I do hold my hands up and say that i am an advocate of social media. But not in the sense that my life is a series of key crunching, smoozing or telling people what i had for breakfast. I use social media as a way of creating and building relationships, that i can then nurture face to face wherever possible.
Call me old fashioned, but in my humble opinion, NOTHING CAN EVER REPLACE the power of seeing the white of someone's eyes when creating positive, win-win and effective relationships! There are so many types of social media sites that one can use, specific to industry, type of person you are, interest, goals etc etc..but its difficult to know what or who is real anymore!
My philosophy is that as I'm one person, i must consciously restrict and focus my use of online social media, so i dont get swapped/bored/frustrated etc. Therefore, i concentrate my use on the following social media sites, but i am aware that i use them for completely for different reasons:
Golden rule: To gain value online, you have to give value online, first!
LINKED IN - BUSINESS
I use LinkedIn to refer contacts to each other with detail, to discuss and learn from others in the groups, to consult and share ideas before i decide to execute them and to advertise things that are of relevance to my network.
TWITTER - ENGAGEMENT
I use Twitter to share links, share information, share random thoughts and to make quick introductions between people - I see twitter as the front door of my entrepreneurial house!
FACEBOOK - SOCIAL
I dont really use Facebook as much as possibly should, maybe because i'm not one for spreading all my personal and private business to the world, but I do use Facebook to connect with local communities and people who are not in my extensive business network.
SUPPLIERS
In terms of international connections, again I prefer LinkedIn, but in terms of suppliers for products i use www.alibaba.com - but i only use their Gold Suppliers (these suppliers have to go through an authentication process)
In my DEN Network, we give and train our members using an 11 Step relationship based methodology of how to build relationships, based upon the way in which you use online social media sites / tools...not how to use the social media sites / tools themselves.
Relationships have always been and always will be the foundation of connecting properly with others, whether on or offline!
