louisgray.com - Latest Comments in louisgray.com: The Importance of Setting Goals To Grow Your Network

Re: louisgray.com: The Importance of Setting Goals To Grow Your Network

Alex — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:57:35 -0000

Any article on Twitter?

Re: louisgray.com: The Importance of Setting Goals To Grow Your Network

Louis Gray — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:34:11 -0000

Phil, making a million connections on all the social networks won't do
much benefit if there's no personal interaction and quality there.
Long ago, I said your personal blog is your brand, and although we
might find each other on different networks, it's that central hub
that is your online resume. But signing up and following willy-nilly
is not the way to go. As I have gotten more visible this year, I have
tried to continue being selective, even if some folks aren't happy
about my artificially creating a caste system.

Re: louisgray.com: The Importance of Setting Goals To Grow Your Network

Philip John — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:55:48 -0000

I think you need to evaluate connections in a cost/benefit fashion. If your goal is to create brand awareness it is very easy to connect with as many people as you can (and many do). But a lot of the connections you make will produce no value whatsoever. They will present your brand to one person who will promptly forget you and move on. In the extreme, it could have a negative impact. If you try and indiscriminately put your brand in front of everyone you might find some unwelcoming. The consequences could be very damaging to your reputation.

When making a connection I think it's pertinent to ask yourself a few questions. What will I get out of this? How will I achieve my goals by making this connection? Are there any drawbacks to making this connection? Is this connection relevant enough to my brand's message?

Re: louisgray.com: The Importance of Setting Goals To Grow Your Network

CraigK — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:08:01 -0000

Of course your goals are going to change as you grow, and what may be casual at first, may begin to become serious as your blog and goals change. Its best to be able to adapt and make decisions based off of your growing situations, that should be thought of as a gift, not a burden. The goal should still in my opinion should be to continue to grow and increase brand awareness and conversation, don't worry about the noise so much.

Craig
www.budgeptulse.com

Re: louisgray.com: The Importance of Setting Goals To Grow Your Network

ChangeForge | Ken Stewart — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:31:00 -0000

Corvida, very well said. I am working on a similar post presently regarding loosing one's goals. I have learned that to be truly productive - accomplishing those things I set out to do, goals and running lists are needed.

I really dread lists, but I have adapted a small part of GTD to my life in this fashion. I just have to remember to check back and update my lists regularly.

To your point specifically, I am very new to social media - but have become truly enthralled with it's reaching nature.

At first I was very focused on making connections, but when I became frustrated I had to re-evaluate my goals. I came to the conclusion I simply wanted quality conversation. Sure, I would love 10,000 uniques a day, but I would be happy with 10, if each was consistently, high-quality conversation.

Again, thank you for reinforcing what I have learned. It is indeed good to receive validation ;-)

Re: louisgray.com: The Importance of Setting Goals To Grow Your Network

Corvida Raven — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:33:21 -0000

This doesn't seem like a chore to you?

Re: louisgray.com: The Importance of Setting Goals To Grow Your Network

buzztap — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:34:28 -0000

I have taken the approach of managing two separate identities. A personal identity, for maintaining my 'high quality network', and a business identity used to create brand awareness. There are certainly drawbacks to this approach, but it does allow for multiple goals.

Re: louisgray.com: The Importance of Setting Goals To Grow Your Network

rob3r — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:28:13 -0000

This is a good post, and some of the points I can definitely empathize with. The signal to noise ratio for me on Digg has gone WAY up as I have added more "friends" to try and promote some of my own stories. I now get shouts to Digg some of the DUMBEST stuff and it makes me sad. My policy now is that I will add anyone, but if they abuse the privilege they are removed from my friends list very quickly.