People get confused about where to start or what to focus on when they begin social bookmarking or any other aspect of social networking. Just remember the basic: it’s a relationship game. And the key to building relationships with people is to share your story. Which means you’ve got to have a story.
Start with the short version. You can build on it later. The short version is ALWAYS useful, in any situation, online or offline. In sales, this has been called your “elevator speech”. That’s what you’d say to someone in the few seconds you share with them on the elevator, to get them to say, “Hey! Can we get together? I want to hear more!”
Your story is in the form of an elevator speech, but it’s focused on YOU. You want to network with people, and you want to make it imperative in THEIR mind that they network with you. The biggest success in social bookmarking or any kind of marketing comes when people knock on YOUR door, not the other way around.
Facts tell. Stories sell. To put together your short story, answer these questions:
- What’s your background? (What did you USED TO do?)
- How long did you do it?
- What did you like about it?
- What did you HATE about it?
- How did it lead you to what you are doing now? (The more irony & contrast, the better.)
- Talk briefly about the social networking benefits of what you do now v. what you used to do.
- What do you LOVE MOST about social networking?
Write up your “About Me”. You should be able to speak it in a minute or less. One reason it’s effective is, it’s short. It personalizes you to other social bookmarkers. And, of course, you can use the same story over and over and over.
This social networking tool will help you build relationships, and that is what gets you the real benefits in social bookmarking.
