OH DEAR - 6 months worth of Linkedin invitations to sift through! Oops!!!

As some of you will know, I've taken a little time out to have my son who is now 5 months old (tomorrow!).   Since being 'back on the scene' for a short while I surprisingly had an email to discuss a business partnership via a Linkedin referral therefore I shot straight across to Linkedin to have a 'tidy up'

OH DEAR -  6 months worth of invitations to sift through!  Oops!!!

Yes, yes, there are many of you out there tutting and thinking that as a Social Media Coach I should have taken the time to just pop in and out to maintain it!

My Saturday morning has consisted sifting through 216 invitations - the equivalent of about 10 per week.  In total I've probably only accepted about half!

Here is why:

1. I don't need thousands of connections - Firstly, I used to have a strict policy that I'd only accept invitations from those that I either knew or met, but soon realised there were times when I'd reach out to Linkedin to connect with users that I'd not met before for mutual benefit.  My Linkedin profile isn't just a challenge to get the highest number of connections, it's about good quality relationships - do I really want thousands of connections whom I know very little about?

2. Stop being so rude  - "I'd like to add you to my professional network on Linkedin" or perhaps "Since you are a person I trust, I wanted to invite you to join my network on LinkedIn." - Really?  Honestly?  Then why didn't you take a few seconds to perhaps introduce yourself?  Would you walk into a networking event and
just thrust your business card into my hand, walk away and hope that somehow something magical would happen?!  NO?  Then don't do it on Linkedin either... tell me who you are and why you think it would benefit BOTH of us to connect.

3. I care, I really do! - Before I accept a connection from a user that I don't recall or remember I take the time to visit their profile, understand who they are and how there could be some sort of mutual benefit.  (Hopefully they've taken time to write me a little note).  If I can't understand how we could benefit from being connected, why should I accept your invitation?!  I also take a moment to thank them for adding me and strike up a conversation - it's the best way for them to remember me!

4.  Are you a real person? - Linkedin is about connecting with real people!  When scanning through the profiles of those asking to connect you're most likely to check out their profile picture first (as I know I can be pretty naff at remembering names) - how can I do this if you've not taken the time to upload a photo of your face? or perhaps you've used a company logo?  That's a Linkedin rule breaker by the way ;-)  (Avoid those holiday pictures too - the ones by the bar holding a cocktail - those photos belong on Facebook)

5.  SPAMMER ALERT! - So you've asked me to connect but you've not taken the time to complete your profile?  This screams to me that you want to have me as a connection in order to send me your sales and spam messages.

So there we go!  Another rant from me... and many more to follow!

Feel free to add me on Linkedin but pleeeeease refer to point 2. before you do! ;-)

Fallen out of love with Social Media? - My Visit Wales Digital Exhibition presentation

So here is a copy of the presentation from the Visit Wales exhibition I presented at yesterday at the Liberty Stadium "Fallen out of love with social media?" (click 'read more' for embedded version)

I didn't start this very well did I?

Way back when in April 2013 I decided I was going to take a spot in the social media blogging world after avoiding it for sometime (as I felt the industry was flooded with blogs on the topic).  If you take a moment to scan through this blog you'll notice I didn't do very well!

The truth is...

Where has the politeness gone?! Social Networkers are rude and ignorant!

So the title isn't strictly true but in certainly is the case with some of them!

Picture this, you set up a shop on the High Street to showcase your products and services.  You've taken the time and worked hard to build a customer base.  One day, someone who runs another business walks into your shop, leaves a pile of leaflets on your counter and walks out without even introducing themselves.  Pretty rude you're thinking?

So why are people doing this on Facebook?