhelm so you can begin using Twitter authentically and meaningfully.

Here’s what I recommend:

1. Choose 10 people to "actively" follow. The 10 can be chosen as people who are:

• Mentors
• People you admire
• Those you’ve recently connected with
• Someone you met at an event
• People in your industry
• Local business owners

2. Use Hoot suite, Tweet Deck or Seesmic to manage this "column of people". These tools allow you to simplify your Twitter viewing experience.

3. Take the time to really follow their links. See what they’re talking about and to whom they’re talking. Follow the links and the people and see where it leads you.

4. If they link to a blog, take the time to read it and if appropriate post on it. Then write the blog owner a tweet saying how much you enjoyed the blog and share what you learned.

5. Look for ways to provide connections and referrals.

6. Keep asking "how can I be of service and provide value?"

7. If you’ve really connected, take it offline. If they’re in your local area arrange to meet for coffee. If they live far away, pick up the phone and give them a call. Don’t hold back – people love it when you find them interesting!

Twitter at its best is about engaging and connecting meaningfully. Especially as entrepreneurs, who often work from home, I can’t overemphasize how important it is to be maximizing these resources as a way to expand your community.

If you’re new to Twitter and need tips to get started, please listen to a free call I hosted called Intro to Twitter.

Social networking is a fantastic avenue to connect and form business relationships. The key to being successful is learning how to use it authentically and to create meaningful connections. The platform I’ve spent the most time on is Twitter so I want to share with you some of the ways I’ve found to really connect through Twitter.

I believe the first step is to go into social networking with the right mindset. I have an upcoming class about the Art of Connection where I explain the difference between connecting and collecting when you’re networking.

Understanding the difference between these two concepts will allow you to enjoy networking – both online and offline. Here’s the difference…

Collecting Mindset:

“What am I going to GET?” and “What’s in it for ME?”

Short-term approach vs. Long-term value of connection

All about quantity (how many friends/followers can you get?)

Perceived as less personal

Focus is often on talking about you.

Connecting Mindset:

Focus is on “What am I going to GIVE?”

Focus on being of service first

All about quality (not quantity)

Long-term value of the relationship and how it will evolve

So the goal on Twitter should be to connect and engage. It’s not about having tons of followers but more importantly having relationships. The problem is it can become OVERWHELMING to do. Please read my next blog for tips on how to choose who to follow and how you can connect with them in an authentic and meaningful way.

It can be overwhelming trying to figure out who to connect with on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Should you friend and/or follow everyone? How can you really use the social networking platform in a truly authentic way?

I gained some valuable insight into this process when I spoke with my friend Amy Miyamoto,  at the Metromom Online Success Telesummit. Amy, who has thousands of friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, and has developed them into authentic sharing relationship, provided many great tips on how to make meaningful connections.

The first step is to really be clear on who you are. How would you define yourself in one word?

Personally, I’ve always thought of myself as a “connector” but after reading the book “The Go-Giver,” I’ve decided those two words feels much better to me. A “Go-Giver” is someone who’s more concerned with “how can I give” than “what can I get.”  The beauty of choosing your own “word” is that once you sit in the space of your  word, it dictates how you put yourself out there and therefore how you come across to others.

Next, at the heart of authentically showing up in all that you do is recognizing the importance of being known, liked and trusted. People want to see who you really are, which then allows you to attract the right people, whether its mentors, potential joint venture partners or potential clients.

Amy also shared three different kinds of friends and follower to have in the social media landscape:

1. The “Influencers.” These are usually the first ones you look for—the experts in your industry. Ask yourself: Who do you want to learn from? Who are the mentors you want to get involved with? You’ll want to start friending and following those people.
2. “Colleagues.” These are people both in your industry as well as connected with people who are working with your same target market. They are a wonderful source of potential joint venture partnerships.
3. “Potential Clients.” This would include people who might be connected to potential clients. For example, my clients are entrepreneurial moms, so I would also want to look for people who know these moms.

By creating these types of connections you’re building a foundation that opens up many doors of opportunities. Each one is like making a deposit of social capital in your social bank account. If you spend time creating a quality base in the beginning, versus just focusing on numbers for numbers’ sake, you can appreciate that the exponential growth will be quality related.

This is only the beginning when it comes to social networking, To listen to my entire interview with Amy Miyamoto, “How to Leverage the Power of Social Media to Create a Community of Raving Fans and Still Have Time for Your Family and Yourself”, click here. FYI – She shares the one essential component for maximizing your Social Media success that most people are missing.

When I think of getting it done, the truth is it’s just a lot of small (baby) steps that are on the way to making something happen. To look at a big task all at once is so daunting. We would never get started. So many of us as women entrepreneurs are stuck in the brilliance of our big ideas because we’re overwhelmed…

Break Through the Overwhelm

I want to share part of a phone call I received from a woman who was interested in signing up for my new pilot coaching program for women entrepreneurs.

She wanted to know how I could help her since she had so much on her plate and was very overwhelmed. (Sound familiar?)

My first question was “what are you looking to get done?” “Well I’d like to build my list, make more money and write my book.”

“No wonder you’re overwhelmed”, I said, “what you’re looking to accomplish is huge and each one of those goals has hundreds of steps involved. Without breaking them down there’s no way to tackle goals like that, and not go crazy.”

