Recently in Twitter Category

The follow up process is one of the areas of networking that still seems to confuse some people. Most realize that meeting someone at a networking event for five minutes isn't enough to build a relationship, and that follow up is critical.

The fortune is in the follow-up

But while they may have good intentions of following up with the contacts they meet at events, once they're back in the office they find themselves staring at the stack of business cards they collected and wondering what's the next step?

Follow up can be awkward if you don't have a plan. Sun Tzu once said, "Every battle is won before it's ever fought," and I feel the same could be said about the follow up process. What you do BEFORE the follow up will make it easy or hard.

6 steps to make follow up happen

To make the process as smooth as possible, before you end a conversation with someone you want to follow up with later, make sure you follow these steps:

1) Find a reason during the conversation to follow up. It's always easier to make the follow up call or send the follow up email if you know the other person is expecting it. Ask enough questions during your conversation to learn about their goals and what's important to them, and listen for ways you can help.

3) Once you find an opening, make the follow up offer. When you find a way to connect them to a resource or contact in your network, speak up. You can say something like, "I have a contact who may be able to help you with that. I'd be happy to send you her information."

4) Ask how they would prefer to be contacted. Ask for a business card so you have their contact info, but also ask what's their preferred method of follow up. Some people like email while others prefer the phone. They'll appreciate that you asked and are likely to be more responsive.

5) Follow up soon after the event. Do your best to send the information you promised within a few days of the event. Not only will it clear up your to-do list and mental bandwidth, but it will also show that you have your act together and that you care about the relationship.

6) Stay in touch. Connecting with each other on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter allows you to stay in touch unobtrusively and follow what is happening with them so that you can continue to find ways to add value and strengthen the relationship.

Follow up doesn't have to be a numbers game. You don't have to spend time meeting hundreds of new people every year hoping that a handful of them will convert into good contacts. By following some simple steps, you can turn just about any contact you make into a lasting connection.

Note: For more strategies to follow up effectively and build relationships with ease, grab your copy of the Smart Networking System today. 

Read the original post in Personal Branding Blog.

If choice overload for evening activities was a challenge living in New York City for so many years, I definitely don't have that problem now that I'm living Florida. For reliably good entertainment, my husband and I find ourselves quite regularly at the Naples Philharmonic, five minutes from home and with a great track record for attracting world-class artists.

This weekend I got a chance to experience Beethoven's Fifth Symphony live for the first time. Oh sure, I've heard recorded snippets of it many times--and you probably have too--in tv commercials, in movie soundtracks, including a 

disco-fied version in Saturday Night Fever, and in at least one or two Bugs Bunny cartoons.

While Beethoven's famous Fifth was the big draw, it wasn't the only thing on the program. To sell seats, smart music directors choose works with name recognition, but to expand the audience's musical awareness, they mix in less familiar works from other artists. In other words, come for the Beethoven, stay for the Berlioz.

In a sense, Beethoven lends his strong personal brand to help other composers become better known and appreciated.

What an important lesson for all of us. A personal brand is meant to be shared, not hoarded. It's an asset that grows the more you use it, especially to help those in your network. And in fact, the more you use your personal brand in this way, the stronger it becomes and the more capital you accumulate to spread even further, all in a virtuous cycle.

So what are some ways you can leverage your brand to benefit others?

1) Refer: Talk up the people in your network. Write about them in blog posts and articles. Bring them up in conversation. Use them as examples in your presentations. In other words, name drop in a good way.Not to impress those you're talking to, but to make them aware of the good work that's being done by the people you know. For instance, I was speaking on a panel recently with two good friends, Bill Sobel and Laura Allen, when the name of a mutual friend, Adrian Miller, kept coming up. Finally, at some point, Laura chimed in to tell the whole audience who Adrian was and gave a quick pitch for her latest initiative, Adrian's Network.

2) Retweet: One of the best and easiest ways to share your personal brand on Twitter is to retweet a helpful or interesting post from someone you're following. Their message is spread more widely, your followers get the benefit of the information, and your stock rises because people can see you're interested in helping others and engaging in the community, not just broadcasting one-way, self-promotional messages.

3) Recommend: Whenever you get a chance to recommend someone for an opportunity, take it. Don't hide your network from others. For example, I spoke at a series of women's conferences for a couple of years in a row, each year attracting a total of 20,000 women (and a few lucky men!). It was tremendous exposure, and I recommended at least a half dozen of my friends to the conference organizers for future events, where I saw a strong fit between their expertise and the focus of the conference. Another way to lend your personal brand is to endorse a contact on LinkedIn or write a book review on Amazon.

These are just some ideas to get you started. If you spotlight at least one person in your network each week in some way, in a year you'll have 52 stronger relationships, not to mention a stronger personal brand for yourself.

As my friend Warren Whitlock, host of Twitcast Radio and co-author of The Twitter Revolution, says, "When you shine the spotlight on others, YOU shine even brighter."

Read the original post on Personal Branding Blog