Building relationships with social media is very similar to the way relationships have always been built. Humans haven’t changed very much in two decades of internet (or even in thousands of years). I suspect that that the “secret” exposed below would have applied equally well to cave dwellers or stone age tribes.  Although we have super power tools for communication now, relationships are still about investing attention and helping each other.

Networking is still a matter of connecting people and leveraging contacts, trust and influence. Perhaps social media can increase the speed and efficiency of the process now, hopefully without much loss of quality.

In Client Magnets Official Blog, Bernadette Doyle disclosed “The Secret to Relationship Building“:

Relationship building is about paying attention to what people say and do, what they have to offer and what they’re looking for. If you know that John owns a plumbing business and Sally had a pipe burst, you can connect John and Sally and they both benefit. Sally gets her pipe fixed, and John gets some business. They’re both grateful for you because they both benefited, and if they can do something to help you or your business, they’ve got a personal reason to do it.

You don’t just have to connect people who have overlapping niches or a business interest in one another. You can also connect people who have something in common faith-wise, or family-wise; people who have shared interests but don’t know one another. This helps them because it gives them someone else who shares their interest, and it also makes them like you more because you paid attention and noticed this about them. Again, this puts a lot of money in the relationship bank account, even if it doesn’t impact you directly.

To practice good relationship-building skills, try introducing at least four people per day to one another via Twitter or some other social networking platform. If the connection is helpful to them, it puts a lot into the relationship bank account in terms of gratitude to you for connecting them. Even if the connection isn’t helpful, people will appreciate the effort and it will put some money into the relationship bank account because you went out of your way to make an effort on their behalf.

Relationship-building doesn’t have to be a monumental effort. You can do it via Twitter or another social networking platform. All you have to do is pay attention to what people say, and match people who have similar interests or might benefit from knowing one another. It’s a simple process that can yield big benefits for you and your business.

Tags: Attention, Business Networking, Connector, Influence, Networking, Relationship Building, Relationships, The Secret, Trust

This entry was posted on July 17, 2010 at 7:19 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Business Relationships Family Relationships Internet Tribe Relationships Personal Alliances Platonic Friends by Buddy Hodges 1 Comment