Of those big three goals, we decided together that her primary focus was going to be building her list. I explained that some of the tasks involved just in list building can involve social networking, search engine optimization, speaking engagements, joint ventures, article marketing, telesummits, viral video, and pay-per-click advertising. That’s a pretty large list, and from experience, I know that each one of those has many pieces to it.

Of all of the components of list building, she was most interested in tackling social networking. “Okay”, I said, “do you want to focus on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or blogging?” Her response was Twitter.

Well, now we were drilling down to a much more manageable task. We discussed a handful of actions she could begin doing right away to support her use on Twitter and begin building her list using just this one tool. I could hear the tension in her body relax just after a few moments, and in the three days since we’ve spoken, she’s already taking action.

So what helped this woman take action?

1. Identifying her primary goal or objective. This is where you concentrate on the outcome you desire. This woman decided that the most important outcome for her was to build her list.

2. Chunking the goal out. Once you have a goal, break it down into chunks. What do I mean by chunks? Break things down into smaller manageable pieces. For example we determined the different chunks related to list building – social networking, search engine optimization, speaking engagements, joint ventures etc. The single larger goal is more achievable as you work through one chunk at a time.

3. Breaking it into easy steps. Now you have chunked your goal it’s time to work out the steps you need to accomplish. Break it down into small tasks that are very doable. For example, I recommended specific things this woman could do to get going on Twitter. For example, she could set-up Tweet Deck (an application that makes your Twitter experience more manageable), create a small list of people to connect with in her industry or as colleagues, and then begin interacting with this list (by reading their posts, following their links and sharing interesting information with them). These were very specific, doable tasks.

These three powerful steps will help you meet your goals too – whether it’s the 10 pounds you want to lose or the huge information product you want to write, it’s all about one pound at a time or one chapter a time. Once you have your goal clearly in mind and have it chunked down into manageable pieces, you can start moving through the necessary steps with speed and grace.

If you need a little motivation to get started last week I received a very appropriate message from the universe that I had to share with you:

The real reason so many have trouble with the baby steps, — doing all they can, with what they’ve got, from where they are, no matter how humble or seemingly futile — is because they haven’t yet grasped that the baby steps trigger unseen forces that throw wide the floodgates of unstoppable momentum, infinite abundance, and eternal life.

If you want more help on “getting it done” check out my Get It Done Circle for motivated mom entrepreneurs, and see my recent blog (video) sharing more info about it. .

This morning I got to speak with Chris Velardi at WTNH in New Haven CT about how businesses can use social networking to increase their public awareness and break down the barriers between the “brick & mortar” facade and their customers.

Social networking is the place to be for online marketing. Websites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook will allow you to generate new client leads and partnerships for your business. The question becomes, “Are you using it effectively as a lead generation tool?”  I’ve learned a lot about social networking this year and would like to share what I’ve discovered.

The first key to successful networking is to remember you’re building relationships. In whatever form you choose to put it out there, whether it’s written, verbal, audio or video, it’s all about people developing a relationship with you through your words and ideas.

Patience is required when building relationships – it takes time! Many people jump right into the sales pitch before they have had the opportunity to make the connection which is an instant turn off. Think of how many times you’ve gone to the local networking event where someone just hands you their business card and starts pitching you their business in public. It’s even more uncomfortable online because you haven’t even seen that person’s face.

Be observant. Over time you’ll be able to identify the goals, personality, and interests of others. By paying attention to those around you, you can jump in at the right time and make a connection. Start off with casual, small talk. It may sound like a time waster, but it’s actually an ice breaker.

Once you’ve found something in common, you’ve officially formed your connection and the relationship begins to build. By taking this approach, once it’s time to introduce the business side, you are a real person versus a salesman. Now that they see you are a real, trustworthy person, people are more likely to want to do business with you.

But how can you build your credibility as an expert? To learn how and get many more tips on how to social network successfully, get a copy of my Social Networking Bundle that includes a great interview with Nancy Marmolejo. 

I’d love to hear positive experiences you’ve had with those you’ve met via social networking channels.

I received so much great feedback on my last article about How to be an Authentic Entrepreneur that I chose to continue on the theme of authenticity and how it relates to online social networking. I think this is really valuable to women working from home because we need to form authentic relationships, both online and offline.

 

 Creating Authentic Online Relationships [Metromom Podcast] [8:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As someone who is a natural “connector,” social networking is something I am incredibly fascinated with. I’ve started dabbling in it. You can check-out my profiles up on Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter. Please feel free to connect with me on those sites if you use them too!

The internet is always evolving so it’s very important to be up-to-date on what’s available and how it can serve you and your business–especially if you do home-based work online. As a side note, soon I’ll be interviewing an expert on as part of the Metromom Power Call series on how we can use social working to grow our communities in our home-based businesses.

If you’re just getting started I recommend that you create one bio about yourself that works across all of the social networking platforms. It needs to be something that gives a sense of who you are as a woman and a little bit about your business. It shouldn’t be salesy by any means, it should be information that leads someone to say, “I’d like to go the next step and learn more about her.”

One of the key premises of the social networking sites, is the word “social” is a critical part. It is about creating relationships, not just about constantly selling your product. People are very conscious of that. If they haven’t gotten to know you, and you’re already telling them about the wonderful product you offer, they’ll tune you out. Most want you to get to know them first, and then there is a reason for you to be sharing that information with them.

The social networking sites are a vehicle that takes time, like relationships. It’s another way to be out there connecting with people. I’ll be sharing more with you as I learn how best to navigate this world.