Doing it - Helps Your Network

I had the pleasure to see Julien Smith (@julien / co-author of Trust Agents) last Monday night. He spoke to a group of about 30 social media types in Calgary - hosted by "Third Tuesday" (http://www.meetup.com/third-tuesday-calgary/). I find Julien very passionate about what he does, he is surprisingly young and loves to swear - a perfect combination for a informative and entertaining time.

He spoke to us about the benefits of building social capital - aka "building a tribe. "

Something that he said struck a cord with me "If you don't do it - your network won't do it either". He was speaking about getting out and doing things, meeting people, taking risk.

Julien pushed us to believe that our choices in life affect our friends - okay I agree on many levels. But what he really pushed is that if we open ourselves up - and essentially say YES to more things rather than NO, our friends will in turn start saying YES more often.

So why the heck is saying YES a good thing? If you haven't seen 'Yes Man' with Jim Carey - go see it! He says YES to everything, and what happens is he experiences a lot of really fun and crazy things and he meets a lot of pretty cool people.

This hit home for me. A good friend of mine has decided to sign up for her second mini-triathlon. She asked me to do it with her about 5 times. Seeing as I don't have a bike, I don't know how to swim properly and I am not a great runner - I said "hell no!". There are always excuses to why we can't do things - I have a family, I work crazy hours at work, I am the Chairman of a very complex non-profit board plus I am volunteering on the Ad-Rodeo Sponsorship Committee and I just added involvement on the PR Committee of the Terry Fox Run, oh and I will be helping with Communications for CADE (Canadian Association of Drilling Engineers), so clearly I don't have time - and my body would likely break from attempting this crazy feat.

But over the course of two weeks I got thinking - why not just jump in with both feet? I will get in shape, have some fun with my friends, be a good example for my family and learn a lot doing it. So I agreed to do my first mini-triathlon - I said to myself "why not?".

I also asked another friend if she would like to join me - she feels the same way I do (her first reaction was "are you crazy!"), but she is amazing and open so she is also jumped in with both feet.

So my friend has positively influenced one person in her direct network, and another person in her extended network, and I am sure the energy will keep flowing.

Maybe it is our obligation to our networks to say YES more often.

Let's raise our glasses of Gatorade, and cheers to saying YES to new and exciting things this year, it not only helps us experience life - but it helps our network (and vice versa!).

SBK (Shannon) contact me: sbk@mondaymarketingtools.com

Photo By Scott Prince www.inthepitchblack.com

Why I Give a Tweet

The most common comment I get about my profession is “Why would I care about things like Twitter”.

So here I ask myself the same question: “Why give a Tweet? ”

Here's why I Tweet:


I found the Marketing Community

The number one reason I Tweet is because I live in Calgary, Alberta – and we do not have a very strong Marketing Community – what I mean by that is I have found it hard to connect with other Marketing professionals. We do not have very many options for courses, seminars or conferences – although this is improving. So I Tweet to meet other Marketing Professionals in Calgary and other areas that I can learn from and relate to – it’s kinda like finding your long lost family. I also get great event postings and course postings, and that is valuable to me.

I don’t want to be left behind

Look, I am in my thirties and felt like I was loosing ground on being “in the loop” and “cool” because I did not have a smart phone and had no Tweeps to speak of. This was a bit terrifying to me. I look at our current older generation and feel they are missing out on some pretty cool things if they have not fully embraced technology. I can say that my smart phone and all of the other cool technologies I use make my life interesting, fun, and efficient – but most of all they have allowed me to feel like I am in the loop – and that is valuable to me.

I am building my network

I think that following valuable** people and them following me is like meeting someone and exchanging business cards. We exchange cards, check out our websites – and now we have another contact to refer work to, ask for quotes, buy products and services from etc. But this is even better than just having someone’s card to pull out and maybe call, I follow their business (or life) on Twitter and see what they need, do they all of sudden need a new computer? Graphic design? A good restaurant? Maybe I can offer my services or refer a friend? That is valuable to me.
** valuable people to me are people that I want to connect with – either to learn from their postings, or to see what my customers are doing to ensure I understand them.

I think Twitter is fun. If you try Twitter and hate it – it is not going to work. It should be a fun and entertaining activity that you get something out of.

SBK (Shannon)

contact me: sbkelsick@gmail.com