Friday Connections 3/27/09

Posted by TeamCharlie on March 27, 2009 under Friday Connections, Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter | Be the First to Comment

This week my Friday connections are a bit different. I usually list those that connect with me and how they did it.  It’s hard for people to connect with me if I’m not on Twitter that much.  The more you use Twitter, the more connections you can make.  This week made it difficult to be on Twitter for long periods of time.

The first connection I list was not spawned from Twitter.  I just think it can be used as a learning tool for all you marketers out there.  The second connection was made in a similar manner than the previous ones.  And since I didn’t want to end with just two, a lesson can be learned from the other pseudo-connections.

If you would like to start this practice, use the #fridayconnect hash tag to let everyone know what new people you have conected with this week. You can also read my previous Friday Connections blog posts.

 #1 @5within22 
This connection is a lesson in salesmanship and marketing.  I received an email last Friday from Ed.  A Google alert sent him to MaryMargaret’s web site. Not Kids Are Heroes, but her personal web site that is helping her raise funds so she can go to the Junior National Young Leader’s Conference this summer.  He is a student entrepreneur that was offering us his product to mark up and sell as a fund raiser.  I like the fact that he’s a student, but did not respond to the email as I am skeptical of other people that I perceive may be trying to “cash in” on what we are doing. So I let it go.  Sometime during the week I received a phone call from the same gentleman.  His manner was very professional, soft spoken and not pushy at all.  After he reminded me of who he was I was very frank with him and told him why I did not respond to his email. Since he was a student I gave him a longer rope than I normally would. (I have no patience for unsolicited phone calls or similar such things – right or wrong – in case you haven’t detected that yet.)  He explained what his product did and how it worked and how it could help us. As I tell everyone these days I suggested he get on Twitter.  “We are on Twitter and we followed you a couple of days ago.”, he said.  I asked him if I followed him back to which he said, “No.”  Now that was odd, because I do follow back the majority of people that follow me. I asked him his ID and looked up his profile. I saw that he had no @replies in his Twitter stream. He wasn’t being spammy, just didn’t seem to engage with anyone.  I told him why I did not follow him.  He told me he was new to Twitter and did not know all the ins and outs.  I sent him my Twitter Do’s and Dont’s post in hopes that it would help him.  After reading the post, he graciously asked the etiquette of reposting to other Twitter friends.  “Flattery will get you everywhere” I told him and he shared it with his partner.  So the long and short of this is that here is a student who is just starting up his own company.  I would not classify him as a typical salesman – he probably wouldn’t have gotten this far with me if I thought he was one. But he was persistent without being obnoxious and even though we haven’t decided yet whether we will try and raise funds with his product, he made a connection – good for him.  I now follow him and his partner @aveleroy.  I will give him a plug for two reasons: 1) I liked his controlled persistence and 2) MaryMargaret likes his product.  These are note cards that can be shared among tween friends that interact with their web site. Their pitch is: “BFF Notes is a notepad that allows girls to pass secret coded notes to their friends. It also serves as the gateway to a secure online social network exclusively for tweens.” Check them out at BFFNotes.com.

 #2 @inspiringdesign 
Justin has been hovering just under my radar screen for quite some time now. He has been quietly retweeting some of my posts. Now that I look back at his tweets I’m really not sure why I didn’t mention him sooner. I see that three weeks ago he made a very nice #followfriday tribute to me.  This week he retweeted one of my posts and I thanked him.  His response to my thank-you was to tell me that he tried to come to our Music for Life! fund raiser but was unable to. That made me realize that maybe my marketing wasn’t falling on deaf ears.  We had a decent showing for the 10:30 seating but a sparse turnout for the other two. All in all we raised $600.00 so I the event was indeed a success, but we all know every charity is suffering during this economy.  But sometimes I felt alone out there when the response wasn’t what I had hoped. Justin reminded me that maybe people really did want to come but for whatever reason just couldn’t make it. That simply made me feel better. The lesson learned here is to be persistent when trying to connect. Some people (like me) can be slow to react sometimes. Now I am not saying that Justin was trying to get noticed by me this whole time and I ignored him – if that were the case he wouldn’t have gotten through to me. He was just being a good guy and doing what you are supposed to do on Twitter: retweet posts that you like and give tributes to people you enjoy following through the #followfriday tradition. That is a natural way to connect with people.

 #3,#4,#5 @homeschoolsegue @DaytonChildrens @ontheirway 
Maybe one reason this was a slow week for me regarding Twitter was because I hadn’t written a new blog post.  I have a “Citizen Blog” I must maintain for the local paper, plus all my other responsibilities. I also have no schedule to keep for my own blog so I only write when I am inspired.  I finally had that urge yesterday to write more about Twitter. I wrote a new post about people who don’t use Twitter because they ”Don’t Have Time” for it.  I also added to my Do’s and Dont’s post as a few things came up this week that were appropriate.  The people mentioned here all @replied to me thanking me for the Do’s and Dont’s post. They are all new to Twitter and were happy to get some insight.  I am always happy to help new people get adjusted. Twitter can be an extremely productive environment if you just use it right. I feel so sorry for those who just don’t know any better.  I was followed today by a person who was following 2000 people and had zero updates. Such a shame. Anyway, I almost forgot that writing blog posts can help you connect with new people.  These folks gave me a very nice reward for blogging: a simple and sincere “thank you”.

So far I have gotten a positive response from these “Friday Connection” posts. I urge you all to try it out.  Keeping track inspires you to go out and find new connections.  The connections I make are strenghthened in ensuing weeks. That is when it becomes really fun. So let us know about the connections YOU made this week – add your Twitter ID and those of the people you made connections with this week in the Comments section.