On Networking

I get it. We live in the age of social media which means social marketing which means social networking. Everything we do on the computer, one of the most non-social activities we partake in short of masturbating is considered a 'social' activity of some sort.

And if you are in sales, be it cars, telephones, mortgages, financial planning, laptops, Amway or self-publishing you are continually being told "you have to get out there and market yourself!"

I was approached recently about marketing my ...talents... on a website. It was a great place for people to see that I am someone who was willing to pay X amount per month to prove that I am a mortgage broker. Once my name was on that list, it gave me the opportunity to be lumped in with 18 other brokers in my area who were getting their name out there.

Yes, a lot of my social contact is through the computer - Facebook is still my go-to but it's primarily for my true friends and family. I'm not too keen on friending someone because we are in the same industry.

I'm also on LinkedIn which is apparently like Facebook, only it is more acceptable to reach out to complete strangers and friend them. I don't know why Jim from Atlanta Mazda wants to link with me but whatever, that's what I'm supposed to do. Keep it professional.

I was on Twitter but that seemed sad/funny. It was like being at a convention of Late Night joke writers. Perhaps because that was where my taste ran to. If you tweeted something funny, I'd follow you. If I wanted other people to follow me, I'd tweet at someone famous and all of their followers would read it. Then some would follow me. Once I realized I was saying I tweeted someone as if it was a valid form of deep interaction, I deleted my account.

I don't have snapchat. My understanding is it allows you to send a picture then it will delete immediately after being opened. This seems like something all fathers should make sure isn't installed on their daughter's cell phone. I can't imagine how many dick pics have been sent out in an odd new-age social media flirtation ritual.

Pinterest seems like every art/craft teachers' wet dream. It seems to be a website that allows you to see all the cool and cheap shit you won't ever do with cinder blocks or pallets. I don't know how that helps me sell you a mortgage.

I'm digressing... social media. Point is, I'm not very good on social media. I like my blogs, I like Facebook. I don't use it too often to market myself and that would make most networking authorities cringe. I stand by the best referral is word of mouth. I don't know of anyone who was approached because they tweeted something.

But it's a changing battlefield apparently. I have to get on the social marketing/networking train or step off the tracks.