NickVenturella.com 2-22-15

Give Value to Attract Value

February 22, 2015

I've been amping up my Twitter efforts lately.

I’ve been a Twitter user for a number of years, but I hadn’t really immersed myself in the platform as much as I have been lately.

The reason?

Twitter offers a rapid-fire immediacy that is appealing to my instant-gratification sensibilities.  

Even bigger than that though, the platform offers a great way to connect with massive amounts of people in your industry and niche.  At the same time, it also allows you (if you use Twitter this way) to get down to very personalized messages and engagement in the same sitting.

My end goal is to grow my network and at the same time drastically increase my engagement with those I follow and those following me.

But that’s just the price of admission, I see Twitter, and really all social networks, as opportunities to help YOU be successful.  So, when I engage on social, to the best of my abilities, I want to be helpful to you to, in some small way, help you accomplish your objectives -- with no expectation of anything in return.  

It’s an investment in others that I guarantee you will come back to you in spades (not always in the way you expect, but definitely good things come of it).  

That’s actually the idea behind the name of my marketing practice,

.  

The GrowLoop is when you do the right things to grow your endeavors by helping others, and positive things loop back to find you, and everyone ends up better for having interacted.  It also tends to be a profitable practice, what I like to call “capitalistic karma.â€

Because of my recent increased Twitter activities I'm getting a ton of engagement from those I've followed and even more from new followers.

What I'm finding though is a little unsettling.  The sheer amount of selfish, "my agenda," focused engagement from others is a bit off-putting.  (It's not always intentional. I get it. I've been guilty of this in the past, which is why I'm aware of it now.)

For example, someone follows me on Twitter, I do my best to individually reply and thank each person who follows me...then say I decide to follow them back. Then that new follower sends me a direct message asking me to check out and like their Facebook page, or connect with them on LinkedIn.  Or my favorite, “check out my YouTube music video, like and share it with your network.  Often these Twitter Direct Messages are automated. (I'm fine with this kind of automation, but make it more worth my while.)

Here's the issue with those kind of interactions:  You’ve just met me, and you’re asking me to take action to benefit you. 

You’ve done nothing to engage me further, other than follow me.  That’s like being in the checkout line at the grocery store, introducing yourself to the person in front of you and asking them to go ahead and purchase for you the few items you were going to buy while you go back and look around the store for other things.

But here’s how you can fix it...

Make it about the other person's needs and you'll get way better engagement, and it may even lead to some sales.

When you connect with someone, ask them questions, get to know them, if only on a digital platform.  At the least, check out their profile and try to find a way to easily offer some value to them.  Like, “Hey, I noticed you like original instrumental music, you may want to check out Vic Samalot and the band

.â€

It’s just something simple, you’re not expecting anything in return, but it’s memorable and gives a positive, mutually, good feeling to both parties (for different reasons).

What’s one small way you’ll bring value to others as you engage on social media?  Hit reply and let me know.

I’m grateful to have you in my network! 

(If you choose to connect with me via Twitter, my handle is,

.)

Thank you,

Nick Venturellawww.nickventurella.comwww.nickvmusic.netwww.growloop.comwww.tinycareer.comP.S.  Want help mastering social media?  Check out Chris Brogan's Social Media Mastery course (affiliate)